DECATUR, Ill. — On the final day of the 2025 Farm Progress Show (FPS), world renowned farm broadcaster and “old iron” lover Max Armstrong parted with an old friend — his restored 1953 Farmall Super M tractor. Found in “beaten up” condition near Morris, Ill., and restored by members of the International Harvester Collectors Club Chapter 2 in Northern Illinois, the vintage tractor has been driven by Armstrong in dozens of parades and other special events over the past 27 years. 

On Thursday, August 28, Armstrong’s vintage machine was sold on the grounds of the FPS by Sullivan Auctioneers to American Tractor Museum, Perryville, Mo., which purchased the tractor for $17,000. It will be displayed at the museum, which is located around 100 miles south of the Gateway Arch. 

“When I acquired my mom and dad’s Super H in 1995, the IH Collectors Club of Northern Illinois Chapter 2 said ‘you need a Super M to go with that’ and I agreed. As a club project they went ahead and restored an old Super M that came out of the Morris area. I supplied some of the money for parts to fix it up, and a few Saturdays they got together over a few pots of chili and made it happen. It was something to see,” Armstrong said. 

“That tractor has been with me in five states, the Illinois and Indiana state fairs, and there was an occasion many years ago when it was hauled to the Watermelon Festival Parade in Owensville, Ind. It’s been on display at the Racine, Wis., headquarters of IH, and we took it down through the old Farmall plant in Rock Island before it was demolished in the early 2000s. There is a YouTube video of us taking it down to the old assembly line there just before they demolished it,” he added. 

After showing the tractor at countless fairs and festivals, Armstrong, 72, finds less and less opportunities to drive the machine now that he lives in North Carolina and is starting to wind down the frequency and distance of his public appearances. “I just thought it was time for someone else to enjoy it,” he said. 

Armstrong’s Super M once graced the pages of a Classic Tractor calendar. It was also the inspiration for one-half of a scale-model boxed set of Armstrong-owned tractors that were custom made for charity. “The other tractor was my Super M, and we sold those sets to benefit 4-H and FFA,” he recalled. “That would have been around 1998 at the Farm Progress Show as the official FPS toy. It sold around 10,000 sets and I was able to write nice checks for what would have been my royalty to 4-H and FFA.” 

The model was manufactured by IH from 1952 to 1954, with the original Super M’s hood contour designed by Raymond Loewy, a French-American industrial designer who created the Coca-Cola bottle and the streamlined locomotive profile.