Original or Painted?

[larryanderson]

Which is best?I have seen a very FEW nice originals that outsell a near perfect restoration.Restoration Expo quality painting can cost several thousand dollars and no matter how nice they are they only new once.I like both but wondering what your opinion is.

 

[John T]

Having been to a ton of shows (given Seminars at Expos and GOG) I always advise folks if they come across an ORIGINAL unrestored tractor thats in good shape with good sheet metal and original even decals peeking through

DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT RUINING IT AND MAKING IT LOOK LIKE 1000 OTHER COMMON "RESTORED" TRACTORS EVEN IF ONE HAS A $3000 PERFECT PAINT JOB.

ANYONE can have a perfectly restored tractor but how many nice STRAIGHT ORIGINALS are out there???? NOTE Im NOT talking about a total junk beat all to H ll rusted piece of crap mind you, Im talkin an original straight good shapoe ORIGINAL tractor

What they have is ORIGINAL while anyone can paint a tractor so why mess it up and make it look like every other so called "restored" tractor.

HOWEVER I do advise them to clean and degrease it and maybe buff it out to smoothen n slick it down a bit and have it tuned perfect and repair and restore all the mechanical functions JUST DONT PAINT IT and make ot look like every other tractor that anyone and their brother in law owns grrrrrrrrrr

BUTTTTTTTTT its their tractor and they are free to do as they please and if theyre happy Im happy, this IS ONLY my opinion and how I would do it so yall do as you like

Best wishes n God Bless

John T

 

[n29we]

I agree totally with John T. They only look original once! Once the paint goes on there is no turning back. It is all in the eyes of the owner. I was recently at a show with my original BO, when an old timer walked up and said, boy that's a really nice straight tractor, when are going to paint it? I was speechless, but I nicely told him that there would never be a paint can anyway near it as long as I owned it. He politely shook his head as he walked away.

 

[n29we]

Here is my 1939 BO.

 

[n29we]

Here is a original unstyled L that is in my collection too. Original except for the rear wheels and tires. Jim O

 

[Ray]

530

 

[John T]

NICE Original pieces, "Now thats what Im talkin about"

John T

 

[Ray]

1933 chevy

 

[larryanderson]

I love it when we get a topic that gets people to respond.

 

[Mike Groom]

At the two cylinder show in Grand Detour last year there were two barn find originals there,They drew more attention tnan any other tractor,including mine and I'm a Ford guy!They're only original once,let the younger generation be the ones that want everything shiny and new,they'll get smarter in there old age to.

 

[730d se]

ORIGINAL, for so many reasons.
One of the funny things is that when we restore them, many of us go to get pains and cost to make them as "perfect" as possible.
If you have ever seen a really good true original, the paint is far from perfect. Paint runs, areas of light and heavy paint are easy to find.
Another reason is that sellers for many years have used new paint to conceal a piece of junk that is trying to bypass going to the junk yard. They know that people still get fooled by it.
Unless I know the restorer, I would want to see pictures and receipts of what was actually done.
Nothing like a pile of NOS parts connected together correctly and running!

 

[Larry Baker]

Original,anyone can cover and hide but in their working cloth's well its just great.I see more and more those that are restored and wont hardly run form the trailer to the tree and he tells you he has or paid $xxxx to have it restored.Tractors,cars,trucks,woman all can be pretty surprising without their make-up

 

[tim s]

Original is okay ,,but I want mine to "Shine",,I wash my house every spring, I keep my barns painted and I even wax my old shop truck,,I start out every day with clean work clothes...and yes at the end of the day I'm a mess, I work the shop truck and I use the barns..I sorta think taking a rusty tractor to a show would be like going to church in your work clothes.....and as far as "expensive" hired to be done restorations, they are nice,,but I appreciate one done by the owner, going through them your self puts you in touch with the heart and soul of your project,,and doing this with a youngster looking on instills a special kind of interest into them.

 

[John T]

I sure dont like them all nasty and dirty and greasy (Still prefer ORIGINAL) thats why I stated:

"HOWEVER I do advise them to clean and degrease it and maybe buff it out to smoothen n slick it down a bit and have it tuned perfect and repair and restore all the mechanical functions"

Very fun chat

John T

 

[Anonymous-0]

I think nice is the key word here. I think nice would be original paint. Rusty isn't nice it's just rust.

 

[CLW]

About 2-3 years ago there was an original late styled B on ebay. It was the best looking B I have seen. Sold for $2,500. I think it was in Kansas.

 

[Jim G]

I bought a nice original 1935 John Deere Model B on full round spokes back in 1999 and the first thing I did to her was restore her. Boy, do I now wish I had left her in her work clothes and just oiled her down and left her alone. The engine had been rebuilt before I bought her and ran like a top. I had the carb and mag rebuilt. This was when I was new to collecting and did not know what a horrible mistake I was about to make when I decided to restore her. Hindsight is 20/20 and I wish I had left her the way I found her. Just my 2 cents!

 

[WJD]

Depends on a few things. If the original paint still looks good for its age leave it alone. If you plan to work the tractor from time to time leave it alone.
If you want a tractor that is only for show purposes and/or it is dinged up/rusty repaint it.

As someone else said it it is up to the owner.

Personally I'm a little scared of repainted tracrors at auctions that don't have pictures and documentation of the restoration. You may be buying a worn out tractor with a nice repaint.

 

[RonMC]

I bought a '51 AR quite a few years back and brought it to B.C. from Saskatchewan. It was original paint, never overhauled and I wanted to keep it that way, however, the humidity difference between the 2 places soon showed up. The shiny area on the fender by the platform became surface rust, the fender bottoms where they attach to the platform started getting a little heavier rust and I decided if I left it, it would be a mess very shortly. Did a cosmetic only resto myself and I love it ! I know what's there and what shape it's in. In a different climate, it would still be original, but we don't always have that choice. RonMC

 

[James Howell]

Depends on how you intend to use your tractor.

We use all of our tractors here on the farm; none were bought to be "restored" to show quality.

More than a few of our tractors were uglier than my stepmother when we bought them.

For example here's "Vernon" our 1956 Model 70 that was originally an LP tractor converted to gas by a previous owner.

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We've done mechanical and electrical work to improve the tractor's performance.

Cleaned off all the dirt, oil, and grease when we brought it home.

Even added some fresh paint here and there to help prevent rust.

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Changing the oil and filter today and will use "Vernon" on Monday to cut hay.

Another example is "Rusty" one of our 1951 MTs.

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We've done mechanical and electrical work to improve the tractor's performance.

Cleaned off all the dirt, oil, and grease when we brought it home.

We have not put one drop of new paint on this tractor; the rebuilt carb was painted when we bought it.

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"Rusty" is used every week to power one of the 5ft BushHog finishing mowers.

We've "spruced up", as the late [b:654c4848f0]Pat Browning[/b:654c4848f0] would say, several of our tractors.

All have been improved mechanically and electrically for safe and more efficient use here on the farm.

 

[Jake Winn]

I agree, Original is best if it can be left that way. Even old dealer or farmer repaints can be pretty good too. There are lots of tractors out there to restore, leave the original ones alone as long as you can. WD-40, diesel/30wt, and Fluid Film do a great job of putting a shine on old paint.

 

[Jake Winn]

Heres a pic of my Dad's 1945 BO. Still in the same town where it was sold new. Original red dot S-3 tires.

 

[Jake Winn]

My friends original 720LP STD (2nd one made) and 70D standard.

 

[Jake Winn]

an original 60 low seat im trying to get.

 

[thesmoothedeere]

Painted , thats if Jeff McManus is shooting it.

 

[40 JD G]

I like the originals the best. They are a lot harder to find but they are only original once.
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[Bob Harvey]

Running in the picture ? If so KOOOOLL !!

 

[alabamafrog]

I really like original, I enjoy taking my old rusty ugly 60 to shows. I usually also take one of the painted up A's as well and the 60 almost always gets more attention. I like sitting and watching which folks appreciate the rusty 60 and which folks stop to take pics of their kids on the A. I wish I had of left all of my tractors unpainted. When I first started going to shows I would look at the unpainted ones and think why would anyone think that is a show tractor, now they are my favorite ones to look over. What I don't understand is all the rusty beat up lawn mowers at most shows but to each his own.

Here is the 60 at a show,

 

[tim s]

Here are a couple of both ways

 

[tim s]

Here is my show 60

 

[tim s]

Here is my show 60 trying to start my 60C donor tractor, it had been setting in a barn for 12 years, had to shake the rust out of it...

 

[tim s]

Another pic of my show 60 and the grand kids,,one of my "Street Gators" beside it..

 

[tim s]

Shining her up..

 

[thesmoothedeere]

Some of Jeff's work ....

 

[Ken11487]

We all won't find "show worthy" original equipment to drive. A proper repaint and mechanical restoration gives me (hopefully) the chance to experience a new tractor or machine like my dad, grandfather or any farmer of the day had back then. Sorta like going back in time and experience the machines that led to today's state of the art. They weren't rusty when sold new.

 

[CBL95]

heres our original 57 520 still has 1 original tire even

 

[old popper]

I have some tractors both ways. One for sure that I will leave original is a '58 620 that I am the second owner of.

 

[AnthonyU]

I have to go with originals if you find them you should just leave them

 

[NoDakInMN]

Original or painted? I think it depends on how you view the hobby. If you consider yourself taking an active role in preserving a period of time in agricultural history, you are going to come down in favor of having the tractor look like it did while working in its hey day. On the other hand, if you view the hobby much as a classic car collector does, you are more likely to opt for auto paint and clear coating.

My 2 cents worth.

 

[rick deere]

Lets look at this from a differant angle, would you prefur your wife were makup or just go original

 

[tim s]

Good Point....

 

[alabamafrog]

(quoted from post at 12:28:42 04/15/12) Lets look at this from a differant angle, would you prefur your wife were makup or just go original

Hmmm, another way to look at it, do you prefer your wife all dressed up real nice or stripped down?
Me, I like both extremes, anywhere in the middle is just mediocre.

 

[JDChris]

ORIGINALs Are very nice and they are only that way ONCE! Here are a couple!

 

[JDChris]

ORIGINALS!!!

 

[Anonymous-0]

That is NOT an orginal tractor. Some stupid moron covered it with diesel fuel. They ruined it. You might as well sand blast it and paint it now.

 

[Beatles65]

I like them both ways. It is easier to work on originals because then you dont have to worry about scratching the paint, but a nice restore it always neat to have fun with too. Here are some of my original tractors in the collection.

 

[NoDakInMN]

When we went to work on the farm, we put on clean clothes, but not our best clothes. Worn clothes were the norm and the guy with new boots had to suffer teasing until they were "broke in".
Our tractors we cleaned and maintained but did not "dress up".

 

[Tom in Mo.]

Thought I'd throw mine in too.

 

[tim s]

Here is an extremely rough one that my neighbor pulled out of the weeds.