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Three 1982 JD 4440s with under 1,900 hours, one with only 47 and a 7720 combine with 477 hours? Wow!
Naturally, folks have been wondering, what the heck? How is it this guy had all these unbelievably low hour items? Can those low hours be right? I'm here to tell you folks, difficult as it is to believe, they're all legit.
Remember the Beverly Hillbillies TV show from the 1960s? Old Jed Clampett struck oil, packed up and moved to Hollywood. . . "swimming pools, movie stars."
Well, consider this the tale of a real life Jed Clampett from Illinois. Except this Jed Clampett, small livestock farmer Wayne Crooks, didn't move to Hollywood after he struck oil back in 1981. He stayed put and remained the same unassuming guy he'd always been, complete with his customary outfit of choice, his trusty bib overalls.
The Sullivan brothers knew Wayne for many years.
"We had an 80-acre land auction the last Friday of September last year in Brown County," says Dan Sullivan. "It was a 10 a.m. sale and Wayne was there. I asked him how he was doing? He was wearing the bib overalls. He wound up buying the land. The following Wednesday he died of a heart attack."
That was October 2, 2008. Wayne Crooks was 83 years old.
After the discovery of oil in 1981 on his land, negotiations ensued with oil companies. Henry Energy of Arlington, Texas, reached an agreement with Mr. Crooks in October 1982 for 75% of the oil rights on his 160-acre farm. As part of the agreement, Mr. Crooks retained 25% of the oil rights, plus Henry Energy purchased 800 acres of prime land for him in adjoining Adams County.
But there was one more part to the agreement. Henry Energy purchased a full line of farm equipment for Mr. Crooks, the very pieces of equipment coming up for sale on the March 6th auction.
Still the question remains, why hardly any hours on the tractors and combine?
"He never really attempted farming the land himself," says Jim Sullivan. "He rented it out to a couple different guys over the years. The hours he did put on his equipment was simply to help out his renters."
The shiny new equipment just wasn't that important to him. The 1982 JD 4440 with 47 hours? Crooks simply kept it shedded all these years. No big deal to him. It sat on the concrete floor shed with no windows. Waiting, waiting, waiting.
"The machinery didn't mean that much to him, adds Jim. "He never changed."
I got a phone call earlier this week from a former neighbor of Wayne Crooks. He was aware of the coming auction and had heard rumblings on Internet chat boards saying the 1982 JD 4440 tractor with 47 hours couldn't be right. The former neighbor was miffed, so he gave me a call.
"The story is true. He was just a small livestock guy on 160 acres," defends the former neighbor. "The machinery just wasn't that important to him."
So now you know the story of the man behind the 1982 JD 4440 tractor with 47 hours. Quite a remarkable life for Mr. Wayne Crooks, born in 1925, one of 11 kids, educated through the 7th grade, farmed his whole life, wearer of bib overalls.
So, what will the 1982 JD 4440 with 47 hours sell for?
$45,000? $50,000? $60,000? $70,000? More? Impossible to study other comparable 4440s. When was the last time you saw one with under 50 hours? When will you ever get a chance to bid on another one? This auction is basically like going back in a time capsule to the early 1980s. The interest in the auction and the low hour equipment has been off the charts.
"Both our lines have been ringing off the hook," says Dan.
This auction is just too good to pass up. I'll be there, along with our film crew for our "Machinery Show" on RFD-TV. I'm expecting a large crowd, folks there to bid, but also there to catch a glimpse of these rare low-hour items.
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Check back here on www.agriculture.com next Friday afternoon, March 6th. As quickly as we can after the 1982 JD 4440 with 47 hours sells, we'll post video and show you what it sold for. For more information on the auction go to www.sullivanauctioneers.com. You can also watch the auction at home or bid from your couch through www.proxibid.com.
Below I've worked up a list of all the JD 4440 tractors I've seen sold at auction the last 13 years, all 932 of them. I've gone through and highlighted the very nicest ones in the bunch.
Click here to view auction sale price data on John Deere 4440 tractors.
Check back here next Friday and see if you were close.
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