do you have a "strange inheritance" story you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it! send me an email or go to our website, "strange week. "strange inheritance" starts n now. >> a farmer with a unusual hobby, a huge collection. >> anybody that collects 150 tractors, buzz that make youic centric? >> he spent a lifetime and a pretty penny amassing it. jamie: a treasure trove of valuable americana or a heard of white elephants. >> dad, you are running out of room. where are you going to put them all?

jamie: i am jamie colby, i am just pulling into tol to -- lemars, iowa, a short distance from sioux city. learning about a very "strange inheritance." >> i am roma lancaster, after my dad passed away we knew that there would be a lot of things that would have to be sort out and gone through on the farm. >> roma's father, gabe hawkins has deep roots in this part of iowa, more than a century. >> my father's ancestors immigrated to the united states in the late 1800s, they moved westward with the expansion of the railroad, my grandfather, my dad's father, albert hawkins farmed just south much here about a mile. jamie: b abe grew up, as a young

farmer in 1950s, he found a tractor rusting in the weeds, it sparks his imagination. >> the 1929 d is the with track or that delonged to my grandfather, that got my dad into collecting when he restored that tractor that originally belonged to his father. jamie: as the farm grows to over 500 acres of corn, soybeans and his family prospers, hawkins picks out the next vintage tractor to buy, and restore, and the next, and the next, including this one, a minneapolis pomineral --moline. jamie: how old is this one? >> 1944. >> incredible. jamie: i meet bruce brock. a fellow history buff, he and

dave within way back. >> i was proud to be his friend. he was a good businessman, a good father, a good husband, a great neighbor,e. jamie: i know coin collecting and cars but with trackers? >> these are reputation of the past that farmers and pharmaceuticallies, and -- farm, families and farm relations enjoy looking at. jamie: tractors are part of iowa's history, in 1892down froehlich invented the gas power tractor in a tiny village, about 300 miles east of here, it helps america become a agricultural giant. even though none of dave a 4 children tills the soil like he dhe shares his passion for tractors with his grandson alex. >> i can remember as young as 4 years old, riding in the combine

with my grandpa, taking napping at floor. >> pretty soon the sheds are filled with old tractors in various states of repair, more than a hundred. jamie: did mom ever say no more tractors? >> not really, but i remember dad called the wittors his -- tractors his savings account, to justify it. the joke became, dad are you ever going to stop? >> no, family vacations become cross country tractor hunts. would you say he was eccentric. >> he was a savvy businessman. >> over the years grandpa probably put a hundred thousand,

not over a quarter million into his collection. >> it was not about the money, it was a passion, and a love, something he wanted to do, he did not get into collecting heavily until he had the money to help us go to college, and make sure we got the education we wanted. jamie: born of hardy iowa farmer stock, dave seems as indifferent truckable -- as those tractors but in summer of 2011, his 73-year-old body grinds to a halt. >> he never complained, he was sick for a few days, we did not know what was wrong with him. ought opy i-- autopsy results came back, we found out he had cancer, it is sad, my dad is gone. sorry. >> it was more than just a

shock. it was i life changing blow. >> he went to the same church from the day he was born until the day he died. he was baptized and had his funeral in the same small kupri church, it was -- country church it was important that we all knew that legacy and continued that on. jamie: at first, life on the farm continues as before. dave's son-in-law, alex's dad, farms the acreage. alex tends the tractors but soon the loss of their patriarch sends ripples of change, dai-ichi widow jude -- dave's widow judy moved into town. >>e. did that surprise you? >> no. jamie: dave's absence creates a crisis, sparking strong disagreement went the family, should they hang on to his

collection or sell it and close out his savings account? >> at the time of his death, how prepared was he for you to take on the huge obligation? >> i wish we would have had just a couple of days to ask him some questions that would have helped us make sure we made the decisions that were how he wished for them to be made. the more people involved the harder that decision becomes, you have to know there were some bumpy roads that we traveld there. >> that is next. >> now, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. which luxury car company got its start manufactureing tractors? cadillac? lamb baue

>> now the answer to the "strange inheritance" quiz question. which luxury car company got its start manufacturing tractors? it is b, lamborghini. jamie: the death of farmer hawkins leaves his family in state of upheaval, his widow judy moves into town, leaving the homestead empty, his grandson alex, a 23-year-old

newlywed and his wife buy the house and move in. a bold move, by the young man who has the best shot of keeping the hawkins tradition of family farming alive, alec said, his grandma made the house buying easy for a first time buyer, isn't that what grandmas are for. jamie: did he is give you a good deal. >> yes, a family deed. jamie: dave haw hawk in's collef tractors. >> i don't think it was easy for anyone. we did go through that, where you know we were not all agreeing. number one toughest decision was can we keep the collection or do we have to sell part of it? financially, and time wise, there was nobody that could do what dad had done. jamie: did he tell you before he

passed. >> we talked about it but he never made a decision. >> dave's widow judy, asked the kids to come to a decision, it is not easy. >> how do you come to an agreement, which each party has a different idea of what is right or wrong to please 5 parties is a tough, tough decision to have to come to grips with. >> amid that family discord, tammy's son alec spends nights and weekends keeping his grandpa's precious tractors from deteriorating. >> there are a lot of expenses to keep them up am to keep the collection, and not up keep it in my opinion was not an option. jamie: dave hawkins pride and

joy was becoming a soar point. >> i just had a full-time job, graduated from college, just got married, maybe they did not realize how much time, work and money it would take. jamie: alex thinks it beo could add up more than $10,000 a year. >> there is too 67 of a financial -- too much of a financial and time commitment that we were not able to exercise, we did not expect alex to exercise, we then made the decision to sell the items. jamie: the family disie fam dect way through that open call auction. and they keep it lockal -- local, they hired their dad's

friend, bruce brock. >> i know that he made them proud. and i think that was important. jamie: what did the family tell you about how much they wanted to generate from the sale. >> they done tell us anything they just trusted to us bring them home as many net dollars as we could. jamie: it is not that simple, they made a discovery after their father died. one that could affect their bottom line. and their father's legacy. from beyond the grave, dave hawkins is guiding his family on how to handle their "strange inheritance." that is next. >> another quiz question for you. how many acres could a farmer till in a day with a horse-drawn plow? the answer when we return.

>> the answer is b, 1 to 3 acres. jamie: after months of discussion, dave hawk in's heirs have come to a painful conclusion, time to auction off his life long collection of tractors but one more family member weighs, in dave. >> it was discovered, that he had a handwritten list of tractors he wished for us to save. jamie: going back to 1920s, are cream of dave a crop. and must stay in the family, their dad's list gets them thinking, what else should they keep off the auction block?

they each make their own list. >> it had to be gadly intervention when we got together for a family meet, nobody had picked wanting the same item. >> at first roma is undecided. >> i would think yes, i should keep a tractor, and next day, you know what it is only metal, my memories of being with dad are unvaluable to me. jamie: in the end he is cannot resist keeping two bright green deers -- john deeres. >> he asked if i wanted to drive it. >> brakes are purpose. >> your lever. jamie: he is gentleman enough to coach this city girl on the basics like how you turn the darch thing on. i'm going to start it up, i see

a key. there you go. >> perfect. jamie: they don't have nothing like this in new york. >> nothing like this. >> nothing. >> i think everyone would get out of the way. jamie: unbelievable experience, thank you. >> my pleasure. jamie: that was exciting. hard to imagine that hawkins heirs onh to wrangle more than 100 of these to get ready for auction. >> they worked through the winter ahead of that sale date getting tractors ready. >> a lot of sweat, a lot of tears, a lot of laughter. jamie: auctioneer bruce brock knows that key is getting as

many motivated bidders to the farm on auction day. jamie: the night before, did you get a good night's sleep. >> very little, we're intrusted in just a few hours, bring to fruition a life time of collecting and sacrifice that the families had gone through, it was a big day for us, we have had planned right down to the most mine out detail. -- mine out detail. jamie: except one. >> the day of the auction is started on the rocky side. >> that is next.

jamie: after months of tough decisions and hard work, dave hawkins loved ones gathered at the family farm. for the auction of his collect, but just as the gavel is about

to be raised, it starts to pour buckets. you within through this preparation, and the sky opens up, what was it like? >> disappointing it might hamper the crowd. but you can't wish away rain if you are a farmer. >> dad would sing a song you are my sunshine to all of us a lot when we were small, that morning on the way over here, i ran into town, got us 4 yellow roses. jamie: then the clouds part. >> after it stopped raining, i took them yellow rose to my mother, and my sisters. and said you know dad will be our sunshine. so, we carried our yellow roses, he was our sunshine.

>> all right here we go, 9,000 -- >> once the bidding starts it is clear that dave hawkins is not only one obsessed with the big machines. >> was it a sell out? >> was a sell out, we were hoping to get 600 people, and we were almost double that. >> bidders as far from canada and mexico. 1936 john deere, sold $2,000. 46, sold 3,000. 49, sold 600. 51 oliver, sold, 8,000 dollars. 58 john deere 730 diesel, told, 20 thousand dollars. >> tractors are valuable to people. >> yes, they are, emotionally and financially. jamie: the dedication to dave hawk inmemory pays off, auction

nets $400,000 for his heirs, he is still taking care of his family. >> his one child still in college, my oldest child graduated from college, i was very excited to be able to use that money to help them with their college debt. jamie: dave who hated debt would be proud, but it could have been more, if you add up value of the 23 tractors that stay in the hawk inginsfamily, more than $ . >> it is bitter sweet, there was a couple i would have liked to have kept. >> i just feel bad for alex. going out to all of the empty sheds. >> alec hopes that sheds won't

be empty forever. >> as i get older and get my own collection goin maybe i'll havee same problem in 50 years. >> remember that 29 john deere, one that belonged to alex's great grandfather, the very first one that dave rescued from the junk pile. this is it. >> this is it. jamie: in his will, dave hawkins set that one act side for alex. perhaps it will be seed that grows into another grand collection just like his grandpa's. >> living here on the farm, is good. you always get to walk somewhat in his go footsteps day in and y out. people that grew up on farms, it is your life style. you breathe and die farming. >> i can't help but notice

alex's pride, not just in that machine or a "strange inheritance" that turned out to be quite valuable. but rather in the way of life, that links him to those who came before him on this land, and determination of dave hawkins hairs to keep his legacying it. for at least one more generation. we learn one other story about dave hawkins from his family, he never spent time with his tractors without having one of his children or grandchildren alongside. a positive person. that is how they described him, so positive, he would answer the phone, good morning whether it was morning or night. and after he passed they had t-shirts made that said good morning with graphs on the sleeve -- gramps on the sleeve, i am jamie colby, remember, you can't take it with you. >> do you have a "strange

inheritance" story you would like to share with us? we would love to hear it. sense me an, nai e-mail or go t website strangeinheritance.com. tonight on "justice. >> mexico, i respect the country. they're taking our job, they're taking our manufacturing, they're taking our money, they're taking everything and they're killing us on the border. >> gone old double standard, trump gets even tougher on illegal immigration. hear what he said today. plus, sanctuary cities, some people still support them. even after kate steinly's senseless death. i take on one of those supporters. >> this president does not believe in american military might. it's that simple. >> and outrage