Machinery Pete: What will it sell for?

Greg Peterson

Publisher, F.A.C.Ts Report

3/23/2006, 2:34 PM CST

@gOnline

So how are your NCAA basketball tourney picks holding up?

Every March my wife and I, along with our two daughters, ages 14 and 12, each fill out a bracket and enter a large local pool run by a friend of mine. Three hundred ten (310) entries this year. Each year the girls say the same thing, "Dad, we don't know who's good and who's not."

"It's ok. Don't worry about that. Just make your picks. You've got just as good a chance as anyone else," I tell them - Not really believing it myself. Well, after the first two rounds our 14-year-old daughter Meghan is in second place. Daughter number two and my wife are positioned above the middle of the pack.

Me?

You'd think a basketball junkie like me should have a little advantage, all those late nights typing auction sale prices into our Web site while watching ball games on the tube, its got to make me a more educated guesser, right?

Nope. Machinery Pete currently resides in 294th place.

Alright, so I don't know hoops as well as I thought. Let's change gears and look at used farm equipment. Coming up for sale April 6th on a farm auction in Mondovi, Wisconson, is a 1998 CaseIH 8920 mechanical, front-wheel drive tractor. It has 5,214 hours, cab, air, three hydraulics, three point, dual PTO and duals.

What will it sell for?

Check out the accompanying data table to see what other CaseIH 8920 tractors have been selling for at auction around the country.

Focusing in on comparable 8920s to the one up for sale April 6th in Wisconsin, I'd highlight the following mechanical, front-wheel drive models that sold over the last 15 months.

• 1998 model with 4,570 hours, north-central Ohio, no sale at $43,000 • 1998 model with 3,700 hours, north-central Ohio, sold for $45,000 • 1998 model with 4,200 hours, north-central Kansas, sold for $49,000 • 1997 model with 4,217 hours, east-central North Dakota, sold for $45,000 • 1997 model with 4,056 hours, east-central North Dakota, sold for $45,250

So what do you think our 8920 will sell for April 6th?

Think I'll ask Meghan what she thinks.