Businessman who grew up in Ireland adds record-breaking County to his collection

A businessman, who grew up on a farm in Ireland, is the delighted new owner of a 1982 County tractor which sold at Cheffins’ recent auction for £214,400.
By Joanne Knox
Published 28th Apr 2022, 14:11 GMT
Updated 28th Apr 2022, 14:37 GMT
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The County 1474 ‘Short Nose’ was bought by Tom O’Connor (60), who now lives near Manchester.

Mr O’Connor, who is fulfilling a boyhood dream of collecting the tractors, said this particular model caught his eye due to its ‘perfect’ restoration.

“It’s getting harder to find people who will do a good job of restoring these tractors,” he commented, “so I have been looking for a really clean example, which is what this was.”

Mr O’Connor revealed he has around a dozen tractors in his collection now.

The tractor smashed its pre-sale estimate of £120,000-£140,000 to become the most expensive modern classic tractor to be sold in the UK to date.

The tractor, which would have cost around £20,000 when new, drew great excitement ahead of the auction, with Cheffins anticipating that bidding would be ‘electric’ over the two-day sale.

Other significant sales in the tractor section include £73,000 for a 2004 JCB 2140, against an estimate of £60-65,000; £48,240 for a 1983 Mercedes-Benz MB-Trac 1500, well over its pre-sale estimate and £42,880 for a stunning 1974 County 1164.

Head of the machinery department at Cheffins, Oliver Godfrey, said it is “impossible to put a price on the value of nostalgia”.

Speaking after the auction, he said: “We knew the April sale was going to be a record breaker, with a strong catalogue of varied items, however, to sell over £2m worth is bonkers!

“Collectors are becoming younger, so the focus in the market is really on tractors and machinery from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s as they look to buy up a part of their youth.”

He added:“It appears that at the moment, the market’s bets are mainly focussed on Ford variants, such as County and Roadless, which are seeing double digit price growth year-on-year.”

The next collective sale will take place on Saturday 23 July, at Cheffins Machinery Sale Ground, Sutton, Ely, CB6 2QT.

For more information, please visit www.cheffins.co.uk, or call Cheffins auctioneers on 01353 777767.

Read: 1982 County smashes pre-sale estimate to become most expensive modern classic tractor sold to date | County 1474 sells for £210,112 with record year seeing surge in demand for second-hand kit | Fully restored County 1474 set to sell for over £120,000 at upcoming vintage auction

Related topics:Ireland