Bought Another Oliver Today

Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson

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Staff member
No, not another Oliver woodworking machine, a 1964 Oliver tractor! (no relation)

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A couple of years ago my Massey-Ferguson 135 decided to start burning more oil than diesel. Tractor value didn't justify overhaul cost so I scrapped it. When I bought the 135 I was really lusting after an Oliver Super 55 or 550. But those are fairly rare around here while you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a MF so I went with one of those. It was a really good tractor right up until the end. A few weeks ago an Oliver 550 popped up at an auction just a couple miles from my house, of all places. I went to the preview today during lunch and saw it run. Started right up, no smoke, pto worked, as did the lift, and tires with ample tread. Thought about it all afternoon and decided we still need a utility tractor for putting in duck hunting food plots. The MF was the perfect size for the job and the Oliver is nearly identical. Got in a bit of a bidding war with one other bidder and threw in the towel. My wife, Michelle, grabbed the keyboard and said "I hate getting beat!" She won it with her one and only bid. Not a steal but below typical FB MP and CL asking prices so I'm satisfied. There is some dirt and grease on it but I think it will clean up pretty good with some simple green and the power sprayer. Restoration will have to wait. We've got food plots to work on.

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Thomas jumped in the act too and bought the contents of a tool shed for a ridiculously low price. Funny thing is deep in the corner buried under crap was a vintage anvil. Have you seen what anvils go for these days? $6 per pound is quite typical. Need to weigh it but it looks like about a 100 pounds or so. I may have been the only person to find it for certainly the bids would have been higher. To make it even better the auctioneer said we don't have to take everything in the shed. We can leave whatever we want behind. So it will be a cherry picking exercise. Never seen an auction where you didn't have to remove all items. I bet the other bidders were bidding under the assumption they'd have to deal with all the worthless crap. It pays to ask questions instead of assuming! I'll post some pics of the goodies he scored. Kid is 22 years old and already thinking about tooling up on a budget. He did damn good today.
 
That is great, I'm more and more interested in looking at machinery moving towards retirement and thinking about a little bit bigger property and having stock. I grew up riding on the fender of my grandfather's Ford brush hogging and skidding logs - my folks have it now.

That tractor looks in great condition!
 
Tod

Yeah, I'm starting to think about retirement too. Seven years to go but I know it will go quick. I've seen a lot of machinery in your area over the years. If you go that route you will have plenty within reach. Of course given your propensity to hit the open road the options will be numerous. Thanks.
 
Eric Patterson said:
Tod

Yeah, I'm starting to think about retirement too. Seven years to go but I know it will go quick. I've seen a lot of machinery in your area over the years. If you go that route you will have plenty within reach. Of course given your propensity to hit the open road the options will be numerous. Thanks.
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About the same timeline for us, Gus will be through college in 8 years and if things (economy) behaves we should be in good shape then. We are looking West, so a move for sure. Jen made the mistake of saying that I can retire in 6 years, so that kind of got me in countdown mode even more than I already was.
 
Eric Patterson said:
Funny how that works. The passing thought of retiring turns into a full blown countdown and dreams.
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We get good college tuition benefits through work, so we had always had it in our head that we would work through Gus' college to keep those benefits as options, but only one of us needs to work to maintain the benefits. Since we are making a move, spending a couple years finalizing projects here will put us in a good position. If Gus wants to go to college in a mountain state, the timeline may accelerate, which I'd be all for.
 
Eric Patterson said:
I take it those college tuition perks are available beyond Fairfield? Wow!
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It is complicated, but yes. Full tuition at Fairfield is a perk and he doesn't need to officially get in, just have a reasonable likelihood at success (if he flakes out in the next couple years and can't do any better, he can at least get a cheap degree here). There are tuition benefits outside the university in that there is a large consortium of private schools that are members that trade spots (think a pool everyone throws a couple spots in a hat and then the spots are metered out). The process isn't straightforward and is seniority based, but if it works out that is a large perk. With his emerging academic personality, I think he would probably do well at a large state school, so tuition is less of an issue anyway.
 
Tod

This reminds me of a friend, Steven, at U of South Alabama. He was a math/stats guy like me whose father happened to be a full professor in the math department. As such his tuition was waved. He ran cross country for the university on athletic scholarship. That paid his room and board. One top of this he was a presidential scholarship recipient. So each quarter he would go to registration and pick up his scholarship check. Instead of handing it back to the school to pay for tuition, like other scholarship recipients, he deposited it his checking account and eventually bought a car with it. He earned it by working hard, but dadgum what a nice spot to be in.

Eric
 
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Eric Patterson said:
Tod

This reminds me of a friend, Steven, at U of South Alabama. He was a math/stats guy like me whose father happened to be a full professor in the math department. As such his tuition was waved. He ran cross country for the university on athletic scholarship. That paid his room and board. One top of this he was a presidential scholarship recipient. So each quarter he would go to registration and pick up his scholarship check. Instead of handing it back to the school to pay for tuition, like other scholarship recipients, he deposited it his checking account and eventually bought a car with it. He earned it by working hard, but dadgum what a nice spot to be in.

Eric
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Opportunity plus hard work often ends in a great outcome.
 
Tod

After South he went to Iowa State for his MS in Stats. That's one of the top stats programs in the country. I thought he would follow in his fathers footsteps and stay in academia. Instead after getting his MS he went to work in the banking sector and did a lot of work in credit scoring and consumer predictions. He's now an executive VP at US Bank. Not too shabby. I think your "great outcome" in his case turned into "great INCOME" :)

Eric
 
The power of sodium hydroxide, aka lye. It strips grease and dirt stains. That latter one is a new one on me. We sprayed the tractor down numerous times with the lye solution and kept etching away at the grease and dirt layers. After a short soaking we'd power wash and repeat. Like I mentioned earlier no time for a restoration, so this will be how she looks for some time. Next order of business is to replace lubricants and grease wear points. I just have to figure out where the drains and fills are.

[size 6]Before:

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After:

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Looks great Eric. You made a good find with that machine. I was going to say "old girl" but I was four when it was made. There are manuals available online for it if you're interested.

The anvil is a nice score as well, and Thomas makes that thing look lightweight. I had no idea the going rate, $6/lb is crazy money. We had one handed down 4 generations, maker unknown, disappear a few years ago when my mother had some guys cleaning up the barn. Hope their backs hurt taking it.
 
SJ

Blacksmithing has become a very popular hobby in recent years as some people like to practice ancient trades and others like to make and sell custom goods. The demand for custom metal work is substantial. Knives for example are a hot commodity these days. Before this the craft had nearly died and many anvils were scrapped or tossed. Now that blacksmithing has become a hobby, and even a business in some cases again, folks with disposable income seek out the remaining anvils. Many of the anvils made today are lesser quality and there is a sense of satisfaction folks get from using century old wrought iron to pound on. Plus there are collectors. Sadly, the folks that stole yours probably sold it for quick cash or fancied themselves as a blacksmith and rationalized taking it because they are putting it back to work while you were doing nothing with it. Losers.

Eric
 
Losers is right. But I'd like to think someone, somewhere, is getting use and enjoyment out of it. My family had a livery stable in the late 1800's-early 1900's which is where it came from. My grandfather had a few tools he banged out on it when he was a kid, one being an adze he used to rough out decoy bodies before they owned a bandsaw. Pretty crude but the ducks didn't mind.
 
Im on about the same timeline too! We will need to have a big DHBP retirement party

Nice score on the tractor and anvil.
 
I'll take that anvil for $100 if it will ship in USPS flat rate box :).

Tractor looks great warshed up.
 
Eric,

It looks like you found a nice green tractor. My uncle still has three Olivers back home. I have spent a lot of time on an Oliver in the past.

Tom
 
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