Vintage tractors up for sale

The auction is expected to last for more than five hours

A retired farmer has auctioned the large vintage tractor collection he had built up over 35 years.

More than 25 vehicles, some from the 1930s, went on sale at Llanfynydd, Carmarthenshire, on Saturday.

The collection, including hundreds of other items such as pre-war horse-drawn machinery, belonged to retired farmer Bob Strudwick.

He said he was sorry to see it go but was getting too old to maintain everything.

Mr Strudwick had been farming all his life but had to give it up in 1971 when he was diagnosed with a condition known as farmers' lung.

"I was a farmer born and bred but we sold up and I bought the village shop," he explained.

"Doing the rounds you would see this or that, tractors and machinery that were no longer used, so that's how I started collecting them.

I think it will hit me that they are gone when I walk into my sheds on Saturday night Bob Strudwick

"Most of what I have is local. In a way it's a bit sad to see them going from here but I'm getting a bit too old to look after them.

"There are people who would like to do them up so I thought it was time to give them a go."

There were more than 500 lots up for grabs.

The oldest tractor on sale was a 1939 Standard Fordson but he expected a 1941 John Deer Tricycle, imported from America during World War II, to attract the most interest.

Also under the hammer were old fashioned wooden butter churns, electric generators and horse drawn ploughs and other machinery.

Parts of Mr Strudwick's collection have been on display at agriculture and vintage shows across the UK including the Royal Welsh.