Missouri Museum Features Rare Tractors

Missouri Museum Features Rare Tractors “If you’re looking for a large collection of amazing 100-plus-year-old tractors, you definitely need to make a trip to Southeast Missouri and visit us,” says American Tractor Museum Director Lori Heberlie. “Our Perryville Museum is home to more than 130 tractors, some of them one-of-a-kind and many of them ‘orphans’ because the companies that built them no longer exist.” The museum houses well-known brands such as Rumely, Waterloo Boy, Avery, International and John Deere. It also features many obscure tractors from Samson, Rock Island, Mogul, Garford, Plymouth, Greyhound, Indiana, Toro and Illinois, among others. More than 65 manufacturers are represented. “Touring our museum is really a learning experience to soak up nostalgia,” Heberlie says. “Visitors enjoy interactive listening devices to hear and read the history of each tractor they’re viewing. They’ll see and hear about our one-of-a-kind Coop and Avery tractors, an Uncle Sam, and a Stihl tractor made in Germany.” Each tractor is marked with a plaque listing specifications, when and where it was built, and who owned it. Some tractors have videos in which the owner explains the tractor’s history, how it was used, and how it was restored. More than 170 additional tractors are shown and described on the museum’s website under the Tractor Club tab. Before the museum opened, many of the tractors were part of a private collection assembled by good friends Kenny Buchheit and Arley Berkbuegler. “We probably traveled more than 100,000 miles all across the country, looking at, buying and picking up tractors and tractor parts,” Buchheit says. During their 20 years of collecting, Berkbuegler restored many of the tractors. Buchheit says of Berkbuegler, “One thing you had to know about him was that when he was a baby, they didn’t give him a bottle or a toy; they gave him a wrench, and he’s worked on tractors ever since.” The good friends and tractor lovers consolidated their collections in 2020 and purchased a building in Perryville to open the museum. Buchheit’s advertising manager designed many of the interior displays, and Heberlie became the museum’s director. The original 12,000-sq ft building was recently doubled in size. “All of the tractors on display were running when we brought them into the museum,” Heberlie says. “After they were set in place, we drained the fluids and put ‘bed pans’ under them to catch any errant fluids. They’re all in retirement now for the enjoyment of all our visitors.” Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, American Tractor Museum, 508 N. Main St., Perryville, Mo. 63775 (ph 573-250-2219; info@americantractormuseum.com; www.americantractormuseum.com).

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