Tractors Headed To Belgium

Five antique tractors from Mills County have begun a month-long journey to their new home in western Europe.

    The tractors were among 25 sold during an auction last month at the Robert Leick property north of Glenwood. Four of the tractors sold to online bidder Marc Geerkens of Belgium belonged to Leick. The fifth was owned by Elmer Niemoller of Mineola.
    Auctioneer Allan Hughes said the tractors are being transported by semitrailer truck to Newark, N.J. From there, the Farmall and John Deere tractors will sail on a shipping boat across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.
    “It will take about a month for the tractors to get there,” Hughes said. “The auction was put on Proxibid, an internet auction hosting company. I didn’t realize we sold them to somebody in Belgium until after the auction.”
    Hughes said the auctioned tractors were from the 1920s to 1950s era. The average sale price was around $2,500. Geerkens is responsible for the cost of having the tractors shipped.
    Geerkens operates Happy Old Iron Co. from a renovated sheep barn at his home in Belgium.
    “He buys American tractors and sells them all over Europe,” Hughes said.