John Deere Tractor Model
D
The John Deere Model D
Tractor
was put on the market in 1923. This followed the discontinuance of the
"Waterloo Boy" first produced in 1912 by the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company, taken over in 1918 by the John Deere Tractor
Company of Moline, Illinois. The Model D would become one of the company's chief products and subsequent models
were modernized in keeping with changing demands. Giving the John Deere Model D Tractor the honor of
being John Deere's longest production span of all the two cylinder John Deere Tractors covering the years 1923 to
1953.
Originally known as the John Deere 15-27, this tractor later was dubbed the
Model D. Although the John Deere Model D saw numerous changes during it's 30 year production
run. The |
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basic design remained the same, with the Model D
becoming the foundation of the extensive John Deere tractor two cylinder line.
right
John Deere Tractor ad published in the 1942 issue of
"The Tractor Field Book with Power Farm Equipment Specifications".
The Tractor Field Book was a
annual publication from the publishers of
Farm Implement News Co.The magazine and ad were geared toward tractor and
Implement
dealers
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John Deere D
identity crisis
Some early brochures show the John Deere D actually referred to as the John Deere 15-27 with no mention of the Model D. The company created identity conflict seems to have been cleared up with the release of John Deere's GP General Purpose line
top
John
Deere ad with no
mention of Model
D
left
John
Deere Tractor
brochure with no
mention of Model
D
right
1924 John
Deere ad with
the tractor
referred to as
both Model D and
15-27 |
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John Deere D |
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The Model D was produced from March 1, 1923 to July 3,
1953, the longest production
span of all the two-cylinder John Deere tractors. The first Model D rode on
steel
wheels with a 6.5x7.0 hand-cranked engine and had the distinction of being the
first tractor to bear the John Deere name.
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John Deere Fordson and International
World War I—and Henry
Ford—interrupted plans for the company to
quickly introduce its Model D.
Henry Ford's Fordson tractor arrived in the
marketplace after more than a decade of testing
at Ford's Dearborn, Michigan, farm. The lightweight
(2,710 pounds), affordable ($785), compact
machine quickly stole the sales lead from
International Harvester; It was
not that Ford's tractor was so good, it was simply
so affordable and so available. Ford's auto dealerships
sold Fordson tractors on the same floor as
the cars, and during the ultimately ruinous price
war against International Harvester, Henry Ford
reduced his tractor price to $395 in 1921. Deere
could go no lower than $890.
Inadvertently, however, Ford contributed to John
Deere's success during that period, an effect
that lasted much longer than Ford's price reduction.
By 1920, more than 180 companies were
claiming to manufacture farm tractors in the
United States. Of those, many produced poor
quality machines designed more to take the
farmer's money than to pull the plow.
John Deere Quality
John Deere's
quality teamed
with the
simplicity of
the two cylinder
design created
the foundation
for a reputation
that continues
today
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Antique Farming
New Tractor Manual,
Brochures and
Advertisements |
Manuals
and
Brochures
require
Acrobat
reader
Click to
download
click on images to view file
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John Deere
Model D |
John Deere A |
John Deere B |
John Deere AW |
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JOHN DEERE MC |
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John Deere MC 1949
The John Deere model MC replaced the BO. The MC crawler represented the first
all John Deere designed crawler, and the beginning of a line which was to develop into the industrial division of the company. |
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JOHN DEERE GP |
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John Deere GP 1929
The John Deere GP followed the basic design of the John Deere D . Introduced as a row-crop tractor the above pictured model was not nearly as popular as the tricycle configuration |
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FARMALL M |
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Farmall M Tractor
The first Farmall tractor with an optional diesel engine is the M. It started
on gasoline and was manually switched to diesel after warming up. The 400 and 450 diesels used the same engine as the M
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JOHN DEERE M |
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John Deere M
In 1947 John Deere opened a new tractor factory in Dubuque,
Iowa, built to produce The John Deere M. The John Deere M tractor was created to
address the increasing demand for small tractors and to compete with the increasingly
popular Ford and Ferguson Tractor.
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