The old gray tractors--the result of a partnership that later dissolved into the separate fr200vonarxscarifierinfo 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. fr200vonarxscarifierinfo That was about 2 1/2 times what the Ford cost new in 1946. But it was also about the going rate at the time. So even though the tractor was older than fr200vonarxscarifierinfo 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.

Even if the price had been higher, we probably would have bought it. I''m a sucker for old gray tractors. My late grandfather had an old Ford he used to clip pastures with a clattering sickle bar. My 78-year-old father, Don, still uses an old gray tractor to plow snow and mow at his place in Delaware, Ohio. It''s a Ferguson T0-30 made in 1951--the year I was born. I learned at 10 to drive on that tractor, under Dad''s close supervision, of course.Dad got the tractor in 1956, not long after he bought 15 acres just west of Delaware and put up one of the first pole barns in the area. "I took it on a trade, sight unseen, as credit on a down payment on a piece of real estate," he recalls. "The buyer was $1,100 short. He offered me the tractor with a two-bottom plow, rear manure scoop and a two-row cultivator.

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 fr200vonarxscarifierinfo 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. "With that comes focus on a service 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 fr200vonarxscarifierinfo and fencers.

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