HCPM25: Young Gorrie man finds unexpected hobby in antique tractors
BY SCOTT STEPHENSON
When interviewing Huron County Plowmen’s Association President Steve Hallahan about the upcoming Huron County Plowing Match, The Citizen was tipped off about Ethan Price: a tractor-savvy young man with a true enthusiasm for vintage machines. The two men first crossed paths when Price began working for the dealer that services the milking robot at Hallahan’s dairy farm. They took to chatting while Price worked on the cutting-edge machine, which is when Hallahan learned that Price is just as good with machines that are well-past their cutting-edge era.
Price is only 19 years old, but he’s already making a name for himself as a new steward for wayward tractors in need of a second act. And that’s on top of his work as an agricultural robot technician and his job at a dairy farm in Fordwich.
Price attended F.E. Madill, and has lived in Gorrie all his life. In that time, he’s encountered more than a few old farm machines - on neighbouring properties, and at the farm of family friends, where Price first developed an interest at age 11. That’s where his enthusiasm for old tractors really began to grow. His family got its own tractor, which was then brought to the farm to help with the plowing.
He started off with one tractor - a Ford 9N. The Ford 9N, released in the autumn of 1939, was manufactured in Dearborn, Michigan. The 9N was the first of its kind - born out of a partnership between agricultural inventors Henry Ford and Harry Ferguson. Ford provided the tractor, and Ferguson provided his design for an innovative three-point hitch system that is still used today.
When Price sold the 9N, he bought one of his current tractors: a Ford 860. “And then from there, it just kind of took off,” Price told The Citizen. “I believe it’s a ‘55 Ford Model 860 - I bought it already restored and painted-up - Grandpa was a Ford man, so I thought I better buy a Ford tractor. I did put quite a few hours on it - probably 100 hours, of just tinkering around, plowing, disking and cultivating with it.”
At one point he had two McCormicks, but he sold one at 6&6 Auctions near Durham a few months ago. “I got my money back out of it, so I couldn’t complain,” he explained.
Price has also been lucky to find a few teachers willing to educate him in the art of restoration: Neil and Randy Sturgeon of Fordwich. “They’re just two bachelors that live together, and they tinker around and restore tractors, so me and my buddy go visit them all the time, and they kind of show us a little bit,” he said. Price also seeks out information online through YouTube channels like Classic Tractor Fever.
Even with expert opinions aplenty, antique tractor restoration can still be tricky. “Sometimes just finding out ‘why?’ - tractors are pretty simple to troubleshoot, but sometimes they can be finicky - the points, and not getting spark - that’s the stuff that is usually the most challenging,” he pointed out.
His father, Scott, grew up on a farm, and he’s a big fan of his son’s hobby. “I think it’s great! I was born and raised on old equipment just like this, so it’s nothing new to me,” Scott told The Citizen. The two like to tinker with tractors together whenever they have time.
Ethan isn’t trying to make a business out of his hobby - he prefers restoring tractors just for fun. “I’d like to buy a piece of land, and use all this stuff more than what I do,” he admitted. Last year, he and a friend were noticed when they brought a couple of his tractors, a ‘57 Farmall M and a McCormick W-4, to the Thresher Reunion Weekend in Blyth. ““I got quite a few comments on the ‘M’, when I took it over. And a few older gentlemen said ‘good job’ and that they kinda appreciate that a younger fellow like me is interested in this kind of stuff,” he recollected.
He didn’t just exhibit his tractors at the Thresher Reunion - Ethan took them out into the field to see what they could do. “Me and my buddy plowed 10 acres or so by ourselves, just for fun,” he remarked. “The fellow who let us plow, he just got a kick out of seeing us plow - he has some of the same tractors, but he can’t get on them anymore, and he just enjoyed seeing us use ours out there, how he used to do it.”
In April, he purchased his next project: a ‘55 Farmall 300. “It’s got TA [torque amplifier] and live power hydraulics,” Ethan pointed out. “They’re pretty rare to come across, from my understanding. You don’t see too, too many of them out there. So, this is my next restoration project, if I can find some time. It wasn’t running when I bought it - I got it running, and I used it to drag everything around yesterday, so she’s a beauty.” Price was hoping to get his Farmall 300 in shipshape for this year’s Thresher Reunion, but he hasn’t had the time to take the whole thing apart yet. “I’ll probably take the ‘M’ again,” he figured.
Ethan bought the ‘57 Farmall M in January of 2024. “Actually, when I bought it, I couldn’t fit it on the trailer - I had to flip the tires around. And that was quite the project, because they were seized on there,” he recalled. “Then, last summer, I decided I was going to rip it apart in the backyard, because we don’t really have much of a spot to restore, and I painted her all up, sanded her all down, drove to Watford, and got some weights for it. Those aren’t the most common to come across - especially when they’re IH stamped. I bought this three-furrow ACE bottom, and I’ve just been plowing with it - it’s what I used out at Threshers, and out at the field that we’re plowing.” This is the project that best fits his restoration philosophy - to make something last that looks nice and feels like it’s brand new again. Ethan would like to grow his collection even more, but he’d also like to buy a farm first.
Antique tractor restoration isn’t a particularly cheap hobby - the cost of all the paint and parts adds up quickly. But Ethan thinks it’s worth the price. “They’re so simple, that if something goes wrong in the middle of the field, you can just pretty much troubleshoot it right then and there, and go get parts, if you need,” he pointed out. “You don’t have to call a technician out, and get them to plug their computer in to diagnose it, this is all right in front of you. Basically, you can take everything apart with a crescent wrench, if needed.”
His advice to any young people out there thinking about getting into tractor restoration is just as simple as the antique machines themselves. “Just go for it - don’t hold yourself back,” he advised. “Just spend the money and go for it. It’s worth it.”