Rare 1954 tractor sold at busy Hanwell auction
Around 500 people flocked to an auction in Hanwell on Thursday to bid for 52 tractors, including a rare gem: a 1954 Farmall Super M.
The bright red tractor was the only one in production that year, the auctioneer said, before he sold the machine to Gary McLean, a Brookland, N.S. farmer, for $7,000.
"We'd just come to the sale, this happened to be here," McLean said after the auction.
He described the tractor as a "good, tough, old tractor."
"A good old tractor all the way around," he said.
John Jardine, the auctioneer, said 47 of the tractors at the event came from a retired Nova Scotia farmer.
Getting all of them to Hanwell and fuelled up for the big show was no easy task, he said.
"We started this seven weeks ago," Jardine said. "We had to get them here, identify which ones needed fresh gas, and make sure they were in a running condition."
Some tractors that remained "pre-restoration" had to sit idle as they were bid on, he said.
In addition to the crowd of 500 people that showed up at the auction, another 200 people bid online.
Some of them were from Australia, Europe and Maine, said Jardine.
McLean added that he's happy with his purchase, which won't just sit in his barn to collect dust.
"Just like a hobby, just like if you go boating, or go golfing, I go Farmallin'," he said.
