This Model A John Deere Row Crop tractor has all the hallmarks of its equivalent the Model T Ford car.
It looks old, and it is: It has steel-spoked wheels front and back; and was built for a purpose – as a row crop machine for market gardeners. This tractor was built in 1937 at Waterloo, United States, although first ones came off the production line in 1932, and continued in production, with upgrades, until 1952.
The tractor’s design was brought about by John Deere’s desire for a row crop machine to compete with the famous International Harvester ‘Farmall’ series which had taken the market by storm in the early 1930s.
It has a two-cylinder 309 cubic inch (5.0 litre) petrol or kerosene engine, with 24 belt and 18 drawbar horsepower. It has four forward, and one reverse gear transmission, and is capable of speeds of between 3.7 to 10kph.
The Model A achieved the highest sales volumes of any John Deere two-cylinder tractor.
It was previously owned and operated by Ferg Crawshaw and was among the collection of 17 John Deere tractors presented to the museum in 2009. It is considered among the largest collection of John Deere tractors on display in one spot in the southern hemisphere.