for the 60 +over

Anonymous-0 · Mar 6, 2014

I have a fun question for the guys about 60 and over."Back in the day" I can just remember you could find within a 30-40 mile drive tractors of every color under the rainbow. Red, blue, couple shades of green , yellow, orange, few I might have missed. What was the thing that made you chose that flavor of tractor over an other. WAs it price? Comfort? Great dealer? Good demo? Now 30, maybe 50 years later do you think it was the right choice? Was the tractor a big success, or failure? I own a Allis D-19, and a Late ford 6000 Commander. Each was given a bad rap because of design troubles but still someone picked these tractors over anything else. I wonder what the original owner would say if choosing a new one now?

Anonymous-0 · Mar 6, 2014

Dad started out with unstyled B that wouldn't start, traded for F-20. Mom has picture of B leaving the farm with heading good riddance . He then got H's and M's and a 44 Massey. Liked all of those but when time came to upgrade the friends & neighbors had 450 D's and 460's and 706's . Dad loved red but was turned off by head problems in the 450 and torque problems in the others. Ended up with an 1850 and 1950 Oliver instead which was influenced by moms uncles all being Oliver lovers. Next upgrade was trading off the 1950 Oliver for a 4430.The next year the 1850 went away for a 4230. The sound guard cab was the number one thing that brought us back around full circle to JD. Been JD ever since except for keeping an H and a SMTA diesel around for the yard tractors. Just sold the SMTA-D to purchase a late model 3020.

Animal · Mar 6, 2014

Actually where I grew up color had very little to do with anything it was dealer support.

Dr. Walt · Mar 6, 2014

Sorry, but I grew up in the city, L.A. area, and the only "tractors" around me were Semi's. lol

Anonymous-0 · Mar 6, 2014

When I was a kid you could pick any color you wanted. By the time I was old enough to have an opinion the colors were starting to dissappear. Always liked talking to folks who had all those choices. So Many neat reasons for what each farm picked

VicS · Mar 6, 2014

When I was young we had a good MM,AC,JD,Ford and IHC dealers. Dad bought a H farmall first when he was still in the Air Force 1945. It was worth so much money that Grand Pa sold it before dad got home. He had a 10-20 McCormick and a F-12. Dad got a B JD about 47 or 48. Traded that for a A JD in 52. Then a G in 53. Thats the first one I drove. Had a used H again and a 51 8N Ford.My favorite. We had a New 350 IHC Diesel utility. Absolutely the worst tractor we ever had. Traded it for a 2010 JD diesel. Tied for the worst. Traded it for a 62 801 Ford Diesel. Good tractor. Along the way had another 8N this one with a good loader. Another B JD a 70D JD Very good. then a 720 JD gas ,OK. Also a M IHC I drove this one a lot. traded it for the 70D. Then the 70 for a 4010D JD. in 1963. You could tell the 4010 was a step ahead of everything else. Then got a used 4010 LP. Pain in the as. Traded that for a 6060 AC with a cab. Air-conditioner is good! Still have the 4010 and the 6060. plus a 4040 JD and a Kubota 126 GX. Also a compact 4320 JD. and I forgot a WD 45 AC still have and quite a few others just had for a few months.Plus WC D17 Oliver 77, Jumbo and 435 JD pulling tractors. Think it is who is selling them rather than what brand. Our neighbor is selling Kubota's now.

Paul from MI · Mar 6, 2014

We had a '48 Allis B, I'm sure because of price as Dad traded in a '38 Allis B for it. We kept all the implements so no expense there. The '38 only cost $495, and was very modern for it's time. Again cost was big factor. I still have the '48 and it was very trouble free for 50 years and I still have it. Later we got a used John Deere H because of the 2 row cultivator. It was also very reliable, but limited without a PTO.

onefarmer · Mar 6, 2014

My father bought a new JD620 when he was a Sophomore in highschool. I still have it and use it several times a week. I think it was a good choice.

Bruce from Can. · Mar 7, 2014

In the 50's we had Case Cockshutt Allis , and Massey all within 5 or 6 miles of home. IH was 20 mile away , and JD almost 40 mile trip. So There was a lot of the first four on my list around. By 1965 a JD dealer opened up 7 mile from our home , and is still there. A CIH dealer built a new store 5 miles from my childhood home in the late90's. Both are still there and doing well as part of "chain dealerships" , all others a long gone. We had Case and Cockshutt at home.

showcrop · Mar 7, 2014

Where I grew up was Ford country. I don't know how far it may have been to any other dealers. Probably over an hour's drive. There was one Massey a few Farmalls, A few putt putts, and LOTS of Fords.

Richard G. · Mar 7, 2014

Dealers in our area. Allis was less than half mile away. Case was 6 miles.
JD, Oliver, Farmall about 9 miles. Ford about 11 miles. Massey was about 25 miles.
Richard in NW SC
PS: I grew up on JD A and Ford 8N. Hated the Allis tractors.

Geo-TH,In · Mar 7, 2014

Dad bought one of the first 6000, only because at the time he needed the pto hp and a tractor that would go very slow.

The tractor was so bad, Ford gave us a new 6000, a different color.

Dad died in 85. I stay away form the SOS, because of the bad experience.

johnlobb · Mar 7, 2014

One story I remember from my dad was his dad bought a new Farmall F-12 against all the kids advise in the 30's, and they all hated that tractor. They called it the "gutless wonder". They wanted him to buy a JD B.

Bob Bancroft · Mar 7, 2014

Even though my father lived in the past, he never talked about it. Everything was a secret. So I made assumptions based on the few things I observed.
Grandfather was all JD(Waterloo Boy, D,A,AR,B, etc.) There were about 6 dealers close enough to do business with, one was family.
About 1950, he and Dad bought a brand new AC WD wide front. I think because a well liked neighbor was selling them. And not for the closest dealer, but another town away! So the mix was green and orange after that. My cousin (20 years my senior) still has the WD. He was present for delivery and payment.
JD and IH were the leaders around here. There were a fair amount of AC and Oliver. Not much else. There was one MM dealer near town, likewise a Case dealer, but I never saw any MM tractors around. Once in a while an MF, Case, and of course a few old 8N's and such.
Most anything was available, so I'm thinking it was a matter of choice.

jm. · Mar 7, 2014

I was raised red in a ih dealership. Did not get married till after a period with uncle sam. At 25 I married into a all orange ac family. It was a show when dad came over and help me farm. Thirty years latter I stayed orange when I started a KUBOTA dealership. Been orange since then.

rrlund · Mar 7, 2014

Dad told me one time why Uncle Claude bought an Oliver 70 instead of a John Deere A,but I don't remember now just what the reason was. Harry Allen sold Deere here and Charlie Johnson sold Oliver. I don't remember if it was that Charlie had a 70 and Harry didn't have an A or if it was price.
Anyway,Dad had Oliver because that was what Clause had and what Charlie sold. I bought a 77 because it's what Dad had. The late 70s and early 80s changed everything though. White was on the rocks,the Hugh Roberts had taken over as the Deere dealer,he passed away and his son took it over with a partner. They wanted to sell me a new tractor in early 81,so did the White dealer but with all the internal trouble within White I went with the Deere.
When I switched back it was because of the dealer. White had gotten on their feet,the local Deere dealers closed and I went back to my roots.
As far as being the right choices,yes,I think they all were. We did what we always had to do at the time and it all worked out for the best.

Goose · Mar 7, 2014

My dad and I leaned toward AC and Case, and later IH.

I had two bachelor uncles who lived and farmed together. They were such John Deere freaks that they wouldn't even own any short line equipment. If John Deere didn't make it, they didn't need it.

For spite, my dad refused to own a piece of JD equipment.

I owned a few pieces of JD, including a couple of combines, sickle mower, plow, disc, etc., but never a tractor. Not that I wouldn't have if the right deal had presented itself at the right time.

BAnNC · Mar 7, 2014

Have a green(sort of)Oliver Super 55, like the JD green but had a Red and Grey Ford 641 just like the one I grew up on. If I could, I'd have a Ford 861.

Donald Lehman · Mar 7, 2014

In the late 1950's within the village of Lowville itself was Ford, Case, Farmall, Oliver, AC, JD, and Massy Fergueson. 6 miles away in Martinsburg there was a Cockshutt dealer. Don't know where, but at the time there was Minnie Mo dealer within reasonable driving distance because there were a few of them around.

Today there is still a JD dealer within the village of Lowville and Case/Kubota dealer a couple of miles out of town. Within a 40 mile radious there is a NH, another Case/Clauss and a Mahidra dealer. That's about it.

Nancy Howell · Mar 7, 2014

Our place south of Dallas has 3 acres. We needed a tractor to mow it. My dad had passed two years before and had the JD 48A you see me driving in James' videos.

We drove to Gosport, Indiana and got that tractor. That's how we got started on JDs. That was about 23 yrs ago.

Jimmie D. Phelps · Mar 7, 2014

AS a kid I remember my Dads tractor a 1929 L painted Case gray and red this was in about 38 or9. He than later painted it Case Flambeau . and the first tractor I run by myself in the field was a new 1948 LA.I guess I liked Case as I have had a lot of them and still run them. But in the 40’s & 50’s the colors in our neighborhood were by tractors. (Green)John Deere, (Red)IH McCormick Deering, (Yellow)MM, (Flambeau)Case, (darker Green)Oliver, (Yellow)Cat., (Orange)Allis.,(off Orange)CO-OP, (Red)Massey, (Yellow)Wagner, The most John Deere, than MM, than Case and IH. Fewer of the rest.

kj(seil) · Mar 7, 2014

area of central ill I grew up in Had dealers of all the "big 7" ih- jd -ollie-case- minnie mo -massey-allis, there was quite a variety in the fields. our family dad ,g-pa, and uncles had some of each not all on the same farm- they would often help each other with fall tillage and was always a site when the La, w-9, 99, and the GB were all plowing in the same field. the biggest jd was a G ac was a WD, massy was a 444. was an assortment of M"s and H's and jd a's ollie 77/88's and a ac C

Smalltowner · Mar 7, 2014

I grew up in cotton country south of DFW and have asked many questions of the oldtime farmers of that era (me being one of them now). The big operators chose the most HP for the dollar and that varied according to sales volume of each dealer. Farmall dominated with JD next and then Oliver, all having strong area dealers. Ford suffered on rowcrop tractors because of the HP limitations in the fifties models, but sold plenty to the dairies and ranches as utility units. The old guys told me the Olivers and AC's were priced too high, the Farmalls lasted the longest, and JD sold only to hardcore JD guys. I noted that JD sold the most equipment excepting combines which Gleaner dominated, sold by AC dealer, kept him in business. Oliver had the best stripper for the money. My conclusion is that farmers were businessmen and bought the best value for the dollar.

Fudd · Mar 7, 2014

Lots of farmers bought what the government allocated during the war. My Dad could only get an AC WC.

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