How you feel when selling a wheel horse?

[JoeM 7,874]

Been thinning things out a bit last year or two. Kind of like the little blue pill syndrome. You got to have some place to put them! I'm to the point now if I can't keep them under roof cover, and I am done with tarps, I'm letting them go.

But........

I am finding a strange feeling after a sale, even if the price was right, that stack of cash just seems like it is not worth the value of the machine sold. 

 

[rjg854 11,361]

Sometimes it seems as though letting a tractor go is almost like losing a pet.

[Maxwell-8 4,275]

Yes, for sure I had to sell the 314, as it was financially hard to keep. even the 312-8 is sold to an aunt. It's hard seeing the trailer driving off with "my" horse on it. I feel miserable for a week or so, even if I didn't had the Horses for more then a couple months. Ever since I sold the 314, the stack of 1200$ is still laying here. Even though it's a lot of money, there ain't better things to do with it. So I started searching for another WH. Just couldn't find nothing for two months, even put up an add: wanted Wheel Horse, any condition, any price. on the local craigslist. I received NOT a single reaction.  Luckily @bizon still has a Horse so I bought it yesterday. gonne pick it up Thursday. restoration topic will be started along with pics.

Since WH are getting so rare here, it's possibly one of my  last changes to buy one, so whatever price/condition I can find, I will buy it! 

[peter lena 8,627]

@JoeM, have had similar thoughts on selling any of my stuff, my first concern is will the next owner maintain my level of regular maintenance ?  probably not. when you put the hours into these rigs , you are attached to them  and have a concern that they live on. I would have to show the next owner how to run it . years ago I sold a pristine dirt bike , serviced, maintained , cleaned / waxed , next day he stuck it in a tree !  its tough to sell anything that you have made a part of you . my wife would say , that I treat my stuff like living objects , I guess I do .  that's part of the horse sickness that many of us share . pete  

[Maxwell-8 4,275]

Guys, I am already getting emotional.

[seuadr 488]

i dunno, never happened.

 

never sold any of my gravelies either

[tunahead72 2,412]

30 minutes ago, JoeM said:

... You got to have some place to put them! I'm to the point now if I can't keep them under roof cover, and I am done with tarps, I'm letting them go.

But........

I am finding a strange feeling after a sale, even if the price was right, that stack of cash just seems like it is not worth the value of the machine sold. 

 

 

I wasn't going to reply to this one, or even follow it, because I've never sold a Wheel Horse (other than to trade in my first Frankenhorse on a new 310-8 way back when).  But you hit a couple of nerves...

 

I don't have a garage, or much more room for another shed, and I'm done with tarps too.  At some point I have to make some kind of decision about my motorcycle, which hasn't run in over a year and now sits under a nice cover, but it really needs a building to keep it protected.  And my C-105, which also hasn't run recently, sits near it in the yard under a tarp.  I've owned both these machines for a long time, they've served me well and enriched my life in so many ways, and it's going to be really painful if I decide I have to sell either one of them for some reason.

 

About the money thing, a very long time ago, I sold a bunch of albums so I could buy ... something else.  It seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but now almost 50 years later, the stuff that I bought is long gone and I'd much rather have those albums back in my collection.

 

Life goes on, and I try not to agonize over these things for too long, but it can be hard.  I'm interested in hearing what you guys have to say.

 

[pacer 3,169]

I've kinda figured for some time now that I may be .... sort of an exception to the acquisition/selling on my horses? I sell them!

 

I dont fish, golf, hunt, etc, I'm happiest when I'm in my ...."Man Cave" breathing life back into ---- well, most anything, but WH's are my first choice. Finding that old tractor sitting all forlorn out back in the weeds and dragging it home and work maybe 2-3 months taking it apart and reassembling it to as near as possible to original, spending WAY too much money on it and after admiring it for a few days/weeks put it on Cl, sell it (Usually quickly!) losing a fair bit of money.... well, I've been told more than a few times that I must be nuts!! 

 

But, this is my .... Joy? in life, I get my thrill when I put an ad on CL and more times than not its gone within some 48hrs and the look/smile on the new owners face can make me forget about the long hrs and money lost. Although on one I roughly figured I made something like $40-50 over my cost for parts - obviously labor would have to raise the price...... .... a LOT!!

 

Like a lot of youall, space does figure into mine, I can comfortably keep about 5 under cover (at this moment I have 4) My favorites are the big (think Big D's!!) garden sized tractors. 

[johnnymag3 2,520]

I always get a punch in the gut when anything Wheel Horse leaves...a tractor...an engine...a deck...random rare parts....set of Chrome caps.....But I get relief in the new owner being happy and satisfied.

 

I never want to sell anything...…………..but ………………..Life goes on.  Hmmmm now there is free space...

 

TIME TO BUY ANOTHER WHEEL HORSE !!!!

[squonk 41,118]

When I sold my 704 to @clueless, I felt like I sold my dog. 

[clueless 2,991]

1 hour ago, squonk said:

When I sold my 704 to @clueless, I felt like I sold my dog. 

Your dog is living a great retired life here in Florida .

[Herder 2,354]

To buy and sell or to buy and keep?  This is always the question!!  I am guilty of bolt, I have managed to keep the ones that I love most.  I have sold some that left an empty feeling, some I was happy to sell to someone who would enjoy the tractor or the attachment.  Some of them just come and go.  Some stick around for far to long.  Usually I am pressed to sell because of space, if I cant keep them under cover, then I choose to sell.  Anyone want to buy a tractor?  Come see me. 

[Pullstart 62,881]

I have a much lesser attachment to attachments.  If I can buy a group of WH stuff, then sell off what is not needed, and recoup most of what I have into the bundle... then I can justify another nearly free tractor.  Now looking around trying to decide what tractor should leave the stable... That’s hard!  I’d rather cannibalize what I need from a nearly complete machine for the life of another one, than sell a runner.

[WHX?? 48,815]

Know what you mean Joe... not on the little blue pill thing the horses... well yah maybe both.  

Back in my military days I had ALOT of nice guns but sold most of them - 40 years later I still kick myself. Recently let go of a 401 that I never ran or showed ... had three year old gas in it.

What's grieving me now is I sold it to a flipper when I should have sold it to some one who is gonna give it a good home like Clueless.

Only problem is five more tractors, two decks and a tiller took it's place and with the price of lumber who can afford to put a barn over their heads? My motto now is like my Harley ..if you ain't gonna ride it might as well sell it. I make it a point to get the Harley out now and then. Hoping I ain't gonna be around forty more years to kick myself. 

[Pullstart 62,881]

@WHX24 last year traded me a 701 engine and my kid got his 401 after I farmed her out for some child labor dissing his garden.  Still not sure how she ended up with it!  What he didn’t know (nor did we) at the time, is the Clinton engine on it was original.  No need to kick himself too hard though, she loves that thing.  We had it out last night for the first time since September-ish... and with old gas it still fired on the third pull! No smoke, just good times!

[Pollack Pete 2,273]

I don't have to feel sad about selling anything Wheel Horse related very often.No body wants to buy anything I have for sale any way.Stuff sits in classified section and or CL long enough that I just say screw it and end up keeping my stuff.Too bad.Sold a 2 stage blower and a 48 inch mower deck to a kid a couple yrs ago.Real nice respectable kid.I ended up giving him a free Wheel Horse tractor to go along with his purchase.Oh well.......

[Bill D 1,921]

I've only sold one so far.  I sold it to a neighbor that just moved in.  I couldn't let him buy something from Home Depot.  He worked as a mechanic at one point in his life, so I'm sure he'll take good care of it.  If he needs any help with it, I'm just up the street and always happy to help.  Bill

[Beap52 811]

I'm to the point in my life, that if I buy something, then I have to sell something else.  I have all the toys I care to try to take care of.  Some of  my stuff I have had for 50 years.  I have owned a '71 El Camino since I bought it new, A 1947 Chevrolet sedan delivery I bought in 1972 and a host of other stuff.   I had to sell a few things such as a 1971 Chevelle with 28K miles to a 16 year old no less.  My philosophy is if I can't keep my stuff stored inside then I can't keep it.  I tell folks that "I have had the El Camino longer than I have had the wife and kids".  I also joke and say about the Delivery, "Two more payments and this baby is mine!"  I, like a lot of you, become "attached" to stuff.  but realize that at some time in the future I am going to have to pare down--not looking forward to that time.   My dad was dying of cancer.  He came out to his shop where we were piling his tools on a flat bed trailer preparing for an auction.  His eyes watered up, then he said, "You don't realize how much I have used these tools and what they have meant to me and you all treat them like junk." 

 

[Roger R 448]

54 minutes ago, Beap52 said:

....how much I have used these tools and what they have meant to me....

 

Wow. That's tough to imagine.  At 70, I have a son, a son in law, and 3 grand sons.  I am hoping most of mine will find a home as they all have an interest in things mechanical

[WHX?? 48,815]

18 hours ago, pullstart said:

child labor dissing his garden.

Yah she did a real good dissing job...couldn't grow anything the rest of the year! 

 

12 hours ago, Beap52 said:

owned a '71 El Camino since I bought it new,

Don't let @elcamino/wheelhorse know about that! 

[squonk 41,118]

5 minutes ago, WHX24 said:

 

 

Don't let @elcamino/wheelhorse know about that! 

Waldo and I are old enough to remember wrenching on the old "Batwing" Camino's"  6 bangers, Powerglides, no power steering and brakes. No AC. Good Times! 

[Handy Don 12,231]

27 minutes ago, squonk said:

Waldo and I are old enough to remember wrenching on the old "Batwing" Camino's"  6 bangers, Powerglides, no power steering and brakes. No AC. Good Times! 

I won't ask what years were "batwing" Camaros 

Two of my brothers were GM engineers and very sensitive about any perceived slights directed toward GM products. Since I didn't like the products, and never owned a GM vehicle (even with the attraction of the employee pricing), cars simply became an off-limits topic at family gatherings.

[Handy Don 12,231]

13 hours ago, Beap52 said:

 My dad was dying of cancer.  He came out to his shop where we were piling his tools on a flat bed trailer preparing for an auction.  His eyes watered up, then he said, "You don't realize how much I have used these tools and what they have meant to me and you all treat them like junk." 

 

When my Dad was forced to break up his shop, I organized a family "tool draft". After a lottery to determine the order (how else could you rank children and grandchildren?), first children and then grandchildren got to pick one tool each. We went around until pretty much everything was gone. There were even "trades" of picks, like sports drafts (I'll pick the table saw for you if you pick the belt/disk sander for me...). A couple of items which we knew were very important to someone in particular were tacitly understood to be "off limits" to picks until that person's turn. 

 

Like yours, my Dad was very sad to see the shop broken up but he told me he took solace that every tool went to someone in the family who wanted it and would use it.

 

It was huge effort for me to catalog and organize everything (two solid weekends) and persuade everyone that this was a fair way to do but I look back with satisfaction that it turned out well and with no hard feelings. In fact, during the process we had some laughs and tears at some of the surprising choices--some grandchildren asking "what the heck is that used for" while others recounted Dad showing them how to use a particular tool and so that was their pick.

Edited May 18, 2021 by Handy Don

[clueless 2,991]

20 hours ago, WHX24 said:

Know what you mean Joe... not on the little blue pill thing the horses... well yah maybe both.  

Back in my military days I had ALOT of nice guns but sold most of them - 40 years later I still kick myself. Recently let go of a 401 that I never ran or showed ... had three year old gas in it.

What's grieving me now is I sold it to a flipper when I should have sold it to some one who is gonna give it a good home like Clueless.

Only problem is five more tractors, two decks and a tiller took it's place and with the price of lumber who can afford to put a barn over their heads? My motto now is like my Harley ..if you ain't gonna ride it might as well sell it. I make it a point to get the Harley out now and then. Hoping I ain't gonna be around forty more years to kick myself. 

Any of you who want your round hoods to enjoy a nice retired life in Florida, I have plenty of room, no cost to you . 

[squonk 41,118]

46 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

I won't ask what years were "batwing" Camaros 

Two of my brothers were GM engineers and very sensitive about any perceived slights directed toward GM products. Since I didn't like the products, and never owned a GM vehicle (even with the attraction of the employee pricing), cars simply became an off-limits topic at family gatherings.

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