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As any collector knows, whether his or her particular passion is fossils, Renaissance art, early American furniture or baseball cards, collecting takes commitment.

          Nobody knows this better than collectors of antique and vintage tractors. You must commit time, money and space – and in the case of tractors, it’s a lot of space since you can’t exactly line them up on a shelf or tuck them into an album.

But to tractor collectors, it’s definitely worth it.

Ford/Fordson

          John Kern’s dad farmed with Ford tractors, and when Kern started farming on his own in Spencer County, he also gravitated to Fords.

          “When I bought this farm, I bought an 861 – that was my first Ford tractor,” he said.

          Then he got interested in Henry Ford and the Fordson. The Fordson, which was introduced to American farmers in 1918, was the first lightweight, mass-produced tractor on the market. Its name is a contraction of Henry Ford and Son. Another company had trademarked the name “Ford Tractor Company” and used it for a short time for its own unsuccessful tractor now known as the “Minneapolis Ford,” which is why Henry Ford called his tractor a Fordson.

          As a result of his interest, Kern bought a 1937 Fordson and started talking to a very knowledgeable Fordson enthusiast.

          “That’s what really got me going,” he said.

          Kern and his son Joseph still farm with Fords, producing corn, soybeans, wheat and cattle. He has 27 Fordsons and 31 Fords for a total of 58 tractors, and he is on the board of directors of the Ford/Fordson Collectors Association.

          One thing he doesn’t have is one of the original and rare Minneapolis Fords.

“I’d still like to have one, just because of the connection to the history,” he said.

Massey

           John Bush of Shelbyville was familiar with Massey tractors from a young age since both his dad and grandpa had Massey-Harris Model 44s.

Bush grew up on a farm, but he “went off to be an engineer” for Caterpillar and then Cummins. He retired after 40 years as an engineer and now keeps busy helping a neighbor plant and harvest, producing corn, soybeans and some alfalfa.

He also keeps busy with antique tractors. He is currently the president of the Indiana Massey Collectors Association.

His interest started in 1984 when he attended the Pioneer Engine Show in Rushville.

“That’s when the bug bit me,” he said. His first purchase was a John Deere A. Later he was able to buy the Massey-Harris Model 44 – nicknamed “Old Sam” – that had belonged to his grandfather. From there, the collection continued to grow.

“The first time I heard a Massey 44 diesel run, I had to have one,” he said. He now owns 20 Massey-Harris tractors, 17 Massey-Fergusons and one Ferguson.

“I have some other colors in the barn, too,” he said, referring to his John Deeres, Fords and a Farmall.

Minneapolis-Moline

           It was poor grades in handwriting that led indirectly to John Feutz’s very first antique tractor, a 1949 Minneapolis-Moline Z.

A family friend who had introduced Feutz to tractor shows told him, “‘If you can make an A in handwriting for a semester, I will buy you a tractor.’ That was pretty good motivation for a fifth grader,” Feutz said. “And I worked pretty hard on my handwriting.” The result was that the friend bought Feutz his 1949 MM.

Feutz and his wife, Marybeth, own a mixed-animal veterinarian practice in Princeton, Indiana. They and his father, Jim, a semi-retired vet, also own a cow-calf herd and grow hay for their cattle and for sale.

Hay sales are “how I support my tractor habit,” Feutz said. This habit has led to Feutz, his father and his son, Joseph, amassing 25 antique and collectible tractors that represent 15 different brands – including three Minneapolis-Molines.

“I just like tractors. If it’s something that not everybody has, there’s a pretty good chance that I might be interested,” he added.