“They suggested I try the auction lot.”
Ryan's face tightened.
“They laughed?”
Ethan grabbed a bottle of water.
“Yep.”
For several seconds, Ryan said nothing.
Then he smiled.
“Dad would have hated that.”
Ethan smiled too.
“He would've told me not to care.”
“Then he'd probably say something about pride.”
“Already heard it in my head.”
Ryan pushed the calculator aside.
“So what are we doing?”
Ethan looked toward the workshop.
“We need a tractor.”
“Yes.”
“We can't afford forty-two thousand.”
“No.”
“So…”
Ryan waited.
Ethan said,
“We build one.”
Silence.
Ryan blinked.
“You're serious?”
“Yes.”
“Ethan.”
“What?”
“People buy tractors.”
“I know.”
“Normal people.”
Ethan smiled.
“Good thing we're not normal.”
Ryan laughed.
But neither brother knew yet how difficult the idea would become.
The next morning, Ethan wrote a list.
ENGINE.
TRANSMISSION.
REAR AXLE.
FRONT AXLE.
HYDRAULICS.
PTO.
FRAME.
CAB.
ELECTRICAL.
TIRES.
Ryan looked over his shoulder.
“That looks expensive.”
“It doesn't have to be.”
“How?”
“Used parts.”
“From where?”
“Everywhere.”
That became the beginning.
For the next week, the brothers searched.
They called salvage yards.
They visited farm auctions.
They drove through small towns looking at machinery sitting behind barns.
They checked newspaper advertisements.
They talked to mechanics.
They asked farmers what they were willing to sell.
Ethan learned that old machinery had a strange second life.
Something that was useless to one farmer could be exactly what another farmer needed.
On a cold Saturday morning, they found their first major piece.
A damaged tractor sat behind a repair yard.
It had been involved in an accident years earlier.
The frame was bent.
The body was ruined.
But the engine was good.
So was the transmission.
Ethan spent forty minutes inspecting it.
The yard owner watched him.
“You know what you're doing?”
“I know enough.”
The owner laughed.
“How much?”
“Six thousand.”
“Eight.”
“Six.”
“Seven-five.”
“Six.”
The owner stared at him.
“You always negotiate like that?”