Joe Artman Bantam and Wildcat Garden Tractor Auction, a Day We Will Remember

October 30, 2010 will be a day we remember for a  long time.  We were fortunate enough to be one of the few Bantam  collectors that knew of an Auction in Lebanon, Indiana.  The auction was  for long time employee Joe Artman of  Standard Manufacturing, the  manufacturer of the Bantam Garden tractor.






Joe had decided to sell all  of his collection of Bantam’s and Wildcat tractors, new and used parts  and implements.  The auction was not very well advertised and most of  the attendees were friends of Joe’s and local collectors.  Joes wife  sent us a flyer of the auction on the Thursday before the auction. We made  arrangements and Friday after work we left Webb City, Missouri and drove  all night and arrived in Lebanon about 3am. We  found the fairgrounds and  took a short rest.  Saturday arrived and we went in and started checking  out all the items to be auctioned.

Joe has collected some rare models of the Bantam  and Wildcat garden tractors.  Among those were a Bantam Jr. 1 ½ hp, and a  Wildcat Estate model.   Both of which are the only ones we have seen,  although we know of at least 3 more Bantam Jr’s.  In total there were 6  Bantam garden tractors, a Bantam 8hp 8000, a Bantam 5000, a Bantam 3000 Standard and the Bantam Jr.  There  were two other Bantams, a Bantam Ride-a-way Jr. and a front front wheel  drive model.

There were four Wildcats,  a restored Wildcat Page garden tractor and a  Wildcat Garden-all.  There were also a couple of Standard walk behinds and push  mowers.  Also in the rare category was a 10 kid kiddie cart that was  used at the Hazelwood Amusement park to pull kid around the park.  It  had 10 spaces for kids to set and had a hand rail that they could hold  on to while riding. Also included were several original pieces of  literature and pictures of the factory.  Joe had a copy of the owner’s  manual for each of the Bantam garden tractors he had there.

Before the auction started everyone was asking  “what are you here for”  “which one do you want”  “how much do you think  this will bring” on and on.  I made some deals before the auction with  other collectors, deals like “I won’t bid on this tractor if you don’t  bid on that one” or “you buy all the parts in that box and we will split  them”.  When it was time for the auction they started with the Page and  attachments.  The final price on it was around $1200 which was a great  deal for the buyer,  the second was the Garden-all and it sold for under  $700, another deal.  I was thinking we might get some deals here.   Remember it only takes 2 people wanting the same thing for that thought  to go out the window.  It came to the Bantam’s and I think the total for  the 6 Bantams was almost $10,000 and another $4000 for the Wildcats.



All in all it was like I said “ it was a day to  remember.”   In the end we ended up with the Bantam 8000, the Bantam 1 ½  hp Jr,  The wide front Estate Model Wildcat, a Deluxe Wildcat, and  Model 14 Wildcat which we ended up selling to someone later in the day.   We bought the Kiddie Cart, a NOS cultivator, front sickle bar mower and  an assortment of NOS and used parts.  Some of the best parts we  purchased were new in the box clutches for the Bantams and the original  cut a way transmission the salesman would use to show the inner workings of  the transmission.

When we arrived back home we unloaded the trailer  one by one and decided to see if we could get them running.  Adding some  gas and cleaning the points on some of the Bantams and each one started with little  effort.

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Anne & Daryel Shaffer, Webb City, Missouri