THE BEST

THE BEST BYKELLENOLSHEFSKI One of the world 's finest collections

INCREDIBLE JIM MILLS COLLECTION HEADED TO DAVENPORT

When it comes to

collecting, for some, it's all about finding the very best of the best and then proudly displaying it for others to see. Yet, for others, like Jim Mills, it's all about seeking out the seemingly impossible, the proverbial pots of gold of the collecting world, restoring them to their once former glory and then tucking them away for personal enjoyment, where they will be safely preserved for the future. Simply put, Mills world-class collection features the absolute best and nothing but the best, and the reasoning behind that is that Mills has been willing to go to whatever lengths necessary to not only obtain the incredible pieces in his collection but to also ensure that they present in brand new condition. It's this collecting habit that has helped Mills to build a truly incredible collection featuring more than 100 tractors and 600 signs, many of which boast incredible rarity while also presenting in impeccable condition after impressive restorations and years of care under the watchful eye of Mills. However, as the years continue to pass, Mills is prepared to send his collection along with them and on to new owners who can

2 ? MONTHLY

continue to preserve his beautiful works into the future, and when his selection crosses the block at Gone Farmin's 2019 Fall Premier in Davenport this November 6-9, it's certain to drum up a lot of buzz among enthusiasts everywhere.

Born on a farm, Mills grew up around tractors. Over the years, he said he always enjoyed tractors, and he always had a few around the farm. However, it wasn't until 1990 when he started to get out of the horse business--another best-of-the-best operation by Mills that produced some of the finest, worldclass draft horses--that he first became serious about seeking out top-notch, collector-grade tractors for a personal collection. Mills said his collecting days started with a

720 John Deere replica he had found. "It was pretty, so I thought, I'll get one of those," he said. "I couldn't believe I got that tractor off of him, because it was real nice. I'd never had that new paint and shiny tractor like that. It was done right, it was a pretty tractor." Though it may have been beautiful, not having the real deal eventually got to Mills. "So, then I had to have a real one," he said. "And then, it just got worse after that. I just started buying them."

In the years since, Mills has amassed an amazing collection of more than 100 tractors, each of which presents in brand new condition and many of which are incredibly rare, some being just one of five or one of three, and some even existing as one-of-a-kind. In seeking out the tractors for his collection, Mills searched all over the globe, reaching as far as South Africa and even Australia, the whole while letting nothing get in his way of completing his truly world-class collection. For Mills, no tractor project was too big; the serial number was always the most important factor, with very few of the tractors being restored when he purchased them and the majority in need of a restoration. "Some of them came out of swamps, some of them came out of fence rows, some of them came out of old barns," he said. As such, the tractors bear incredible history, many of them--the John Deere tractors specifically--able to be traced back to the day they were built, where they were shipped to and more.

However, rest assured, Mills' tractors are in brand new condition; their appearances are better than new, and they run and drive as if they just came off the delivery truck. For a large chunk of his collection, Mills partnered with Wendell Kelch, a tractor analyst for RFD-TV's Gone Farmin' TV shows and a world-renowned tractor restoration

artist known for being the best in the business; in fact, Kelch's restorations have repeatedly topped the top-sellers lists at Mecum Gone Farmin' auctions as the finest tractors to ever cross the Gone Farmin' auction block. After having first connected with Mills about 15-20 years ago, Kelch is now Mills' go-to man when it comes to restoration work. "They've been overhauled: motors, transmissions, rear ends, tires, everything's new," Mills said. "In fact, I always used to have to tell Wendell, we're not going to plow with these tractors. We're building them back to brand new." And brand new they are, even down to the finest details such as nuts, bolts and gears. Mills said while the original type of paint was used on each tractor, the paintwork on these tractors is actually better than new. "It's polished and everything else like that," he said.

? 3

"The decals are all in the right place. Everything's been researched: the proper decals, the proper numbers in the proper places, all those kinds of things. The gauges are new; everything on them is new."

Having worked alongside collectible tractors for many years, Kelch said Mills' collection is really a sight to behold. "Jim's tractors are above and beyond expo quality," he said. "When I started working for him, he said, `I only have one thing to ask of you Wendell: every tractor you do for me, I want it to be better than the last one.' And that's how we've done it," he said.

A collection so incredible that it belongs in a museum, the assemblage from Mills has been carefully stored; Mills said that since being painted, each of the tractors has been kept in a temperature-controlled shed out of the elements to preserve their brand new condition. Having served its sole purpose as a private collection for private enjoyment, the group of tractors' pristine condition has been of utmost importance to Mills. "We don't go to shows because they get dirty and get scratched up if they go outside," Mills said. "You get dust. They never go outside." As such, the amazing tractors from Mills' collection headed to Davenport this November are sure to be among the most sought-after of the auction and leaders on the topsellers scoreboard.

Perhaps one of the most incredible aspects of Mills' collection is that he owns the full John Deere Hi-Crop series. Let that sink in for a moment: that's every single 2-cylinder John Deere Hi-Crop in every single fuel configuration from diesel and propane to gas and all-fuel, all the way back to the Model A. In fact, according to Kelch, Mills' collection even goes back one step further to the GPs that were built in to Hi-Crops by a company in Louisiana; they were built before the John Deere Hi-Crop versions were even officially introduced. To put the sheer rarity of this portion of Mills' collection into perspective, Mills is not just the one-and-only man in the world to own

the full line of John Deere 2-cylinder HiCrop tractors in every fuel configuration, but also the only man in history who has ever managed to achieve this feat.

From the John Deere Model As and G Hi-Crops to the 60s, 70s, 430s, 720s, 4020s and more, Mills scooped up and restored each tractor one by one after the first 720, slowly building his collection of Hi-Crops over the years. Mills said the low production numbers and the number of specialty tractors within the Hi-Crop format was an element that was incredibly attractive to him when he started to focus his collection. As the years passed, Kelch said that Mills eventually reached a point where he was only missing one: the coveted John Deere 430 All Fuel Hi-Crop. With only about 38 produced solely for export and never sold in the U.S., Mills said that Kelch saw one at an auction about 800 miles outside of Queensland, Australia, and Mills reached out to the auctioneer to inquire about the tractor. While the tractor had already been sold, the auctioneer referred Mills to a John Deere dealer, who then in turn referred Mills to a farmer who was looking to trade a 430 All Fuel in; that farmer was who Mills would ultimately purchase the tractor from. Then began the 2,000-plus mile process of getting the tractor to Queensland, and then to the coast to ship to the United States. When it arrived in California, time was limited, with only about 10 hours to get

? 5

6 ? MONTHLY

the tractor off the boat and out of the shipping yard, and as such, Mills reached out to his friend Chris Visser, who picked up the tractor and delivered it to Mills at an expo in Davenport. All in all, the tractor traveled close to 8,000 miles just to get to Mills' farm, a very literal testament to Mills' dedication to going as far as it takes to acquire the very best in the world. That Hi-Crop tracked down in Australia is the most recent addition to Mills' collection and the only of its kind in North America. "We looked all over for it," Mills said. "It was the hardest tractor to find out of all of them."

Mills also noted his John Deere 630 All Fuel Hi-Crop was an especially difficult find, as it's just one of three originally made and also the only in North America. "One got destroyed, one went to Mexico and I have the other one," he said. "That was one of the first tractors I bought."

Another standout among Mills' tractor collection is his International Harvester Turbine Tractor. For those not in the know, the turbine tractor was an experimental tractor fitted with an 80 HP turbine engine, essentially a jet engine, controlled by a push throttle. The company built a single, blue turbine tractor at first, the HT-340, which was subsequently destroyed in an automobile accident following its debut. Following the first's ill fate, International Harvester went on to build a second, improved turbine tractor, the HT-341, this time in red. The second--and the very last built by International Harvester--was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in the late `60s, to which it has belonged ever since. As such, this begs the question of how Mills ended up with one for himself.

It just so happens that Brian Harris, a GM machine repairman, was delving into the history of the HT-340 with the goal of building his very own replica of the incredible machine. With an interest in gas turbines, Harris worked on building the tractor starting with a stock IH 340 and even went on to visit the Illinois and Indiana Antique Tractor & Gas Engine Club in Penfield, Illinois, where the HT-341 is on display on loan

from the Smithsonian, to get the right look of the tractor. Eventually, Harris went on to finish building the original HT-340 from International Harvester's original blueprints for the tractor, building a one-of-one piece of machinery that's truly incredible.

That tractor, built from the original HT-340 blueprints and painted blue, just like its only predecessor, is the one that now resides in Mills' collection as a one-of-one example of a tractor that barely saw the light of day and never once made it into production before its demise. Mills said the quality of work is so incredibly detailed that it's exacting to the original. "He went to the factory and got all of the paperwork on it, went through the archives and researched it. He did a fantastic job on it."

"I've never heard it run, but a friend of mine was out there when they started it up, and he said, `it takes jet fuel and turns it into a lot of noise,'" Kelch said. "They said that you can shove the throttle and hydrostatic lever forward and it'll bring your front end off the ground. It just has tremendous horsepower."

Among the most unique tractors in Mills' I collection is his John Deere 4020 Power Shift Diesel Hi-Crop packing a Kinze 1953 Detroit diesel V-6 conversion kit, essentially making his 4020 a Detroit V-6 Hot Rod unlike anything else in the tractor world. "It's quite the tractor," Mills said. "It's kind of indescribable; you just have to see it to believe it."

According to Kelch, Mills had picked up the tractor in rough shape as well as the old Kinze conversion kit, of which there were maybe only about 14 made. "He brought the two pieces to me, and I restored the Kinze conversion kit and put it in this John Deere 4020 Hi-Crop Powershift Side Console, and it is a big, bad boy now," he said. "When it starts, your heart jumps. It's got dual stacks on it and chrome. That's the only one in the world: a Kinze conversion kit in a John Deere Hi-Crop Powershift."

Other rarities from Mills' collection include his John Deere C tractor and his Minneapolis-Moline UDLX. Built in the late 1920s, only 100 John Deere Cs were ever originally built. However, because of the poor quality of the tractors, John Deere recalled all of the Model Cs, rebuilding and giving those tractors a new serial number. "They were actually run through the factory twice, so, the one that he's got, the two serial numbers are documented in the John Deere books," Kelch said. According to Kelch, of those original 100, there's only just a handful left in the world, maybe five to seven in total.

As for the UDLX, a tractor that was marketed as one that could work the farm fields all day and drive to town in the evening, it's estimated that a mere 150 were produced by Minneapolis-Moline between 1938 and 1941. Also known as the Comfortractor, the enclosed-cab tractor was considered a deluxe version of the company's top-of-the-line four-plow Model U Series tractors. By 1940, it's said that just two-thirds of the production had been sold and the remaining stock was returned to the factory for cab removal and conversion to Model U tractors. With many lost to World War II scrap metal drives, it's estimated that maybe as many as 40 still exist today and maybe only half of those are extensively restored, making Mills' UDLX in brand new condition an incredible rarity and one of the absolute best examples in the tractor collecting market.

As for Mills' more than 600 signs, those too showcase an incredible collecting feat, with many of them recalling incredible times in history and boasting some truly impressive rarity. Mills said that he started collecting the signs as a way to accent his tractor collection, seeking out signs and neons that advertised tractor dealers and implements.

However, just as with his tractors, the signs that everyone else had just wouldn't do. "You don't just buy signs, you buy rare signs, the rare selections," Mills said.

And rare is exactly what Mills has found. Mills said that his collection features a lot of original signs from the late 1800s and early 1900s, as well as a lot of "one-off" neon signs from over the years. Among the older selections, Mills said he has a John Deere sign that is from John Deere's very first run of porcelain signs and an incredible rarity today. "There's only about five halves of those signs around the country," he said. "I've got one that's put together." Mills' collection of signs also features an incredibly rare John Deere/Caterpillar neon sign. At one point in time, Caterpillar and John Deere were working together for a period of about six months with plans to merge, according to Mills. During that time, the companies produced just three John Deere/Caterpillar neon signs. However, according to Mills, two of those were actually run over by a truck after their completion. "There were three of those made, and I've got one, the one that's perfect," he said. "That's super rare you know." Other exclusive pieces among Mills' collection include a 1937 John Deere double-sided porcelain lighted sign with a hood, an Oliver double-sided porcelain neon, a New Ideal Farm Equipment double-sided porcelain neon and an International Harvester Trucks double-sided porcelain neon.

All in all, Mills said it's the thrill of the chase, the excitement of seeking out the rarest of the rare over the years that has made the collecting hobby the most fun. "Going to the auctions, chasing stuff down and stuff like that, that's just been the fun of it," he said. "The chasing, the finding and the trying to see if you can buy it." After nearly 30 years of chasing, Mills said he's ready to pass his collection along to other tractor enthusiasts and let them have their moment. "You're just a caretaker for a short time," he said. And with Mills ready to bring his collection out into the light for the first time in years, it's certain to be an incredible opportunity for enthusiasts in Davenport this November to not only get their hands on some true collector gold from the vintage tractor and farm relic worlds, but to also get their hands on the undeniable best of the best.

OFFERED NOVEMBER 8 AT DAVENPORT 2019

? 7

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download