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Most family-garage stories end with a trophy on a shelf. This one ends with an aircraft altimeter on a wooden dashboard. This 1923 McLaughlin-Buick Autotrac is a homemade farm tractor built from vintage Buick parts, and it is live on Bring a Trailer as part of the Roger Hadfield Collection, which RM Sotheby's identifies as the family collection of the father of astronaut Chris Hadfield. As of Friday morning there are no bids. The auction closes at 2:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, November 5.
What an Autotrac Actually Is
Autotrac conversion kits were sold as a cheap way to turn an old car into a farm tractor. According to the Canada Agriculture and Food Museum, the OTACO Autotrac was introduced in 1939 by the Orillia Tudhope Anderson Company of Orillia, Ontario, and was nicknamed the “poor man’s tractor.” Kits cost roughly $150 to $300, far less than a new tractor, and included large traction wheels, a drawbar frame, an axle and steel pinions. The museum also notes the catch: cars were not built for farm work and were not rugged enough to hold up as tractors. The Bring a Trailer listing adds that Sears-Roebuck offered kits too.
If the idea of a repurposed car doing a tractor’s job sounds familiar, the story shares DNA with the Ford Model T graveyard and the long tradition of Model Ts doing off-road duty. It is a very different animal from a purpose-built machine like the Porsche-Diesel Junior tractor or the Lamborghini tractor we have covered.
The Buick Is Canadian
The donor parts are as Canadian as the kit. The McLaughlin Motor Car Company of Oshawa, Ontario, began using Buick components in 1907, was taken over by General Motors in 1918 and folded into General Motors of Canada. The Canadian-bodied cars were officially renamed McLaughlin-Buick in 1923, which makes the radiator shell, hood and cowl on this build about as early as that badge gets. Those pieces are finished in red with cream pinstriping and wear an enamel McLaughlin-Buick radiator badge.
Built by a Pilot, Shown at a Concours
According to the listing, this Autotrac was constructed by Air Canada pilot Phil Hadfield, a son of longtime Canadian collector Roger Hadfield, using components from a 1923 McLaughlin-Buick. It was completed before being shown at the 2023 Cobble Beach Concours d’Elegance in Ontario.
Power comes from a 170-cubic-inch valve-in-head inline-four with a three-speed manual transmission and a heavy-duty two-speed rear axle, which gives six forward gear combinations. Details include transverse front leaf springs, wood-spoke front wheels, mechanical drum brakes at the rear, a Boyce MotorMeter radiator cap, cowl lamps and a wooden rear cargo bed. The dash holds water temperature and oil pressure gauges plus the altimeter and vertical speed indicator pulled from an aircraft, a fitting nod to the builder’s day job.
The Hadfield Garage
The name on the collection is the real hook. RM Sotheby's says Roger Hadfield and his wife, Eleanor, were active in an owners’ club, toured Canada in their cars, and that Roger wrote about several of them for the Canadian magazine Old Autos. Chris Hadfield, who flew on two Space Shuttle missions and commanded the International Space Station, describes spending evenings and weekends in the family garage helping his father with cars, tractors and farm equipment. Wikipedia notes he grew up on a corn farm in southern Ontario, with the family based in Milton.
RM Sotheby’s described the family’s 11-car collection of British and American luxury classics as headed to its Hershey sale on October 7 and 8, 2026, with highlights including a 1924 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Mayfair Town Car, a 1912 Hupmobile Model 32 Torpedo Touring and a 1923 McLaughlin-Buick 23/45 Special Touring that won Best in Class at Cobble Beach. This Autotrac is listed separately, on behalf of an estate, and the listing says a representative of the estate will handle the transaction.
What the Buyer Gets
This is a conversation piece, not a road car. The listing says the vehicle has no VIN or serial number, is sold as a tractor for off-road use only on a bill of sale, and has no odometer, so total mileage is unknown. Collectors who like their old Buicks with a little more polish can look at the 1940 Buick Roadmaster Sport Phaeton that spent 40 years in one family. But few vintage Buicks come with a pilot’s altimeter, a Canadian tractor-kit heritage and a link to one of Canada’s best-known astronauts.
Check the Bring a Trailer listing for the current bid, the full photo gallery and the 2023 Cobble Beach video.
