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By Sarah MacWhirter Orser doesn't have to go far to find a sale. Recently, the CN Tower called him Have a tractor, escalator or great asking if he was interested in buying lengths of cable to sell? and reselling used cable (which the Call Tower replaces periodically regardless Ltd. on Vermilyea Road north of of condition). If he was 10 years Belleville. He loves sales and he might younger, he says, he would have be able to help you out. accepted the challenge. Orser first planted roots in the Also, a Toronto airport called to see machinery business in 1952. For if he would buy and sell an escalator. almost three decades he was partner of Orser told them he was not interested. Hadley Equipment, which he sold his Like an old time barbershop, Orser shares of on Oct. 3 1,1 980. does a steady business in local news as Three days later, Orser was back in well. Old friends drop by and fill Orser business again. This time it was the in on all the latest happenings. Over wrecking and used-parts business, and his many years in the farming Orser -- at the age of 74 -- is still business, Orser has seen much change. strong at it. "A tremendous lot have gone "We've sent things to Africa and bankrupt in the last few years. ...Farm we've sold to Jamaica," Orser says. credit is to blame for some of this," he His grandsons work with him. says. In the past, farmers were Orser runs almost all angles of the encouraged to borrow to buy large business, but, he admits with a smile, ; farm equipment, only to lose it to the "I don't change any tires." bank. In the early 1980s, when interest From the time he was a young'un, rates skyrocketed, farmers had 40 per Orser has been a wheeler-dealer. cent more tractor power than they "I've bought most everything that's needed, he says. Orser laments sometimes that here," he says. equipment ended up at his yard And, although he sometimes does, Staff Writer John Orser leans on an old John Deere which sits and waits for a new owner in the yard at Orser Equipment. looking for a new owner. He has witnessed another trend potentially harmful to farming. "Farmers have made a terrible mistake with their sons. They don't want to give them anything until they're gone. The sons go off and find something else to do." His grandsons already have shares in his business, he says. Also, he noticed farmers in the past failed to make arrangements to pay for their taxes, "I always said you had to be a good friend with your insurance company, your banker and your lawyer. Go ahead of time and talk it over and that makes a big difference," he says. Specific to the used farm equipment business, Orser noticed older farmers are happy with equipment that works. Young farmers are not so easily satisfied ' -- they want equipment that is "modernlooking." Orser sells antiques as well. Recently he sold a late '40s or early '50s John Deere to a collector in Quebec for $2,500. "We sell a lot of parts. We don't get enough money to get labor (costs) out of it, but that's our advertising." Whether you are looking for bolt for an early model David Brown or a friendly conversatioi about the history of farming, Orser Equipment is the place to be. This plow is the same kind John Orser bought at an auction for 25 cents when he was in his early teens. o - ·i-; K ' <N An old tractor is rarely used by anyone but the birds enjoying the afternoon sun Even if it is the most obscure of parts, chances are you will find it at Orsers