Vancouver Kubotas at Auction

Well, it was sunny on auction day, but it rained the day before so the grounds were pretty wet. First of all, I did not think the tractors were in very good shape. They all looked well worn and a bit tired. Not worth a whole bundle of money. Strangely enough most of them sold to someone in Alberta who was bidding on internet. (hope it wasn't you Vic!) And the prices they went for were much higher than I thought they were worth. That old L180 wasn't worth more than $1500.00 and it sold for well over $2000.00. Some went for over $4000.00 but you have to remember it is difficult to see the actual condition when you're viewing on line. I saw this first hand hereabouts when a fellow bought a truck at an on-line auction, and it was a real junker when it arrived! Anyhow it was an interesting auction, because they just don't conform to any known reality! Junk selling for top dollar, and beautiful iron going for peanuts! Go figure!!

Mr. K - I couldn't refuse bidding on several rubber tired backhoes - JD 310's - fairly new 2005, but well houred up, as I really needed a loader/hoe that is big enough to handle tandems and gravel pit operations, but, these units went way too high as far as my pocket book was concerned. I did bid on the L180 as it would go good with my old L185, but once again the bids sky-rocketed outta sight very quickly. The big excavators were going cheap, and a really nice high track D-8 with cab went for a measly $25,000.00! I managed to get a 6000 watt generator - gas - with honda power, and a couple of pumps, both with honda 5.5hp. and 8.0hp. And really lucked out on this: (I may paint it orange to go with the fleet! LOL)

Yeah the pumps would look good with Kubota orange, but I meant the Cat 426 hoe that I bought at the auction! It looks fairly good next to the L185!

Come to think of it Vic, you're probably right on the shipload of used iron from Japan, because quite a few of the mini, and midi - excavators were obviously imports as all of the decals inside and out were in Japanese only. No sign of any English stickers in the cabs, and once again they looked pretty tired. Still, everyone of them went for fairly high dollars, but the bidders looked more like back yard do-it-yourselfers than contractors. These contractors stood around shaking their heads like it was a bad dream or something, so they may have recognized the scene for what it was. Also, being the astute observer that I am, I noticed an inordinate amount of rice kernels on the floor of several of these machines. Coincidence? You be the judge of that! (Just Kidding!)