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Steam Tractors for sale
The value in an engine is in what you do not have to repair. Here are some estimates to buy or repair parts of a steam engine. A good boiler is worth $20,000.00, good paint $5,000.00, good whistle, gauges and injectors $3000.00, good engine $7,000.00, good governor $1,000.00, good bunkers $10,000.00, good wheels and metal $5000.00 . We are already up over $50,000.00. And that is just for "good" not exceptional. If you find an engine that is running for $18,000.00 it is a much better value than a rusted yard ornament with unknown repair and restoration costs. When the asking price for a restored, certified engine with a nice paint job and good bunkers costs $35,000.00 or more it is easy to see why they cost that much! Yard ornaments are only worth a fraction of the value of a restored engine. I have seen them sell for less than $2000.00, and even compete ones sell for $5000.00 (or less) if there is suspicion about the boiler and damaged or missing bunkers. ANY decent running engine should cost $35 to 40K. Now add in rarity, desirability (really big or small) and provenance (history) you can see that Case steam tractors have really not risen to nearly the levels they might. I do not think there where ever be a time where you will not be able to operate a steam engine. There is simply no inherent safety problem to support a ban. So buy the tractor you want now, in the future the good ones will just go higher and the bad ones will cost more to fix. As you can see, steam tractors can vary all over the place in value from $3500.00 for a yard ornament to $150,000.00 for a rare one. The smallest Case is a 30 Horse and the largest is a 110. Both of these tractors sell well in excess of the other sized because there are so few of them. Case is a very popular brand so it commands about 25% more for the same condition of tractor. I think that $20 to $25.000.00 for a running 45 to 60 hp Case is a fair price. If it needs work then the value can drop, if it is pristine then it should go up. Add 20% for each 10 hp increase after that. George cost around 20K and cost about that again to repair. It is much more expensive to repair a inexpensive tractor than to buy a good running one for more money. |
