Honorable Mention – Family B

This story is about my 1940 John Deere B that has been in my wife's family since it was purchased new by her great-grandfather in Pleasanton, KS.  We got it from her grandfather, who is still living at 93 years old, who had purchased it from his father in 1944.  We consider it a 5th generation family tractor since one of our daughters will own it someday.

 It is also a great barn find story as it sat in the barn for about 25 years before I got it.  It came up in conversation one day at my in-laws that something needed to be done with that old rusty tractor so the rest of the barn could be used for cows. I immediately asked what they were talking about and found out there was an old B that had been in the family since new that none of the kids wanted.  I spoke right up and claimed that tractor and went down to the barn to see it for the first time.  I had been within 200 yards of the tractor many times over 2 years and never knew it was there.  We pulled it out in April 2009 and finished a complete restoration in April of 2011.   It needed everything from new tires to a new cylinder head.  Now it stays in the garage and just completed its first parade this month.

Jay Pruett
Shawnee, Kansas