A VERY EARLY CASE

Andrew Ebling is a young guy who thinks old. Take antique tractors, for instance. “I like how archaic some of them are,” says the 35-year-old Dundas, Minnesota, business manager. “I like how simple the designs are. Early tractors show the transition in design, so the earliest ones were always the most interesting because you saw just how the foundation was laid to build a tractor.”

Andrew, his dad, Gary, and brother, John, share a tractor collection. Among the early tractors in their stable is a rare 1912 Case 20-40 tractor. Some say it might have been the first Case tractor sold in California. “It’s not possible to prove that claim,” Andrew admits. “Justin Click (owner of the tractor before Andrew and his family bought it) says it’s pretty hard to substantiate that, but it came from an era when that was very possible.”

The first Case gas-powered tractor – the Paterson – was built in 1892 (one year after