While many farmers cruise the farm equipment showroom floors kicking the tires on the technologically advanced and the newest, Jim Barnett is likely to be cruising, too. But instead of drooling over the offerings at the local dealership, he's more likely to be looking longingly at some old tractor rusting away behind a barn somewhere.

"I love the old tractors," he says, "and I think they deserve preservation as a part of our heritage. And they have monetary value, too. I just hate to see them go to waste."

Above, a non-standard hood ornament graces a tractor. Below is a lineup of classics.

Thanks to Jim and others like him, antique tractors are not nearly as likely to go to waste as they used to be. There are restorers all over the place, in fact. "It used to be a shame to see a tractor sitting out and rusting away," he says, "but now it's getting to be a rarity. People have really started taking an interest in restoring old tractors."

Jim kind of "backed into" the hobby when his father died in 1966, leaving two older tractors as part of his estate. At about the same time, Jim and a friend were building a "hot" garden tractor, using various automotive components. It was a short shuffle from the fun of building a lawn tractor to the fun of rebuilding the farm kind.

While Jim, who works for a Rantoul auto dealership, was working on tractors, his son, John, was developing an affinity for them, too. Before long, they had a collection growing in their machine shed, a membership in the Indiana-Illinois Tractor Club, and a tractor or two that was ready to show off in parades and the like.

While their hobby was building, Mrs, Barnett—Martha—was helping out when she could. "I used to drive them in parades," she says, "but I quit when I was right in the middle of a parade and the tractor died. I was never so embarrassed in my life. I quit that right then and there, although I help when I can. I'll drive a tractor into town for a parade if someone wants to drive it in the actual parade, and things like that I don't do parades any more, though."

Jim and John divide up the work according to their abilities, with Jim doing a lot of the painting and body work, while John does more of the engine repairs. "Dad's really particular about how the body work's done," John says, "so I leave most of that to him. I do a lot of the engine work."

Not surprisingly, he's involved in engine work at school, too. He's taking ag mechanics classes and has been accepted for training in a John Deere mechanic's program at Lake Land College. He hopes that course, sponsored by area Deere dealers, will be a big step toward getting a job as a tractor mechanic.

Whatever happens in that regard, he has plenty of tractors to practice on. They have some 10 or

6  ILLINOIS COUNTRY LIVING JUNE 1996

From left, Martha, Jim and John Barnett are pictured with one of their favorite tractors.

11 tractors in their shed in various stages of repair and disrepair, and the number fluctuates often.

"I'll get a tractor any way I can," Jim says with a smile, "and I'm always on the lookout. There's a nice one out in the shed now that I saw parked out in a church yard. I stopped by and put a note in the door, asking if they'd be interested in selling it. As time went by, I kind of forgot about it. Four years later, I got a call. It wound up costing more than most, but it turned out to be one of my nicer tractors. I have another one, a B International, that's a real joy. I traded a push mower for it."

Martha notes that she's not always included in the negotiations leading up to new purchases, and occasionally gets caught by surprise. "They'll see a tractor they like," she chuckles, "and they'll talk about it for a while without seeming to decide what to do. Next thing I know, there'll be a new tractor in the flock."

Jim laughs, adding, "We'll talk about something, and when we make up our minds that we'd like to have a particular tractor, we set out to get it We'll buy, trade, or whatever."

"They were talking about a new tractor," Martha says, "and one day I walked out and there was one sitting in the yard. Someone had dropped it off and hadn't said a word. It's a Deere, and it's the newest of our tractors."

Jim notes that his tractors are old or antique, but not really rare. "There are some really rare tractors around," he says, "and everyone hopes to find one, but they're really expensive any more. I've decided that 'old' is good enough for me."

"It's interesting to see what's happened in the antique tractor market," he says, "because when I got started working with them, they didn't have hardly any value at all. Now, more and more people are getting interested, and they're getting more and more expensive.

"I'm glad to see that in a way, because I like to see the old machines saved, but that makes my hobby a little more expensive, too," he says.

The Barnetts are not really purists when it comes to restoration, they note. And even a cursory examination of their tractors will bear out that statement. One has the hood ornament from a classic car, while another has a wolf whistle. One has an air horn, and yet another boasts some non-standard pin striping. "We're in it for the fun," Jim says, "and the little unusual touches just make it a little more fun. That's good enough for us."

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