The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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September 18, 2008

Men ready to auction off vintage collection

Sale will include tractors and old-style gas pumps

By Brian Ojanpa

MAPLETON — Joe Massop decided to get out of his hobby while the getting is still good.

“We decided we’d better cash some of these in before something happens to us,” said the 74-year-old Massop.

He and 78-year-old Gene Walters have been collecting vintage tractors for about 30 years, and on Saturday they’ll be auctioned at Massop’s place, along with sundry farm implements and old gas station pumps and signage.

Their collection is highlighted by 65 tractors, mostly from the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. All but a few are in fine running order, Massop said. Not that getting them that way was easy.

Massop figures he and Walters spent a couple of thousand hours each year working on their machines. But enough is enough.

“I’m pretty much ready to go fishing,” said the patriarch of Massop Electric in Mapleton, which has been turned over to kin.

Massop’s tractor collection began when he was in Missouri buying a farm. He saw an old tractor sitting in a grove, opted to buy it, and that was that.

He’d prefer not to proffer a dollar figure on how much he’s spent on his collections, but allows that he’s spent upward of $10,000 on a tractor.

“I’ve made some good deals, and I’ve made a mistake or two. Spent too much money to begin with, but we got a good education.”

Will he miss his machines?

“No,” he says without hesitation. “I get to get some freedom again. Get to go fishing and do some traveling.”

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