New member here, great info. I have 5u d2 orchard model which I use and the thought occurred to me, what was the cost of a new machine back in the day? And what would be the cost in today’s dollars. Thanks ahead for any responses.

In August of 1956, a D2 50" gauge tail seat tractor was $5585, in today's dollars that would be $54,453. The average price of a car was about $2000, in 1956, in today's dollars $19,500.

In the early sixties I worked on a ranch where they had a '49 D2 with the 2S dozer which they had bought new. I think they said they had paid $3200 for it.

Here is one example... 

Here is an example of pricing for a D4 from  around the same time...

This subject was discussed a few years ago. A friend had bought a Fiat/New Holland crawler tractor for his vineyard work. The modern tractor is the widest model with wide track shoes,3pt hitch, 3 hydatic valves, and pto with 80 hp rating. I do not remember the real numbers, but using a inflation adjustment the D 2 was very comparable priced with the current tractor with more features, but less longevity.

He was a IH guy because he like wrenching and IH's where cheap. He would still rather run his TD6 than the Fiat. I have not kept track but know at 5 to 8 years he has had undercarriage problem and other things.

If things from the old board are still around I had real numbers at the time.

Ray54 wrote:

This subject was discussed a few years ago. A friend had bought a Fiat/New Holland crawler tractor for his vineyard work. The modern tractor is the widest model with wide track shoes,3pt hitch, 3 hydatic valves, and pto with 80 hp rating. I do not remember the real numbers, but using a inflation adjustment the D 2 was very comparable priced with the current tractor with more features, but less longevity.

He was a IH guy because he like wrenching and IH's where cheap. He would still rather run his TD6 than the Fiat. I have not kept track but know at 5 to 8 years he has had undercarriage problem and other things.

If things from the old board are still around I had real numbers at the time.

***Ray, the CAT has better resale value than the Fiat IMO. Tomato/row crop guys here would buy them and modify the imports to spray, etc. converting them to high tracks. One farm shop I went to, had a wall of track pads (all new take offs) as they made their own pads of 4x6" rectangle steel for extra clearance.
Unfortunately, the UC on many did not provide many hours of service. Seen many operable and clean ones sell for less than $1000 each here. JM
 

I posted this a few years ago.  I am the second owner.