Colt Case Ingersoll Garden Tractors

https://www.kijiji.ca/v-view-details.ht ... 1562825118
1975 Case 444 demonstrator garden tractor. 8-16 turf tires, ag tires not included with sale. Has 3pt hitch, flow control valve, rear hydraulic PTO valve options. Includes 38” snow thrower and 48” mower deck, blade on tractor not included. Needs some work, steering tie rod should be replaced as it’s bent, linkage between travel control valve and lever is worn and needs to be replaced. Engine is a bit tired, doesn’t burn oil but does have some blow by when worked hard. Overall a great tractor, great candidate for restoration and quite a rare machine.
I seen this on another site and thought my Canadian friends might be interested in this rare tractor. The border is closed so my friends up North have the edge here.
Keep the Peace
Harry

I understand that it is a rare piece , due to it condition . I think the price is a little high . I guess it depends on how much a person wanted it.
Dave

that would be mine lol


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I have fetish for unusual, odd serial number, well equipped, and restorable CCI tractors that has to be kept in check.

A high school teacher instilled in us that "You will not get what is desired if the desire is not communicated." We were taught to ask for and present our idea's with confidence, never fearing the outcome. He stressed the need to understand the wants and needs, strengths and weaknesses, of our friends, customers, competitors, and enemies. I have learned that successful individuals have fine tuned abilities for read the characteristics of others.

In the mid 80's there were 5 used auto auctions within a 60 mile radius that were dealership dumping grounds for vehicles unsuitable for front line display. These auctions were all open the public, with units sold under a 3 light system. Green for vehicles with less than $50 defects, Yellow for good gears only, and Red for no warranty implied. Dealers would reserve selling queues for early evening when the crowd would be made up of unskilled buyers. The while selling public would be relegated to times of evening when it was diehard buyers sticking it out to the bitter end. All of the auctions were multi ring and handed at least 200 units per evening.

One evening the the owner of the largest GM dealer west of the Mississippi presented at auction a 5 year old high mileage pickup with chrome wheels and a high end stereo. To us regular attenders, this was just another truck worth at most $1,500 retail.

It was customary for a dealer to ask an acquaintance to stand in at the auction desk as the vehicle representative. The true owner of the vehicle would meld into the crowd. When the gavel dropped at end of the bidding the rep would either except the bid or reject it and "Pass Out" the unit as a no sale.

The bidding for the truck would have started in the $800 range and increased by $100 increments until bidding slowed. The crowd was noise as always as the bidding narrowed down to two individuals. It was obvious that a kid in his early 20's wanted the truck and thought he had the last bid at about $1,500. Just as the gavel was about to drop, The GM dealer, mingling in the crowd bid the kid up. It was standard practice for an owner, hiding in the crowd, to take a chance of missing a sale by running up the bid in an attempt to squeeze out a bit higher sale price. The crowd remained oblivious and noisy to the bidding until the dealer ran the kids bid to $2000. The bidding should have been over at this price. As the two continued a fast pace of counter bids the arena began to quieten as the price rose past 5 grand and the kid began to show signs of nervousness. The counter bids continued to rise, 6K, 7K, 8K, 9K. Now the counter bids were slower. Every time the kid would bid the dealer would read his prey, knowing just how long to stretch out the counter bid before raising. More than once the auctioneer would began the "Going once, Going twice..." before the dealer would bid on his own vehicle. Each time the kid would anguish over his next move. The crowd was hushed and awestruck by the character evaluation and predatory stalking that the dealer was using on the naive kid. The dealer stop running up and the kid was stuck with the pickup sold under Yellow light for $9,800.

We witnessed a public fleecing of a 20 year old going after a dream he would probably live to regret.

Spike

The fleecing happened in 1987 or 1988. I have been thinking about the dealership owner since writing this story. I have a memory of wandering what the bank would said to the kid when he applied for a loan. He would have had a deposit with the auction house that would have been forfeited if the transaction was not completed within 24 hours.

Another option that may have happened is the dealer and auction house knew the kid had been put through the ringer. That part of the evening would stick in peoples minds for ever so they may have back peddled and let him off the hook.

I will now lay awake trying to figure if it will be possible to find out if the sale was completed. The owner of dealership and auction passed years ago. Some of my running buddies back then are still around so this is a good excuse for jogging their memories.

After moving out of the area I wanted a southern truck to bring north. I contacted the dealership owner about what he had used in stock. He was probably chewing on an unlit cigar when he said, "Slagell, I have just the pickup you are looking for, come and drive it." My old car jockey instincts told me that It looked perfect but there was something about it that didn't seem right. I think it was a stuck gage on the instrument cluster that clued me in. When pressed about the former owner, I was told it belonged to the county commissioner and was well taken care of. My brother worked for the county so a quick call confirmed the gut feelings. The commissioner had hit a patch of ice and gave the pickup a full dunking in a pond. No damage, just a bath.

The next call to the dealer went something like, "You tried to pull one over on me. I may have moved out of the country and changed professions but haven't lost my second sense when it comes to trading. My brother told me what happened to this pickup." We both had a good laugh.

Spike

Good story Spike! Let us know if you find out what happened after!

Shill bidders don't sit well with people around here. Back when my folks were trying to buy our farm, the auctioneer had a shill in the crowd. Ran the price way up. When they concluded, the seller of the property refused to sell it due to the dishonesty, since she knew what was going on. She didn't take shit from anyone, and when the crowd found out, that auctioneer didn't have much in the way of attendance for lots of years. Even his kids, that went in the business never did well with the real estate due to that hanging over them decades later. We still ended up with the property, at far less than it knocked down for, in a private sale.