NEVADA, Iowa — For Loren Book, Minneapolis-Moline isn’t just a company, it’s part of his family.

Loren was born in 1946, and three years later his father, Don Book, took an opportunity to become a Minneapolis-Moline dealer in Nevada, Iowa.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — John W. Maitland Jr. realized he was a John Deere tractor collector when he bought three antique tractors at an auction almost 40 years ago.

“There were rows and rows of antique tractors at that sale. How we decided what to buy, I don’t know,” said his son, Johnny Maitland.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. — On a June afternoon at the American Tractor Museum, Kenny Buchheit was in his element, talking with visitors and sharing information about tractors. He started collecting old tractors about 21 years ago, and last August he and his family opened his museum in Perryville.

His tractor collecting got started in a fairly simple fashion.

SEYMOUR, Iowa — Ray Cook isn’t sure who has more miles on the motor — him or the 1946 Farmall B his father purchased two months after his birth.

“That tractor is still running, and I guess so am I,” says the 75-year-old retired farmer.

THOMPSONVILLE, Ill. — The rusting hunks of metal crammed into a building on Jerry Miller’s Franklin County farm are more than old tractors. They’re history.

“Real people sat in the seats of those tractors,” he said. “This is how this nation was built. I like the stories behind this stuff as much as anything because they represent real people.”

MILO, Iowa — Robby Dittmer owns a Porsche. In fact, he owns three of them. But the vehicles Dittmer owns are not race cars. They are tractors.

“When you think of a Porsche, you definitely don’t think of tractors,” says Dittmer, a farmer who also works as an agronomist with Agriland Farm Service in Indianola. “A lot of people don’t believe me when I say we have Porsche tractors.”

NORTH HENDERSON, Ill. — Almost 80 years ago Bill Meeker’s father and grandfather bought an Oliver 70 tractor. It was the first Oliver in the family.

“It’s a 1942 model. I’m a 1943 model. It’s been restored. I haven’t. So it’s in better shape than me,” Bill said.