A 79-year-old farmer in the UK has had enough of collecting tractors and will auction them off at the end of this month. All 230 of them.
Paul Rackman stands to collect up to £2 million if the collection sells out. It has been billed by auctioneers Clarke and Simpson as “surely one of the finest collections of vintage and classic tractors” in the world.
Kept in pristine collection in a grain store on Rackman’s farm in Norfolk, the collection includes the last example of a Holt 75 military tractor, which was used to pull Howitzer guns to the front line in WWI. It’s expected to pull £250,000.
The oldest tractor in his collection, a Sanderson Model G, could sell for up to £65,000.
All up, more than 30 manufacturers are represented, from John Deere to Weeks-Dungey. Here’s a few more classic items:
1948 DAVID BROWN Threshing Model VTK1
1941 DAVID BROWN VIG 1/100
1940 FORDSON Roadless Half-Track
A spokesman for Clarke and Simpson estimated that Rackham had spent more on the collection than he was likely to get back.
As for Rakcham, he says it’s simply time to move on.
“My family do not share the same passion as I do in collecting tractors and the time has come in life when decisions have to be made,” he told the Daily Mail.
“It is time to take on another challenge.”
The sale is being held at Rackham’s farm in Norfolk on September 26.