Editor’s note: The Farm Progress Show is Aug. 27-29 in Boone, Iowa. Visit FarmProgressShow.com.

Today’s 700-hp tractors are powerful enough to pull multiple implements through rocky ground. Beneath their glistening paint is a technological foundation that dates back a century, to an era dominated by revered names like IH Farmall, Massey, J.I. Case, John Deere, Allis-Chalmers and Oliver. These and other predecessors of today’s iron will be on display this year at Antique Row at the 2024 Farm Progress Show.

“Every one of these tractors tells a story. They helped to feed a family or families. Every one of them did work,” says Dave Raymond of the Central Iowa Tractor Club. “It’s fun to go back, find the parts — sometimes that’s difficult — and get them restored. Some of these tractors look better than they did when they rolled off the assembly line.”

History displayed

Volunteers from the Central Iowa Tractor Club will bring about a dozen antique machines to the show, in all paint colors.

“It’s a nice display for attendees. It’s right on the grounds and easy to get to. It’ll show up on the map and in the program books,” Raymond says.

“In addition to the tractor display, which will be out on the south end of the grounds, our tractor club — as they have for 20 years or so now — will run the crop demonstration shuttles back and forth between the grounds and the crop demonstrations,” he adds.

Matt Jungmann, Farm Progress national events director, says the classic tractor display is designed to “honor the history that got us here. It’s not one individual technological advancement — it’s a continuum, over time, of these machines getting bigger, faster and more capable. You can track that over time by visiting Antique Row.”

Other clubs that will have antique tractors on display include:

Skip Welte, a member of The Allis Connection, says he’ll probably showcase his 100-hp Allis-Chalmers D21 tractor.

In its heyday during the early 1960s, the D21 was the largest row crop tractor available. And with a price tag of around $10,000, it was the most expensive tractor Allis-Chalmers had ever produced.

“We’ll have a small booth set up, and there will be someone there to answer any questions,” Welte says, noting that passersby can also become a member of the club. “We’ll probably have some calendars, too.”

As of a recent meeting of mid-Iowa collectors, Irv Sorge, of the J.I. Case Collectors’ Association, says at least eight antique machines had been committed to the Farm Progress Show.

‘A labor of love’

Showcasing the tractors requires substantial effort. The volunteers, some of whom are old enough to remember working the fields with their now-antique machines, scrub them clean, make sure they run smoothly and then haul them to the venue.

“It’s a big commitment,” Sorge says.

That’s not even considering the effort it takes to restore an old tractor. “The older they get, the harder it is to find parts,” he says. “Sometimes, parts need to be made. It takes time. If you’re looking to get rich doing this, you’re in the wrong business. You’re lucky to make back what you put in.”

Every nut, bolt, bearing and gear must be brought back to like-new condition, with original specs. It takes many grease-covered years — and a lot of money.

Raymond says beneath their ironclad skin, the machines hold generational history that’s at risk of being forgotten. The old machines that will be displayed at Antique Row planted the seeds that sprouted the roots of America’s storied agricultural tradition, he adds.

“As bigger tractors came along, the older tractors became chore tractors, doing light work around the farm. A lot of them ended up in a barn somewhere or in a field. We’ve restored tractors that had a tree growing up through them,” he says. “There are people who can’t hardly pass up a tractor sitting in a field looking like they need to be rescued. It’s a great hobby. It’s certainly a labor of love.”