By ANDREA McCANN
Indiana Correspondent OTWELL, Ind. — Kent Hayden figures he got his first toy tractor in 1960. It was made by Tru-Scale, and he still has it, along with more than 1,000 other toy tractors and farm equipment scale models he’s collected since then.
“Every year, for my birthday and Christmas, I’d ask for a piece of farm equipment,” he said. “I’ve always had a love of tractors. My grandpa farmed, and my dad farmed a little.”
He said his mom would buy him the Tru-Scale toys at the five-and-dime store. Tru-Scale, he explained, was like a store brand or generic brand. The company also made the die cast toys for other companies and put their names on them.
As the years passed, Hayden worked for farm implement dealerships, where it was easy to get his hands on the toys to add to his collection. In 1981, he began attending the National Farm Toy Show in Dyersville, Iowa, where he also browses for the collectibles. He said he’s only missed one of the annual shows since he started going. “That’s the big granddaddy of shows,” he said. “Ertl and Scale Models used to be made there (in Dyersville). Scale Models is the only one there now.”
Ertl is now a division of RC2 Corp. and no longer manufactured in Iowa. Scale Models Toys is a division of Joseph L. Ertl Inc., with manufacturing facilities in Dyersville, but the companies are not affiliated.
Hayden said he and a couple buddies travel Indiana and adjoining states looking for farm toy bargains. They hit the farm toy show circuit, flea markets and auctions looking for unique pieces and ones they don’t already have.
“That’s my thing,” he said. “Some guys play golf. I go to tractor shows. A lot of guys buy off the Internet, but I only have two pieces in the whole house bought off the Internet.”
According to Hayden, part of the fun is networking and sharing stories with other collectors. These days, it’s a little bit easier for him to share his collection with others interested in the hobby. When the house next door to Hayden’s went into foreclosure, he purchased it and turned it into a farm toy “museum.” It has five rooms lined with shelves and display cases to exhibit his toy tractors and other collectibles, which are organized by brand.
Though Hayden said he fell in love with Allis-Chalmers when he worked for a dealership, he doesn’t discriminate in his collection. All the major companies are represented. When companies are bought out or merged, he begins collecting the newly named toys.
“I’ve got a little bit of everything,” he said.
He has new pieces still preserved in the original packaging, and he has second-hand pieces that have been used for their original purpose – keeping youngsters occupied and dreaming of the day they’ll be big enough to drive the real thing. Each piece of Hayden’s collection is carefully catalogued by model number, stock number and serial number.
Farm toy collectors can spend as much as they desire on their hobby. Hayden said he used to set a $100 spending limit per piece, but likes to challenge himself to find something in the $40-$50 range. However, he said a lot of the toy show specials he likes to collect are $60-$70 and getting more expensive.
“I’ve got one I know I paid $15 for at an auction,” Hayden said. “Two Versatiles were $300 apiece. I hated doing it at the time, but they were only making them one time. I was bound and determined to have the whole set. They made them in three scales.”
Get the whole set, he did. He has it in 1:16, 1:32 and 1:64.
“The small ones aren’t too bad (price-wise), but the big ones hurt,” he said with a laugh.
Hayden also collects Kent Feeds memorabilia and U.S. Postal Service items and has those housed in his “museum.” He said he began collecting the Kent Feeds items to “flatter” himself since his name is Kent. Now a rural mail carrier, he got interested in postal objects and has 150 of those.
He likes to share his farm collectibles with other enthusiasts and invites anyone to visit if they’re in Pike County. He just requests a courtesy call first at 812-309-9449. |
