Tractor collection started as a kidís dream

By John Behling
A swath of green and yellow draws the attention of passersby to an isolated 120-acre farm just north of Harris.
Two lines of grass- and grain-colored farm implements stand in front of a still pond.
It isnít a dealership. It isnít a museum. It isnít anything that owner Jim Carlbom would consider worthy of outside attention. Itís just his tractors.
The 60-year-old Harris native is careful to draw attention away from himself and his machines.
He prefers to be pictured standing behind them and worries that the ensemble in his front yard will be misconstrued as bragging.
The display that his wife Debbie is hoping will soon be off of her lawn so she can mow it, is part of an annual ritual. Every year Carlbom, with the aide of his son Jeremy, brings each of his 64 John Deere tractors out of storage and runs them.
Then itís back to their sheds until next year, except for a select few that Carlbom likes to ride for work around the farm.
On a walk down the line, Carlbom can tell you anything you want to know about any of his 2-cylinder tractors dating from 1926-1959. He knows the model, year and even their original shipping destination from the John Deere plant in Waterloo, Iowa.
His most recent and most expensive addition is a 1946 Lindeman, a squat vehicle with tracks rather than tires. It was a 60th birthday present at a cost of around $6,000.
Tractors have been a lifelong interest for Carlbom, who started collecting in his early twenties.
ìWhen I was seven or eight I used to lay around dreaming about owning all kinds of tractors,î Carlbom said.
When he started collecting, he was able to pick up unwanted tractors for as little as $15.
ìI was doing it before it was a thing to do,î Carlbom said.
Now that tractor collecting has become popular, Carlbom pays considerably more, typically in the $200-$3,000 range.
Besides attending the Almelund Threshing show every year, Carlbom doesnít exhibit his collection, shying away from attention.
But when he talks about his tractors, a proud smile attempts to break through the modest exterior.
ìWhen I was eleven or twelve,î Carlbom said motioning to a tractor, ìI crawled up on one of those tires on a showroom floor and I thought, ëWith something this big there wouldnít be anything you couldnít pull.íî
These days itís the Carlbomís that pull the tractors, in order to start them up every year.
Although they can be stubborn, even the oldest, a model D 1926 Steel Wheel, starts every year.
Father and son split the arduous task of servicing and restoring the fleet.
Son Jeremy Carlbom applies fresh coats of the traditional green and yellow paint. His father services the engines and tires using a large inventory of parts, accumulated over the years.
Soon the tractors will be returned to storage, leaving the front yard empty and without a trace of his 64-piece collection. Passersby wonít even think to stop, unless perhaps their keen ears can detect the sound of a late 1950s diesel chugging through the fields as Carlbom goes about his chores.

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