I've actually pared down my hoard of tractors by three, so you know what that means. Buy more. Not really. I mean, it is always fun to look but my desire to thin the herd wasn't so I could buy more. It just so happened that we decided to get an Oliver tractor recently because we take care of a "church grandson" once a week named Oliver. It just seemed appropriate. This is one of the few times I've had an objective while looking for a tractor. Most of the tractors I buy just appear on my radar and I get tempted.
Here's the path I took to acquire an Oliver. Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace were the two places I looked but Craigslist seems to have dropped off the face of the earth in terms of number of tractors for sale, so it was mainly FB that I looked. And I also talked to a couple of guys in my tractor club. One guy, Fred, has probably 10 or more Olivers but wasn't interested in selling. The other guy, Bob, happened to know of one. He had given an Oliver 60 Standard to his brother Jim, and Jim happens to go to the same church we do. One problem, the tractor was missing the grill and engine side panels, and they are difficult and/or expensive to come by, so that prospect wasn't too promising.
I'd like to briefly explain what a "Standard" tractor is. Most tractors used to plant and cultivate crops were called "row crop" tractors, and they usually had a tricycle front end, which was two tires close together in front, then an adjustable rear track width so farmers could plant/cultivate/harvest a variety of crop's row spacings. Tractors that were used for things like orchards didn't need adjustable wheel width so companies made fixed-track-width tractors that were low to the ground and stable on hilly terrain. These were called "Standard" tractors usually, and this is what the Oliver 60 is that Jim has.
Enter FB Marketplace. Some guy put up an ad that showed seven fully restored tractors, with a very generic title (Antique Tractors For Sale), and very minimal wording saying they were $4500 each, or offer. One of the tractors happened to be another Oliver 60 Standard (same as Jim's). I then happened to run across the same group of tractors on Craigslist with two separate listings, both just as cryptic as FB, with one asking $3500 or offer each and the other asking $4500 or offer each. To make matters more confusing, at some point the FB ad price was lowered from $4500 to $3900 (meaning in my mind that all tractors were $3900 or less). I finally caved and called the guy. I said I was confused by all the different pricing, so asked what he wanted for the Oliver. He said it was the nicest of the lot, so he wanted $4500. So he advertises a group of tractors for as low as $3500 each but then wants $4500 for this one. That put a damper on things pretty fast. I was willing to pay $3200 for the tractor but he said $4200 was his lowest. Maybe the tractor is worth that to someone, but not me, especially with no concrete evidence of what was done during the restoration beyond a nice paint job and new tires.
It was back to searching. But the 60 owned by Jim was still in the back of my mind and old Oliver tractors are few and far between, so I finally called Jim and asked if his was for sale. Yes, it could be, he said. He lived only 20 minutes away so it was time for a little trip across town to go look. When we arrived and saw the thing, it looked pretty pathetic. Not only the grill and side panels were gone, but the whole radiator shell and original radiator were also missing (and a too-wide Jeep or Toyota radiator was cobbled in).
Are you ready for a photo? Yes, this is the face only a mother (or I) could love. A diamond in the rough, you might say.
