So there I was, minding my own business looking at hot rods and muscle cars at the Goodguys show when I turned around and nearly swallowed my tongue. As it turns out the fairgrounds that the show was being held at houses a really cool old tractor collection as a bit of a tribute to the area’s agricultural past. There were John Deeres, Caterpillars, McCormick-Deering, Case, and a big steam roller that I wasn’t sure how to identify. It could be a Buffalo-Springfield but it may also have been manufactured by a west coast tractor brand. I am not sure if Holt or Best made steamrollers, perhaps someone in reader-land can enlighten us.

While this is certainly not the biggest tractor collection in California it is big enough to provide a guy like me entertainment for the middle part of a beautiful afternoon. No matter your preference from steel wheels to rubber tires, to tracks, there was plenty to gawk at and these machines have lived their lives in the California sun so while they are all kind of crusty in their own way, I have no doubts that they could be fired up and run with minimal work. It is not surprising to see the number of Caterpillar crawler tractors that we saw here as Caterpillar has some California roots as the company was formed after the merger of the Holt and Best manufacturing companies in 1925. Holt was based in Stockton, California. Some of the crawler tractors you’ll see down below are verging on 90 years old!

I particularly like Case tractors and the 35hp Model D with the big rear tires is a personal favorite. The D-series debuted in 1939 and it was also the same year that case started to paint all of their tractors red. The called the color Falmbeau Red but I am sure you knew that already. Anyway, that stately piece looks ready for me to load it onto a truck and drag it straight across country. The short wheelbase, large rear fenders, and tall tires hit all the styling bases I like. 35hp was a pretty stout number for a machine like that during the era it was built. It was a worker for sure.

As you can imagine, I was pleasantly surprised to see this great grouping of old iron at the show and while the rest of the place was buzzing like a beehive this was a cool, quiet nook to spend some quality time with these old work horses. Americana at its finest.

SCROLL DOWN TO CHECK OUT THIS GREAT OLD TRACTOR COLLECTION WE FOUND AT THE GOODGUYS SHOW –