Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

You guys have interesting stories!

The way it happened to me was also not planned. After a few years of trying to do things around the yard by hand, my back was hurting and it became clear that it's not the way to go. Started looking for a package that would include a tiller and snow blower, and maybe a mower deck. Had no idea about garden tractors, but for my budget of at most $2k a new tractor was clearly not an option. Was keeping an eye on the second hand market and saw an Allis Chalmers up for sale. Had a tiller and snow blower, 17hp, and was listed as working. Talked to the guy and I was set on buying it. But then, after a few days it disappeared off the market. Turns out the guy sold it to someone else. For some reason I was really upset, it lasted a few days. Then I resolved within myself that clearly it wasn't meant for me, so I should stop being upset. After some weeks the Case 220 with tiller, deck, and snowcaster was up for sale near Niagara Falls. That just opened the door for me getting at least 8 more Case tractors in the next few years. I'm so glad that guy sold the Allis Chalmers to someone else!!! Another great lesson for me, that God will give you what He knows better that it's good for you and you should not be too upset when you don't get something that you may have wanted.

I guess I am a newbie, only 10 or so years for me. I had two 220's (one for parts), and now a 224 and 648.

@Ingersoll224 Welcome to the forum .

Some of you guys have some interesting stories. Mine came about in 2006ish? I just had moved into my future wife and I first house. I had a Murry rider, and my neighbor had a case 448. Snow season was around the corner and he ended up snow blowing my place faster than I could basically make one decent pass. I was hooked on that. His was a dedicated Snow machine with a case cab. He was the guy that did around 5 houses and the street on our block. I was in love. Lol... Just watching that thing make short work when I was struggling with the little rear tires and no traction. The next winter or 2 after I had my own. I have moved twice since I started my collection. I bought and sold alot and I mean alot. I was scanning fb marketplace and Craigslist ads daily. Buying just to resell so I could have the pto, hitch, vaccum, log splitter and what ever attachments i was after. I sold off alot and now just have a handful like the rest of us. Lol... Don't know why I have an obsession with these. But I can tell you every one of these tractors I've sold over the years every guy was giggly when they were leaving with a case ingersoll in tow.

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I grew up on Simplicity, my father still runs a Simplicity and an Allis Chalmers.
I bought my first house and land in 93 and needed a garden tractor. On a Saturday morning I set out to go look at a couple of used JD's at a nearby dealer. One was 5 the other 10 years old, OMG talk about sticker shock.
So I left and drove over to Winneconne, the Ford dealership sold Ingersoll and I knew it was where my uncle had bought his. I talked to the salesman, they didn't have any used high wheels and as we talked about new pricing I was surprised how expensive green and yellow paint was. As we talked he said they had a leftover tractor that had a couple of hours on it from letting customers drive it around and plowing the sidewalks. A deal was reached and I came home with my 4118 with deck, 54" blade, HH34 3pt, and wheel weights for considerably less than the 10year old JD with just a deck. So that's how it started for me.

Love reading the stories guys, Bob yours is pretty great!

I can honestly say that I grew up with the 155 that my dad bought in 1983 (I was born in 82). Sometime soon afterwards it stopped running and was kept in the corner of the garage. 10 years and after moving to a different town, us kids (3 other brothers) convinced him to rebuild it. That was a great time, watching over his shoulder and helping out when we could. We did a budget paint job and got it running to be able to cut our 2 acre lawn. I was hooked then!

Fast forward to 2018 - this old John Deere 68 mower I had is giving me nothing but headaches, and after looking on Kijiji for a replacement I see a 444 with mower, wheel weights and plow for $1000 and only 20 mins away. Seller says he takes trades so I got a better deal and got rid of my headache. In 2021 I picked up another 444 (1981 model year from original owner with receipts and brochures) with a rear discharge mower and snow caster, I and also managed to drag home the 155 we had growing up. Last summer I picked up another 155 project. Since 2018 I have also picked up a Case dump cart and another blade.

Currently only 1 in my fleet is running, but the rest are waiting patiently in the shop for a rebuild, something I look forward to doing with my kids - coming full circle you could say

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Hi group, I sure enjoy reading these stories, I picked my first 224 case up to help a friend out, they were moving out of town and he stopped out at the shop to see if anyone would give him $300.00 for a 76 224, no one wanted it so I told him I would buy it if, he could trailer it to my house, cause I had no trailer then, this was in 1999,well I get home and he shows up with the tractor with deck and case cart, didn't know I was getting a cart. anyway he tells me about a snow caster he sold that he used with this tractor, that really got my attention and I have been hooked on case and case ingersoll since then, never knew anything about them before this deal, still have this tractor its been rebuilt and somehow its like its been retired and I don't see no reason to interrupt that.

Everyones story was so interesting. I wanted to thank Eugen for starting this thread. The rest of my story about my Case hobby is as follows. I wanted a tiller for my 446 so I posted on CL in the wanted area. No bites for awhile but while on vacation in Oregon visiting family I received a call. I told him get in touch when I get home. I bought it for $200 and when I went to pick it up the seller said do you want to take the GT and mowing deck? It was setting behind the barn out in the weather, so we loaded it up and that’s how I acquired the 444. Harry

I always wanted a loader and the newer GT’s loaders were always more than I wanted to pay. Finally one came up for sale on CL not to far away. It was sold the same day it was posted, so back to searching for one. I looked at two different basket cases but that’s not what I was looking for. Then low and behold the first one on CL was up for sale, it was a 646. I called right away and it was available. First question to the seller was did you purchase this loader recently? He said yes but he said it was too small for the job, he purchased it for. It started right up after I checked the exhaust pipe to see if it was warm. It ran well and everything worked as it should. The seller didn’t want to dicker on the price and since they don’t come up for sale very often, I purchased it. It’s been a GT that I have done a tremendous amount of work to because it had seen a lot of use. One thing I can say is I know this 646 inside and out because of all the work I have done to it. Harry

I've enjoyed reading your stories of how you caught the Case/Ingersoll "bug"

My short answer, with a long story - 2 years

I'm a relative newcomer to the Garden tractor scene - always lived in the city and had no need for anything bigger than a push mower. Dad was the frugal type who would never buy a new mower, always preferring to expand his vocabulary each spring when he with the old one, that he left outside all winter and then it refused to start in the spring - - It left enough of an impression on me that when we needed to buy a mower for our house we got a 36V Black & Decker cordless one... (20+ yrs with no problems)

The Case curse started for me in June of 2022, We had bought some acreage up north, and I want to eventually have a small garden plot. I saw a listing on FB for an '84 446 with a bunch of attachments - (Mower Deck, SnoCaster, tiller, blade, single bottom plow and cultivator)
It seemed to be too good a deal to pass up - We discussed options and next day brought home the start of our garden tractor collection. It was a good summer, busy as a rebuilt the mower deck and made a few laps around our backyard in the city (The 446 really is too big for the patch of weeds we call a lawn) What I was really looking forward to was using it that winter to clear the driveway and 80' of sidewalk at the front of our house. Finally the first big snowfall came and we hooked up the blade, pushed it out of the tent garage, started it up, drove it 10' - when after a bit of stalling, stumbling and backfiring it died - we pushed it back into the tent garage (it hasn't run since...)

Fast forward to the spring of 2023 and I was seduced by the call of a newer Ingersoll 222 - I mansplained to it would be a good backup for the 446 as I could use most of the attachments with it. I also mentioned what I had really wanted was an older 195 ('cause they were cool and looked like an old miniature farm tractor), but said they were rare as hen's teeth around here and I wasn't ever likely to find one anytime soon... We went and looked at the 222, I drove it around his yard, cut some grass with and had a quick peek under the hood, everything looked ok. When I got home with Case/Ingersoll #2 I felt I got a pretty good deal. Drove it off the trailer, and parked it in the tent garage behind the dead 446.


The very next day I was looking on Kijiji and saw an ad for a "Compact Garden Tractor" - it didn't mention make or model, but the pictures spoke a thousand words, it was a '68 Case 195. - I agreed to buy it based only on the photos in the ad - It was one of those "First one here with the cash gets it" deals. That evening (after a 10 hour drive) I pulled into my driveway with our 3rd Case tractor. (Spoiler Alert) It is the oldest of my collection and has given me the least headaches of the bunch.
Oh, and a few days after bringing home tractor #3 I decided to cut the weeds in the backyard with the 222 - despite cutting grass with it at the owners house, now it wouldn't start... It also got pushed back into a tent garage that was slowly filling up with non-running Case garden tractors. Looking closer I discovered not only a dead ignition switch but it had been ravaged by mice in a previous life, and all the wiring needed replacement
Our 195 eventually made it to the property up north, where it is spending the winter in a locked shipping container... and I've still got a pair of tractors waiting to be put back together in the tent garage...
They keep me out of mischief, and I can never say I don't have anything to do -
but I'm willing to wait until it's a little less cold outside