Ralph Puncochar bought his first tractor at 19. He didn't have the money to fix it up, but the green-and-yellow machine looked good, and that was enough. Now 75, the Hillsboro High School class of 1967 graduate is letting go of the collection that grew from that single impulse buy into a barn full of restored John Deere tractors, vintage cars, and antique farm equipment on River Road.
Everything sells Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 9 a.m. at 5888 SW River Rd., Hillsboro. No reserves. No minimums.
Puncochar grew up on a filbert (hazelnut) orchard in south Hillsboro, on Larson Road past Meriwether Golf Course toward Scholls. His father ran John Deere tractors on the family farm, and Puncochar told the Hillsboro Herald that the distinctive pop of a Deere two-cylinder engine stuck with him for life.
As a young man he worked at Hillsboro Implement, the local John Deere dealership then owned by Roy Hofer and Dave Edwards. Edwards took the farm kid under his wing and taught him to rebuild the machines.
Hillsboro Implement is long gone, absorbed through buyouts that eventually landed with Pape Machinery. But the tractors Edwards helped Puncochar learn on are still here.
Two machines in Saturday's sale come from the Edwards family: Dave Edwards' grandsons are consigning the last of their grandfather's tractors, closing out that chapter alongside Puncochar's own collection.
The inventory spans a 1929 John Deere, the earliest in the sale, through models from the 1960s. Auctioneer Kent Gilgore of Kilgore Auctioneers and Appraisers says the vast majority still run; only two are being sold as non-runners. Four are tractors Puncochar used to compete with at the tractor pull in Banks.
The standout lot is a 1929 Ford Model A that Puncochar hot-rodded himself, dropping in a Chevrolet 350 engine and transmission, a Ford 9-inch rear end, and Ford Pinto rack-and-pinion steering. The car has no exterior door handles. You need a fob to get in.
During preview days ahead of the sale, a man who had owned the Model A two decades earlier recognized it and told Puncochar he'd be back Saturday to bid.
Puncochar, who spent decades in construction, said his wife finally raised the question of what would happen to the collection if something happened to him. She "doesn't know one tractor from another," he said. It took a couple of years to work up to the decision.
He has asked Kosen Media, a Hillsboro-based videography company, to capture drone footage of the auction so he can watch the tractors roll out to their new homes years from now.
The sale also includes antique farm implements such as flails and spreaders. Tractor and collector car inventory goes live simulcast on HiBid starting at 10 a.m. Bidders can preview remaining items at 8 a.m. on auction day.
How to attend
- What: Ralph Puncochar Collection Auction (live in-person and online)
- When: Saturday, July 11, 2026, at 9 a.m.; tractors and cars simulcast on HiBid at 10 a.m.
- Where: 5888 SW River Rd., Hillsboro, OR 97123 (confirm address at kilgoreauctioneersandappraisers.hibid.com)
- Online bidding: kilgoreauctioneersandappraisers.hibid.com
- Conducted by: Kilgore Auctioneers and Appraisers LLC
