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Portion of Case tractor collection displayed at Pioneer Harvest Fiesta
Arthur Closs, 51, has a passion.
He collects Case tractors.
He has approximately 100 tractors that run, about 300 tractors altogether.
It is a passion his dad, Frederick Closs Jr., had and one Arthur Closs is passing on to his 20-year-old daughter, Caitlin.
Case tractors are unique, Closs said.
"The rear end on all the Case tractors are chain-driven instead of gear-driven," he said. "This makes them simpler to work on and easier to maintain. They are a good, dependable, cheap tractor compared to some others.
"Dad farmed with Case tractors all his life. The first tractor I ran for my him was a 1940 D Case."
His dad brought him to Pioneer Harvest Fiesta when Closs first started walking in the late 1960s, he said.
Finding a tractor
Closs started finding Case tractors for his dad to purchase when he was a child.
"I was riding the grade school bus in fifth grade," Closs said. "We had a substitute driver and went down the wrong road...by a farm we'd never been by before. I saw this old Case tractor sitting there and told my dad about it. He went back and bought it. That's how I got acquainted with finding a tractor to buy."
That tractor is now part of the Closs Case Tractor Collection, he said.
"It was a D Case," Closs said. "They were easy for a small kid to get on and off of."
His dad is deceased and because he was a World War II and Korean Conflict veteran, he is buried at Fort Scott National Cemetery.
Investment
Closs sees his Case Tractor collection as an investment.
"If you go to the casino and spend money, it's gone," he said. "(Tractors) are an investment, and something you can enjoy."
His daughter, Caitlin, also enjoys driving tractors and helping her dad keep them running.
Caitlin will be helping Closs feed the antique rock crusher at Pioneer Harvest Fiesta today and Sunday. Closs will be running the crusher, Caitlin will be putting rocks that need to be crushed into machine.