The Daily Southerner, Tarboro, NC

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  • T. J. ROYAL

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April 28, 2008

Farmtrac auction draws opinionated crowd

T. J. ROYAL

More than 300 dealers and individuals from all over the state, the Southeast and outside the United States descended on Tarboro Friday for the Farmtrac salvage auction. It was held on Hope Lodge Street across from Stocks Elementary School.

Country Boys Auction & Realty, based in Washington, N.C., handled the auction, with Mike Gurkins serving as auctioneer for part of the morning sale.

Doug Gurkins, who runs Country Boys Auction & Realty with Mike, his son, was appointed by attorney Jim Marrow, Farmtrac's receiver, to sort through the beleaguered company's finance and accounting backlog.

Before Friday's auction, Farmtrac retailers from across the U.S. met Thursday with Marrow and Doug Gurkins to discuss the state of the financially crippled company.

Before Thursday's meeting, Marrow said the sale was part of a cleanup project slated to generate revenue for the troubled tractor company.

Doug Gurkins was present at the auction. Marrow was not present because of personal business.

Some of the people who came were curious to see what equipment was for sale. Others came to take advantage of discounted prices on used, discontinued Farmtrac parts, operable tractors and scrap metal that were put on the auction block.

Most of the attendees came to connect with fellow individuals and dealers, to try to address their dire financial situation and understand what the auction meant for their livelihoods and their futures in the tractor industry.

Kevin Taylor, a Farmtrac dealer from Corydon, Ind., arrived in Tarboro Thursday afternoon for Friday's auction. Taylor said he signed on with Farmtrac in the tractor industry because he was confident their brand could help "save" his company, Kevin Taylor Farm & Construction Repair.

Now, Taylor feels signing on with Farmtrac "looks like it's going to take us under."

After he saw a lot of four-wheel drive tractor axles go for $5,900, Taylor said the dealers will "never see a penny" of the money from Friday's auction. "You can bet on that," Taylor added.

That's because the money gathered from the auction is certain to go largely to Atlanta company Textron Financial, Farmtrac's largest secured creditor that is owed more than $12 million by the Tarboro company.

Tony Pearce, 59, is one of 12 current Farmtrac employees put in place by Jim Marrow to work with Doug Gurkins as a "skeleton" operation: to operate the company at minimal cost.

Pearce said he thought having Gurkins' help operating Farmtrac was a "big plus." He said he did not know what to expect the auction could do to help the company.

Albert Lester, 65, a Farmtrac dealer from Shreveport, La. was frank with his feelings about the auction.

"This is sad," Lester said.

One reason he felt that way, Lester said, was because the financial situation of the dealers did not allow them to take advantage of the discount prices.

"It's not feasible for us to buy anything and ship it back" to their business, Lester said.

He also said Farmtrac could have offered the parts to the dealers first. "In my opinion, they should have offered the dealers first shot" at the salvage items, Lester said, instead of putting them on the auction block to pay on their loans.

Lester said the $5,900 lot of axles had value if the purchaser could resell the items on the internet. "That would help the dealers" a little, he said.

But if the buyer was to sell that lot for just scrap metal, Lester said he "didn't want to see 'em load it.

"That'd be heart-breaking," Lester said.

Jae-Yong Sim, a marketing manager with LS Cable Company Ltd. of Seoul, South Korea, said he arrived in Tarboro last week to check on Farmtrac's legal situation.

"Through this auction, if they can get us the money" Sim said they are owed by Farmtrac, "that'd help.

"(I am) not so sure that'll happen," Sim said.

Tim Cooke, 42, who owns the Two Rivers Inc. tractor company in Drakesboro, Ky., said he felt "nothing" about the auction Friday. He did say that he felt the items "on the palettes should have been sold seven, eight years ago," instead of having to deal with them now.

Rob Meranda, 42, is a Farmtrac dealer from Clayton, Ind. who came for Friday's auction. If he lived closer, Meranda said he might be interested in buying some equipment. But since he lives in Indiana, and had a flight to catch at 4:30 p.m., he said it was "just a sale." to him.

"What happens here today ain't going to affect me tomorrow," Meranda said.

Danny Pait, 57, owner of Pait's Tractor, LLC in Evergreen, N.C., said he came to Friday's auction simply to be with friends and other dealers. "What they sold today was junk" Pait said, holding no interest for him.

Gurkins said sales figures from the auction would not be released to the public until the "proper procedure" has been followed. That includes notifying Farmtrac's creditors, including Textron Financial, about the auction's proceeds first, Gurkins said.

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