The old gray tractors--the result of a partnership that later dissolved into the separate Ford and Ferguson lines--revolutionized postwar farming. These classics have held up to time, held onto collectors'' hearts and held their value ever since.The roadside seller''s price was $1,795. That was about 2 1/2 times what the Ford cost new in 1946. But it was also about farmpro42rotarytiller the going rate at the time. So even though the tractor was older than me or my wife, Melanie, we bought it on the spot after a test drive.That was in 1984, when we bought our land. We have used the old Ford almost continuously ever since. We never regretted the purchase. With a minimum of service and repairs--lots of grease, irregular oil changes, some new wiring and radiator hoses--the 2N has never failed us. Equipped with a two-bottom plow, 5-foot rotary mower, disk harrow and scraper blade, it has done all we asked of it, everything from plowing snow off of our 600-foot driveway to mowing or tilling the better part of our 20 acres, year after year. And all for less than what most suburbanites spend these days on a riding lawn mower.

So in March 2000, Braswell founded PowerHouse Equipment, which he hopes will become "the leading national direct provider of compact hydraulic equipment."A multi-market opportunity for lawn/garden professionals?Braswell thinks so. He''s established dealerships in Sacramento, Dallas and Austin, Texas; Jacksonville and Orlando, Fla.; and Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham, N.C. In addition, he''s created satellite sales in eight other locations.Why? "Contractors'' employee time is extremely valuable," says Braswell. "Our equipment makes each worker much more efficient."What trends does Braswell see in OPE marketing?"In the last few years, we''ve seen lots of power equipment dealers concentrate on the professional customer rather than the consumer," Braswell says. farmpro42rotarytiller "With that comes focus on a service farmpro42rotarytiller department that offers really quick turn-around, so the busy landscaper avoids downtime. If a dealer sells to landscapers -- and knows their needs -- he might sell similar products to tree professionals, irrigators, nursery people and fencers.

"Also, a dealer who sells large mowers and tractors probably farmpro42rotarytiller already does business with a finance source like Wells Fargo or Sheffield. With finance opportunities in place -- plus single products that serve multiple fields -- he''s in a position to enter several industrial markets." What kind of guarantee comes with this?" I asked, suspiciously eyeing the few drops of oil on the pavement under the rear axle of an old gray Ford tractor."Well, none, actually," replied the man who had it sitting out by the road with a for-sale sign. "What you see is what you get--where is, as is."The tractor in question was a 1946 Ford 2N (see photo, Page farmpro42rotarytiller 103). The four-cylinder engine had been overhauled a few years earlier, he said. Then an old Pennsylvania-Dutchman, who probably bought it new when Truman was president, traded it in on a new Kubota.

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