The Tractor Pages
Purchase
The seller (I shall call him, he) operates a small farm with accommodation, a farm-stall and general animal operations. He used the tractors for various purposes since buying the farm with the tractors included (as far as I understand). He's also very well known to me - a good man and friend. Therefore, I accepted that any oddities would stem from bad luck, accident or cluelessness, not malintent.
While we operated our previous smallholding, we befriended and visited the seller often. It's safe to say I saw and liked the tractors for many years, even before needing my own. He remembered this and proposed a very low selling price as a friend. The plan was to start finding a tractor, but searching failed (financially vs technical requirements not matching up). As a result, I got both Europard 200's for about the price of one.
I paid the seller, and he kept them safe while I arranged transport solutions.
The knowns
We all knew the two 200's were old ladies and didn't expect them to look new. I recall the seats having seen much UV, as well as the fibreglass panels and instrument cluster. Surface rust was expected - they slept outside. He disclosed everything that made sense at his level of understanding, and I appreciate the honesty. He disclosed they were working fine, paraphrasing: 'the one with the loader has one new rear tyre'. He topped up the universal fluid and charged the batteries.
He stated the one with the loader started easily, but the other's battery was shot and needed continuous charging. He also mentioned both had starter issues (one having a broken start button that demanded solenoid/starter bridging). On selling day, he had to winch the second one onto the transport vehicle since the rpm suddenly got stuck 'revving high' once started (easily). This issue happened suddenly after standing for a long while. I believe this - stuck racks in the pump governor checked out as a common issue. Fair enough.
Transport
Transporting two heavy vehicles proved expensive. Over 400km, a single 2-ton trailer wouldn't suffice. Most companies charged per km, both ways - understandable since they can't travel to pickup for free (unless they had a lucky return trip). I asked around locally, then settled for the rural WhatsApp group. Soon enough, folks with large trucks and transport companies replied, but with heavy quotes ranging from R10,000 (South African Rand, around €495, $580 or £440 at the time - August 2025) per tractor, to R25k for both. This wasn't possible, so I kept looking; considering renting a trailer for two trips at around R6,000 per trip in fuel and rental alone.
Someone from the group suggested a local panelbeater. Hesitantly, I contacted them and sure enough they charged about R12,000 for both tractors - next day! Still expensive, but better to get them home under my wing than leave them 400km away.
Delivery
The driver was family to the panelbeating company, which helped enormously. He was obsessive about the trip - every bump, driving safe and slow. Even so, he made it to me by 19h00 the next evening. The tractors arrived safely with no additional issues beyond what we already knew. His truck, however, suffered gravel road damage (a few rivets popped from the bed).
Unloading was simple. Tractor 1, which started by itself, reversed off the trailer easily. Once parked and secured, tractor 2 was winched down and parked. The driver left after laughs and chat on this cold, windy evening.
It was pretty dark, so I drove home planning to return next evening. Home? Getting here requires 40km gravel road, then a further 4km through a (very) bumpy, uneven servitude road into our farm. This wasn't possible for the driver, his truck, trailer and load. The tractors were left in safe space away from public road, but still 4+ km (and 30 minutes) from our farm. The best we could do at the time.
Off to YouTube, some heavy technical reading, and bed time…
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