The Bug Has Bit Again-Potential C81 Purchase

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

As most of you have probably noticed, I haven't been very active around here lately, at least not in the Wheel Horse scene. Little over a year ago, the girl I was seeing left, and of course that meant I lost two wonderful little boys who called me Dad. One of the things the boys and I enjoyed together was wrenching and riding the Horses, after they were gone I kind of lost interest in the little tractors, and focused my attention more to the larger farm tractors and antique engines. Even went as far as selling most of my herd, only keeping the two seater, the 753, and Ray's C141. 

 

The past couple days I have been cleaning out the storage container to make room for some new engines I purchased this week, and came across two non running generators I had taken in on trade a few years back. Rather than haul them to the dump, I posted them up on FB Marketplace. Received a message this morning inquiring about the generators, ended up being the same guy who I bought a 1067 from a couple years ago. He didn't buy the generators, but he did send me pictures of this C81 that he took in on trade a week ago. Tractor was a one owner unit, has a broken rod but other than that is complete and in fairly good condition for it's age. He's asking $400 for it, but is open to offers and maybe trades as well. 

 

Still trying to convince the wife that we need it, may be kind of hard after I just dropped $700 on two engines three days ago

[Pullstart 62,905]

Looks pretty solid Bryce!  Is it worth 400 in your area?  

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

45 minutes ago, Pullstart said:

Is it worth 400 in your area?  

Im honestly not sure, given the fact that they are not very common around here I would think so

[kpinnc 12,083]

I would struggle to justify $400 for a tractor with a blown engine. If it were me, I'd offer less. All they can say is no.

 

That being said, the C-xx1 models were some of the best looking tractors built in my opinion.

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

1 hour ago, kpinnc said:

I would struggle to justify $400 for a tractor with a blown engine. If it were me, I'd offer less. All they can say is no.

 

That being said, the C-xx1 models were some of the best looking tractors built in my opinion.

I agree it does sound a bit high, but given the relative rarity of Wheel Horses in this area they do fetch a higher price than what most of yall are used to seeing. I might try to offer him a little less, but I really don't like doing that because I don't like when people do it to me. Maybe I'm weird but when I set a price to sell something, I set it at what I want out of it, and it really irks me when someone offers less than my asking price. Because this is how I am, I really have a hard time with making offers when buying anything as well. I really prefer to barter and trade with people rather than have any money exchange hands. 

[Maxwell-8 4,277]

2 hours ago, ClassicTractorProfessor said:

I agree it does sound a bit high, but given the relative rarity of Wheel Horses in this area they do fetch a higher price than what most of yall are used to seeing. I might try to offer him a little less, but I really don't like doing that because I don't like when people do it to me. Maybe I'm weird but when I set a price to sell something, I set it at what I want out of it, and it really irks me when someone offers less than my asking price. Because this is how I am, I really have a hard time with making offers when buying anything as well. I really prefer to barter and trade with people rather than have any money exchange hands. 

Lot of people ask more, because they know, they will get lower offers.

It happens all the time here. I think 300$ is fair 

[Retired Wrencher 5,464]

Bryce. The C is a good tractor in its form.  The only thing I never like was the cradle mounts. To me it robed power. I had a c141 great engine less the mount. But I believe there is someone who make a solid mount for them. Enjoy it if you but it.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Retierd Wrencher

["Manic-Mechanic" 1,194]

I do not like a "low ball offer", however I have politely asked if there  is any "wiggle room" Routinely anything I sell is listed at  fair market value and I have made some exceptions. That being said, Wheel Horse restorations, if done thoroughly, are not cheap by no means! The hours put into some of the past restorations would never be compensated in a sale. Most of what I do is a form of "therapy". Being retired and half crazy, it's a good thing for me. The Tractor isn't worth that as noted with the blown engine. I would buy it if I wanted it, regardless, that's just how I am. I do not see any big deal in $50 up or down on price, especially if I have an engine on the shelf for the project.

Example, I bought an A 90-Special, complete rust bucket!.  ($200)  Totally odd machine with a Horizontal Briggs on a cradle (which was missing). No deck either. I've since installed a 10hp-k241 on a Kohler cradle. So, yes, I'm upside down financially on the purchase, but the effort and engineering going into custom restoration of this Tractor is both, challenging & priceless, that's just my

Edited February 25, 2022 by "Manic-Mechanic"
grammer?

[Ed Kennell 38,209]

I just noticed a good running B-80 for sale in Omaha for $450 OBO.     Complete non runners in my area sell for $150.    I see this one is missing the tins and air cleaner.  I personally do not like the  C-XX1  anti-vibration rubber mount engines..

Of course, replacing the blown engine, you could make it good a C-120 solid mount tractor.      I just sold my working C-120 hydro for $500.

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

9 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

I just noticed a good running B-80 for sale in Omaha for $450 OBO.     Complete non runners in my area sell for $150.    I see this one is missing the tins and air cleaner.  I personally do not like the  C-XX1  anti-vibration rubber mount engines..

Of course, replacing the blown engine, you could make it good a C-120 solid mount tractor.      I just sold my working C-120 hydro for $500.

He did say he had all the tin work for it...

[kpinnc 12,083]

11 hours ago, ClassicTractorProfessor said:

I agree it does sound a bit high, but given the relative rarity of Wheel Horses in this area they do fetch a higher price than what most of yall are used to seeing. I might try to offer him a little less, but I really don't like doing that because I don't like when people do it to me.

 

As was said a few posts back, I wouldn't lowball him, but rather ask if he has a minimum he would consider. If he says no, then whether or not you buy it is up to you. If you are happy, that's all that matters. 

 

My point is that I will not entertain prices that are obviously high. Tractors here are few and far between, but whether it runs or not is a big part of a purchase. It's almost 50 years old, so I don't point out reasonable things. But at this point you're buying a project, not a working machine.

[Pullstart 62,905]

I do recall @oilwell1415 looking for some horses a couple years back, the prices that he was relaying seemed high for most of us too.  Bryce, if it’s worth it to ya we know it’ll go to a great home!  

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Here is the thing I look at when I see prices of these tractors in not only my area, but also other parts of the country. Yeah they seem to be considerably higher priced here than a lot of places. But it's also not often that one comes up for sale within a half hour drive from my house either. Most of the time when I find one for sale it is 300+ miles away. Though the one farther away may be considerably cheaper to buy, it may very well end up that I have more in it by the time I go and pick it up. 

 

Take for example the B80 in Omaha that @Ed Kennell referenced above. That tractor is 500 miles away from me. 1000 miles round trip. If I was to pay full price at $450 for that unit, by the time I drove the old truck 1000 miles there and back to pick it up at 7.5 MPG and going off the national average price of fuel, I would spend more in fuel to pick it up than I would have paid for the tractor. That's before you figure in that I would have to buy 6 new tires for the old truck before I felt comfortable going that far from home, and who knows what other unexpected expenses might come along driving a 41 year old truck 1000 miles dragging a trailer across three states. That's probably the main reason why the 1949 Farmall C that I purchased from my Grandpa 6 months ago is still sitting in his shed south of Kansas City. Paying for the tractor was the easy part, paying for the trip to retrieve the tractor not so much. I guess what I'm trying to say is that when all the other expenses are figured in, I could buy this C81 at full price and rebuild it, and may very well could come out money ahead over travelling to buy a runner out of state. 

 

All that being said, I am fixing to shoot the guy an offer on a trade that I am sure he will bite. I have a later model Troy-Bilt Bronco that runs and mows excellent, just had the deck gone through end of last summer. But it is so small and I am so tall that I am one sore dude after mowing our place with it. Thinking about offering it to him in trade for the Wheel Horse. Now I know no one in their right mind would trade a Horse for a box store junker if they were planning on using it, but this guy is a mower mechanic and refurbishes/resells machines. He could very easily get more money out of the Troy-Bilt than he would out of the Horse. so I see no reason why this wouldn't be a good trade for everyone involved. 

 

 

["Manic-Mechanic" 1,194]

Sounds like a good plan to me!  I just traded a 1959 Sears David Bradley for a John Deere L-100. Now I can get more out of the John Deere to a wider customer base than the obscure Sears! I don't know though, the guy came and almost drove off he front of his flat trailer, not knowing a thing about Sears/David Bradley, and couldn't explain it to a person who knows everything... Anyhow, yes, unless there is a very good reason to travel that far, I would pay more, closer to home! Be sure an post pictures!

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Well before I even had the chance to mention the trade to him he sent me a message saying that he would take $300 for it if I was seriously interested. I told him if he would hold onto it until next Friday when I get paid again he had a deal, as I had already spent my fun money allotment on two engines we are picking up tomorrow. He said that would be fine and that he was coming this way next Friday with two mowers and would even deliver it for the $300 since my place is right on his way. So by this time next weekend we will have another project, although I think this one may have already gotten stolen, Tasha took one look at it and said "that one is mine" and something about it being cuter than the rest of them we already have  Oh well its nice to have someone who is into these crazy hobbies as much as I am, even if it means having to share my toys 

[Sparky-(Admin) 21,326]

$300 isn’t a bad deal, good for you! 

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Tomorrow is the day...ended up that I am going to have to go pick up the tractor after work...he was going to deliver it as she had two mowers he was supposed to deliver around this area anyway. But those deliveries canceled so I have to go pick it up, which isn't too bad as I really needed to go to town after some oil/filters/other supplies that I try to keep on hand anyway. If it's not too late when we get back tomorrow I'll post some better pictures, either that or Saturday morning 

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

Just got home with the C81. Too dark to get any pics tonight, but I promise you there will be plenty to see tomorrow...stay tuned

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

As promised here are the pictures of the C81 after we got home

[Handy Don 12,235]

Wow, that is one clean tractor. Nice find and you've got some good stuff to work with there.

Hood was painted for sure.

I'd be concerned about how long it was run without an air filter. Also the wire holding the Hi_Lo lever and that extremely innovative steering wheel repair will need looking after! 

[ClassicTractorProfessor 5,314]

20 minutes ago, Handy Don said:

Wow, that is one clean tractor. Nice find and you've got some good stuff to work with there.

Hood was painted for sure.

I'd be concerned about how long it was run without an air filter. Also the wire holding the Hi_Lo lever and that extremely innovative steering wheel repair will need looking after! 

I don't think it was ever ran without the filter. I bought it from a guy in town who does small engine repair. He did all the maintenance on it the past several years for the original owner, whom I was told was very meticulous about upkeep. Andrew took it in on trade from the original owner, and took some of it apart...was going to fix it himself before he decided he had enough projects. I have the air breather assembly and the rest of the tin work, just didn't put them on as I am fixing to pull the engine off anyway

[pfrederi 17,741]

Hope you had it tied to the trailer for the trip home  Looks good!!  

 

So does the DC3 with wide front in the background!!!

 

[Moparfanforever 851]

Nice looking tractor!! Hard to beat an 8HP Kohler. 

["Manic-Mechanic" 1,194]

"Perfect Patina!"

[Thor27 769]

good looking tractor!