Caterpillar R-5 Maybe Headed for Scrap

An update, sorry guys, forget it. Watched more of the video and the sad outcome takes place about 21 minutes in.

Videos like this make me sick. I realize you can't save them all but.....

I watched the whole video two days ago, after about a dozen people in my comments section all sent me links to it.  Yeah, there were a lot of good parts on that R5 that I would've loved to have - all of the tin, the skeleton front tow hook, the track carrier rollers, radiator, and manifolds just from what little I could actually see of it in the footage.  Stuff from the other Cats as well.  But, I have my own opinion on the matter, and fair warning: it may be controversial lol [img]/media/kunena/emoticons/flame.gif[/img]

We all know by now what scrappers do with heavy iron - we've watched it play out numerous times and it's mostly always the same scenario - high volume tonnage in one convenient package equates to profit, so yes, these older heavy tractors go to the head of the line to be busted up.  The guy that made the video IS taking a few steps to save some things - within reason - although he seems to be primarily vintage automobile oriented when it comes to recognizing collectability and resale value.  I can't knock him for that, as nobody can be expected to know every niche inside and out - I experienced a bit of that just on the YT channel when I did a short walkaround video of an old gas Thirty-Five carcass and a guy in the comments section blasted me for not even mentioning what looked to me like some old bicycle seat or something that I casually moved out of the way to get a better view of the Cat - turns out it was a special motorcycle seat that was sought after and worth decent money (so he said) but to me it wasn't anything special because I'm not knowledgeable in that area.  

Getting back to topic - that scrapper is there to run a business, cover his own expenses, and turn a profit.  He offers a service, plain and simple.  It's a fact that scrappers will often times sell a few thousand dollars' worth of parts to the melting pot for a few hundred bucks, happens every day.  But you can't expect a scrapper to turn his outfit into a parts business any more that you can ask a farmer to turn his operation into a petting zoo, if that makes any sense - they are two completely different forms of business that each come with their own demands and overhead, and very seldom exist under the same roof.  Like I said, by now we should all know exactly what scrappers do.  Personally, I would argue that equal portions of fault for the destruction of those tractors could be shared by both the scrapper AND the prior owner for not having taken any measures to ensure those machines didn't suffer the fate that they did.  I don't know what circumstances led up to it playing out like that, and I realize that none of us know what our future holds, but a conversation I rarely EVER hear amongst Collectors in general is how we should take just as much responsibility in ensuring our treasured items are as well taken care of after we're gone, as the responsibility we exercise in taking care of and preserving them while we're still here. 

In a perfect world, everybody would have a family that shares in their hobbies or are at least involved enough with them to be able to pick up where they left off and carry things forward, in which case there would be little need to have things figured out in advance.   But if it's apparent that the kids don't want to have anything to do with Dad's old stuff, or you might not want your spouse to have to shoulder the burden of having to decide what to do with tons and tons of old heavy iron without even knowing where to start - then the situation should have already made itself clear that a scrapper's "Services" may well be called upon one day after we're no longer around to have any say in what transpires.  Get something in writing if you know fellow collectors or have like-minded friends that would be willing to take some stuff - contact local tractor shows and see if they would be interested in accepting certain pieces as a donation to their organization, etc. if you don't want to sell down while you're still in good enough health to be active and enjoying your stuff.  There are plenty of options on the table.  We all know what scrappers do. [img]/media/kunena/emoticons/rip.gif[/img]

sometimes those scrap merchants do know what they have but still pay the owner who has no idea scrap price and sell it to collectors at a closer to real value price.
this often happens with deceased estates the family has no idea what they're looking at. they just want it gone and the scrappy says i can do it on monday so thats what happens.

had that with a old bloke dad and i knew he had quite a few stationary engines. the biggest he had was around 30hp single cyl air start ronaldson-tippet it weighed about 6 tonnes
he made his own lifting tripods to pick it up in pieces. brian found her buried in a riverbank and dug her out by hand saving her piece buy piece.
his family auctioned the collection off and like any good collector without shed space removed the valuable brass oilers and the magnetos for safe keeping in the shed.

many people hadnt looked in the shed properly and went home minus the important bits.
we scored all his tripods from the baby one with rubber feet that he made to do transmission repairs on his toyota fj40 to the biggest one designed to lift 5 tonnes everyone else thought it was just old pipe.
brian also made a 300 tonne press to stamp 3 inch dia aluminium discs with the club logo and sell as a fund-raiser. he spent thousands just on the dies.

I watched the whole video two days ago, after about a dozen people in my comments section all sent me links to it.  Yeah, there were a lot of good parts on that R5 that I would've loved to have - all of the tin, the skeleton front tow hook, the track carrier rollers, radiator, and manifolds just from what little I could actually see of it in the footage.  Stuff from the other Cats as well.  But, I have my own opinion on the matter, and fair warning: it may be controversial lol [img]/media/kunena/emoticons/flame.gif[/img]

We all know by now what scrappers do with heavy iron - we've watched it play out numerous times and it's mostly always the same scenario - high volume tonnage in one convenient package equates to profit, so yes, these older heavy tractors go to the head of the line to be busted up.  The guy that made the video IS taking a few steps to save some things - within reason - although he seems to be primarily vintage automobile oriented when it comes to recognizing collectability and resale value.  I can't knock him for that, as nobody can be expected to know every niche inside and out - I experienced a bit of that just on the YT channel when I did a short walkaround video of an old gas Thirty-Five carcass and a guy in the comments section blasted me for not even mentioning what looked to me like some old bicycle seat or something that I casually moved out of the way to get a better view of the Cat - turns out it was a special motorcycle seat that was sought after and worth decent money (so he said) but to me it wasn't anything special because I'm not knowledgeable in that area.  

Getting back to topic - that scrapper is there to run a business, cover his own expenses, and turn a profit.  He offers a service, plain and simple.  It's a fact that scrappers will often times sell a few thousand dollars' worth of parts to the melting pot for a few hundred bucks, happens every day.  But you can't expect a scrapper to turn his outfit into a parts business any more that you can ask a farmer to turn his operation into a petting zoo, if that makes any sense - they are two completely different forms of business that each come with their own demands and overhead, and very seldom exist under the same roof.  Like I said, by now we should all know exactly what scrappers do.  Personally, I would argue that equal portions of fault for the destruction of those tractors could be shared by both the scrapper AND the prior owner for not having taken any measures to ensure those machines didn't suffer the fate that they did.  I don't know what circumstances led up to it playing out like that, and I realize that none of us know what our future holds, but a conversation I rarely EVER hear amongst Collectors in general is how we should take just as much responsibility in ensuring our treasured items are as well taken care of after we're gone, as the responsibility we exercise in taking care of and preserving them while we're still here. 

In a perfect world, everybody would have a family that shares in their hobbies or are at least involved enough with them to be able to pick up where they left off and carry things forward, in which case there would be little need to have things figured out in advance.   But if it's apparent that the kids don't want to have anything to do with Dad's old stuff, or you might not want your spouse to have to shoulder the burden of having to decide what to do with tons and tons of old heavy iron without even knowing where to start - then the situation should have already made itself clear that a scrapper's "Services" may well be called upon one day after we're no longer around to have any say in what transpires.  Get something in writing if you know fellow collectors or have like-minded friends that would be willing to take some stuff - contact local tractor shows and see if they would be interested in accepting certain pieces as a donation to their organization, etc. if you don't want to sell down while you're still in good enough health to be active and enjoying your stuff.  There are plenty of options on the table.  We all know what scrappers do. [img]/media/kunena/emoticons/rip.gif[/img]

Well said squatch!  He did fawn over the car a lot