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By Larry Droessler, Carl Friederick, and E.S. Kaiser
The background is the world’s largest “M”, an iconic symbol of the mining tradition and the history of the University of Wisconsin Platteville. The Platte mound “M” was developed using whitewashed stones.
1958 John Deere 420: Larry Droessler, US Navy, served aboard the USS Mahon (DLG-11) Tonkin Gulf, Republic of Vietnam service.
I had just graduated High School and was free as a bird doing what I love to do, Farm. Young enough 18 years old then and still had time to party with friends at night, played in a band most weekends, and still had the ambition to work hard on the farm all day. I was in the barn one day about finished with the morning milking of our herd of cows and my sister came up to me and said Mom has a letter she wants to show me when I come in for breakfast. When I got into the house and sat down to eat my breakfast I could tell right away that my Mother was very nervous about something, and then she showed me the letter that I had received that said I was to be drafted into the armed services.
I figured my future was somewhat planned out for being a very young man at the time, and Bang, overnight things had changed big time. I didn’t have much choice because at the time rumor had it that I couldn’t get a farm deferment because I had brothers that also helped on the farm.
After much thought in the short notice that I received even though I hated to give up my farming and future life dreams, I decided not to look into the deferment option any deeper. My Father said he always wished he could have passed the test when drafted in World War II but they didn’t take him because of his flat feet. All other thoughts put aside, I decided to join the U.S.Navy, following the footsteps of my two uncles who served in World War II, one uncle was at the Pearl Harbor bombing.
I then received notice that I should report to boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois. Boot camp was somewhat a breeze, a challenge but because I was fresh off the farm the tough physical activity was no problem for me.
I was not in California too long and off I go to Vietnam. The first night we arrived there I was on the midnight watch. At first site you would have sworn we were at the largest 4th of July fireworks ever, but after coming to your senses you knew this stuff was for real. Don’t have the time right now, nor do I want to get into the Vietnam war issues any deeper, but I can tell you that it is one way for a young man to grow up quick.
1958 Famall 450: Carl Friederick, US Army, Combat Engineers, Armored Personnel Carrier Division, Republic of Vietnam service.
I grew up on a farm in Iowa. I was the youngest of six brothers and 2 sisters. We lost my one sister at the age of 3. I went to a rural country school. There were only 12 students in the school from first grade to eighth grade. The name of our school was Salem School which was about two miles from home, and I had to walk year around no matter what the weather. Of course, it was uphill all the way from home and to school!
I started at a Catholic High School and wasn’t going to be able to graduate because I failed religion class. My Dad couldn’t let me go to Summer school because I had to stay home to make hay.
At the end of that Summer, I enlisted in the Army and was promised I would not be sent to Vietnam. I chose to go to France. Unfortunately, DeGaul, President of France, kicked the USA out of his country. I then had a choice to go to a very nice country or home. I was so homesick I chose home. With that choice, I lost my promise of not going to Vietnam. After 30 days of leave, I was sent to Virginia and got jungle warfare training which was bad as the country itself. After twelve months in Vietnam, I finished my tour in the U.S. After I was discharged I started a gas station and got married. From the gas station, I added a few odd jobs and then was an antique dealer. That job lasted for the next 40 years.
From 1965 til today Vietnam is still with me physically and mentally (and so is my wife of 52 years) who has suffered with me. I am now retired and doing small odd jobs living the big life.
1970 Massey Ferguson 135: E.S. Kaiser, US Navy served aboard the USS Mars (AFS-1) Hai Phong Harbor, North Vietnam, and Tonkin Gulf, Yankee Station, Republic of Vietnam service.
I grew up in SW Wisconsin on a dairy farm caring for dairy cattle, hogs, and chickens. In addition to livestock chores, we tilled and spring-planted oats and corn and harvested the crops in the summer and fall. Our machinery consisted of a Ferguson TO 30, Minneapolis Moline Z, and Farmall 460. I still remember the day my dad purchased the 1958 Farmall, with a mounted 2-row corn picker. He purchased the tractor and corn picker from an implement dealer in Potosi, Wisconsin. He drove the tractor and picker home and parked them in the yard. As a small boy in excitement I ran out and climbed up the ladder and sat in the seat, and amazed as I stared at the gold and silver IH monogram underlined with power steering.
At the young age of 9 years, I began plowing fields with the Ferguson TO30. I cultivated with the Minneapolis Moline Z and picked corn later with Farmall 460, as well as all of the maintenance duties required to be performed on the equipment.
To this day we still have all 3 tractors on the home farm in SW Wisconsin. These tractors require maintenance, and it is comforting to know that I can get parts from Steiner Tractor Parts, which I have done over the years. Lynn, in special orders, was very helpful with a part for the Farmall 460 years ago.
During the years 1959 to 1975, the Vietnam War raged in SE Asia, I had 3 older brothers who enlisted in the Armed Forces and shipped out to Vietnam. I graduated from high school, enlisted in the US Navy, and went to boot camp in San Diego, California. While in boot camp I volunteered for duty in Vietnam and was assigned to a combat supply ship named USS Mars (AFS-1). The ship was homeported in the Far East, and the assignment was for a 3-year tour of duty in SE Asia, Vietnam. For the next 3 years, I answered the call of duty, with combat supply missions performed in Hai Phong Harbor, North Vietnam, and combat supply missions performed in the Tonkin Gulf, Yankee Station, of South Vietnam.
I completed my tour of duty to Vietnam and returned home, and enrolled in college at the University of Wisconsin – Platteville. I graduated with a degree in Industrial Safety while putting myself through college with the GI Bill. After college, I received a commission in the US Army and went back on active duty. I spent a 1-year hardship tour to Johnston Island, in the Pacific Ocean, destroying chemical weapons left over from the Cold War. In addition, I completed a tour of duty to Operation Desert Storm, Doha, Kuwait, collecting air samples from the oil well fires in the desert.
I retired with 30 years of service in the US Navy and the US Army. I am a sick and disabled Vietnam Veteran due to exposure to Agent Orange.
The tractor is a 1952 Farmall Cub, and I have done all the work myself. Purchased 3 years ago, brakes didn’t work but I used the plow to stop. Other little things started to go and the hydraulic pump started leaking, now it’s time to fix the problems!
I enjoy working on anything with a carb. I also own a green one that I’m going to start pulling with next Spring. It’s a 1948 John Deere A.
John Sellers
Nescopeck, Pennsylvania
If you would like to submit a story with photo(s) about an experience with your tractor, interesting facts about its history, or a restoration project, please go to Tractor Story Submissions. If your story is picked to appear on the blog you will receive a FREE Steiner hat. Some stories will also go on to be published in our quarterly magazine. We look forward to hearing your story!
The John Deere 2030 tractor belonged to our neighbor Morris Boles. Our neighbor was a hard-working farmer his whole life and this was the tractor I would always see him baling hay with. Many days as a child I would watch him from our picture window working his farm with this tractor and his faithful dog Bruno following behind him.
After his passing, I purchased the tractor at auction. I did this for two reasons, it’s a great tractor, and someday I hope to be able to farm his fields with his old tractor. I cannot think of a better way to pay tribute to our old friend, we were truly blessed to have him as our neighbor.
Jonathan Garn
Lisbon, Ohio
Tractor Photo Contest Winner
In mid 2019 I started looking for my dream tractor, a late model John Deere 4020 and hopefully with lower hours, and halfway decent sheet metal. After going and looking at several in late 2019 in Feb 2020 I found and purchased a 1971. It had been purchased new locally and had been owned over the years by two or three local farmers. In good mechanical shape with only 5800 original hours and the original tach.
That Summer we used it lightly on the family farm raking hay and picking up square bales, basically to find leaks, etc. That Fall I completely dismantled, power washed and started the restoration process. After approximately 1 ½ years of off and on restoration work we finally completed the last detail a couple weeks ago, and displayed it at a local annual equipment show at our John Deere dealer, and entered it in our local annual parade.
I’m extremely pleased with our finished project. Over the years I have restored several of my own tractors and tractors for others which many were beautiful when completed. I did have my good friend paint the chassis for me as I was running out of time, and chopping corn silage with my brother last Fall. I also ended up having him repaint my hood for me as I kept getting an orange peel condition. But now at 71 years old a longtime dream came true, this is one of the nicest I have ever owned, and a keeper for life!
Gary R. Heberling
Carsonville, Michigan
If you would like to submit a story with photo(s) about an experience with your tractor, interesting facts about its history, or a restoration project, please go to Tractor Story Submissions. If your story is picked to appear on the blog you will receive a FREE Steiner hat. Some stories will also go on to be published in our quarterly magazine. We look forward to hearing your story!
1953 John Deere 50, the last tractor my grandfather owned bought it back last summer. And got it working and running again with parts from Steiners.
The next tractor a 1961 Cub Low Boy with Danco C2 mower, was bought from an elderly gentleman whose health was failing. In two years’ time fixed it up and repainted it with help from Steiners. Definitely made his day when we dropped off the pictures of his old cub in its dress clothes.
The last tractor is my first antique tractor 1948 John Deere B bought from my great uncle in 1993 at thirteen years old. I learned how to drive on this tractor and learned how to fix tractors from this machine. I’m a self-taught mechanic after hours of reading old motors manuals. And working on this old iron for friends, family, and neighbors. Thank you Steiners for having affordable good quality parts to keep history alive and working.
Dave Hansen of Pilger, Nebraska
If you would like to submit a story with photo(s) about an experience with your tractor, interesting facts about its history, or a restoration project, please go to Tractor Story Submissions. If your story is picked to appear on the blog you will receive a FREE Steiner hat. Some stories will also go on to be published in our quarterly magazine. We look forward to hearing your story!
My father brought the 1952 John Deere B tractor home in 1952 to use on his 400-acre family farm. He had all the attachments also. After he passed away I stored it in a barn.
Last year my grandson, Cayden wanted to restore the tractor as his senior project. With the help of my son, Chad, they started by sanding the tractor and buying a few new parts from Steiner Tractor Parts. After about six months of restoration, Cayden took the tractor to school for his presentation.
He is planning to drive it in parades and take it to tractor shows. It is a tractor that can be passed down to the next generations. I am proud that he restored it and has an interest in preserving tractors for future generations.
Ellen May Brand
Edinburgh, Indiana
If you would like to submit a story with photo(s) about an experience with your tractor, interesting facts about its history, or a restoration project, please go to Tractor Story Submissions. If your story is picked to appear on the blog you will receive a FREE Steiner hat. Some stories will also go on to be published in our quarterly magazine. We look forward to hearing your story!
This is my 1951 John Deere B. I bought it in February 2022. After searching for over a year for an antique tractor to use on my family’s hobby farm I decided to post a “looking for ad” online. Within an hour a nearby farmer messaged me with some pictures and his phone number.
I contacted him and we got talking. It was an older restore he used on his farm to pull tobacco wagons into the barn. He bought it more so for his grandson but he lost interest in it so decided to sell it. After doing a test drive in the door yard we agreed on a price shook hands and it was mine.
This tractor is used on my family’s 7-acre hobby farm where we grow, corn, soybeans, and sunflowers for wildlife, and grow decorative corn and pumpkins we sell along the roadside in the Fall. This tractor fits in with the farm very well. My dad and I collect and restored two John Deere garden tractors, and we set all tractors up along the roadside with lights and flags on them for patriotic holidays. My goal is to fully restore this tractor someday and hand it down to my son.
Tony Voigt
Fox Lake, Wisconsin
If you would like to submit a story with photo(s) about an experience with your tractor, interesting facts about its history, or a restoration project, please go to Tractor Story Submissions. If your story is picked to appear on the blog you will receive a FREE Steiner hat. Some stories will also go on to be published in our quarterly magazine. We look forward to hearing your story!
My tractor is nothing special in the grand world of John Deere’s but it is certainly special to me.
It is a 1948 model M “standard” that was first acquired by my grandfather- Hobart Koontz. As my grandfather had quite a few two-cylinder tractors, most of them were well used while this one fell to the wayside. Over the years it had fallen into a state of disrepair and needed a little attention. My dad (Larry) brought it home when I was about 10 years old and that became my summer project. Together we made all of the necessary repairs and even added some shiny new green paint. For a short time, this one saw a few tractor shows and parades and then settled into a life of small gardening. My dad and I shared a passion for the “putt-putt” tractors and together we have owned models A, H, M, MT, 430, LA, and 1010.
As life happens too often, this little M once again fell into a state of disrepair. My son is now 15 and we have embarked on another journey to restore this little tractor to its former glory. Not nearly the same level as the original task my dad and I took on when I was 10, but still a worthy project for a father and son. I grew up in a very mechanically gifted family and this project will certainly afford me the opportunity to share this same knowledge and passion with my son.
Thanks for providing a great service to the “old tractor” hobby! And thanks for letting me share a little bit about this special little John Deere M.
Greg Koontz
Clemmons, North Carolina
Each month we randomly select one of our customer reviews to receive a $25 Steiner Tractor Parts gift card. This month’s winner was Greg Koontz. Congratulations Greg, and thank you for purchasing your tractor parts at Steiner.
“Our family always has a tractor day in October. Three generations of our family come together to share their love of old John Deere tractors and the great outdoors. We have fun driving the John Deere’s around the countryside and enjoy listening to the mechanical music of the old two-cylinder engines and appreciating the beautiful Fall colors of the trees. Of course, it would not be October without fresh sugar-cinnamon donuts and Apple Cider after the ride. The stars of the event are a 1953 John Deere 50 and a 1959 John Deere 530.”
Gary Field of Gaines, Michigan
2022 Tractor Photo Contest Winner
A strength to draw inspiration from, like the East Tennessee Smokey Mountains, this 1939 Model A John Deere joins primary “Seasoned” caretakers, David Banks and Golden Retriever sidekick, Whiskey, when taking care of a 6th generation family farm.
Although the Model A was not in the best of shape when first making an entrance to the farm, after much-needed care and repair, it now works beautifully when answering the call of an active farm life.
Mata Banks
New Tazewell, Tennessee
2022 Tractor Photo Contest Winner
The lucky winner of January’s $25 Steiner gift card is Cathy Cunnyngham. The winner is randomly drawn from all of the parts reviews submitted to us in the month of January. Congratulations, Cathy! This is Cathy’s story.
My husband’s uncle bought this John Deere MT new after WWII for $1500 with all the implements and farmed cotton with it. It replaced a team of horses. My husband’s uncle got to the point that he couldn’t drive anymore so I started taking him wherever he needed to go. He said to my husband one day, “I need to do something for her for taking me everywhere. Do you reckon she’d like to have that little MT out in the tractor shed?” My husband said, “Yeah, I think she’d like to have that just fine”. So his uncle gave this MT to me. We also got all of the implements and had it all restored. My husband teases me about the fact that we have $20K invested in a $2K tractor…but I love it and it will always be mine. By the way, my husband grew up on this tractor.
Cathy Cunnyngham
Blue Ridge, Texas
This John Deere 40 is the tractor my grandfather started out farming with when he was 22 years old in 1955. My dad and aunt used while growing up in Woodford County, Kentucky.
The last time it was running was the late 1980s or early 90s. It’s always been one of those “we’ll fix it up one of these days” types of projects. My Dad turned 70 on January 20th this year and I took it upon myself back at the end of October 2021 to restore it as a surprise for him for his birthday with some help from my 2 sisters Kari and Stefani. And lots of questions of my aunt and uncle, Jeff and Judy Adams.
(Above) My Great grandfather driving, my grandfather, on the left, and my uncle, on the right setting tobacco. My dad, Carl, and I with the restored John Deere.
I finished it a couple weeks early and couldn’t wait to give it to him. Here are a few before, during, and after pictures.
The video of when we surprised Dad.
Kyle Whalen
Versailles, Kentucky
I am 31 years old now and active on the family farm. The John Deere A was my Grandpa’s and as far as I can remember that was the first tractor I remember driving!
I mostly use it for raking hay, hauling manure, plowing with the 3-bottom plow he used with it back in the day, and tractor rides. I was able to buy the tractor after Grandpa passed away. I cherish it every Spring when I pull it out of the shed!
Jordan Jensen
Audubon, Iowa
2022 Tractor Photo Contest Winner
This 1939 John Deere may not be the original one I (Mata Banks) learned to “drive” as a two year old while sitting on my Grandfather’s lap, but it is a twin. Our grand-daughter continues the tradition and “drives” with her Grandfather, David. She is the 5th generation on our turn of the century East Tennessee Farm.
Our sons, Byron and William, also learned to drive the “Pow-pow” as kids from my Grandfather, before he passed and now they assist with the farm, thus continuing the legacy left by their fore-fathers. We have another 1939 John Deere in the barn awaiting rebuilding amid parts…the dream continues as does the legacy of farming represented in the old Model A restorations.
Mata Banks of New Tazewell, Tennessee
This 1935 A John Deere was purchased by my parents in December of 1934 at Brink Implement in Edgerton, Minnesota. They traded four draft horses in order to complete this purchase.
The tractor came from the factory with four steel wheels. My dad refitted the tractor to rubber tires and new rims one year later. A Behlen 5th and 6th gearbox was added later. This enabled the tractor to have a relatively high road speed for that era.
This tractor has always remained in the Walhof family.
Howard Walhof of Manhattan, Montana
2021 Tractor Photo Contest Winner
This tractor was purchased in 1950 by my father. I took possession in 2007. It had not run since 1980. I had the generator and starter rebuilt. I rebuilt the carb and magneto with parts from Steiner Tractor Parts. I had the gas tank and radiator hot tanked and sealed. Some fresh gas and it fired right up after a couple of cranks. The engine has never been re-built to my knowledge. It smokes a little upon first start up, but does not use any oil.
In Spring of 2017 I began the restoration. I finished on December 19, 2020.
Emil Kuelske of Lansing, Michigan
This is my dad’s 1936 BI John Deere Tractor. My dad, Don Huston, bought this tractor from the City of Great Falls, Montana in 1945. The tractor came with a street sweeper broom, a seven foot sickle blade mower, pto drive, attached directly to the draw bar. The mower has not been restored but available for restoration. Our small farm, 3 miles south of Great Falls, is where this picture was taken. This tractor was used to mow alfalfa hay, rake and bale on this same field.
We know the tractor was sold to the City of Great Falls, Montana in 1936 to sweep city streets and mow undeveloped gravel roadside grass. The City of Great Falls purchased this BI through a Caterpillar/John Deere Dealership, then located in Billings, Montana. This tractor is thought to be only one of TEN ever produced. What makes this tractor so rare is the limited number of BI tractors manufactured in 1936, traditional yellow industrial color and a special gearbox drive, when engaged, turned a front chain drive street sweeper attachment. The mower and broom sweeper were on the tractor when dad brought the tractor home. Dad sold the sweeper in 1947 to a private citizen.
This tractor is still in our family and stored inside a secure workshop. This tractor is for sale. It was completely restored inside and out by my brother Ray, while my folks were still living. Ray has passed, but four brothers share this tractor now. If interested in buying this tractor, write to larrysvtx@gmail.com
I enjoy chatting with interested individuals about the history of the tractor and how it was used on our small farm 865-599-3899.
Thanks for being such a great company.
Regards,
Larry Huston of Knoxville, Tennessee
2021 Tractor Photo Contest Winner
My husband and I bought this 1948 John Deere B in 2013 for my father’s surprise 60th birthday, our job was to keep him out of the house. We restored it and was able to take it over the Mackinaw bridge the same year. My husband, and father, restored it in memory of my husband’s dad who passed away in 2012. This picture was taken in our sunflower field while taking my maternity pictures, which I also did with this tractor. This is a working tractor, also we use it occasionally on the hay rake, pull a wagon or two or run the grain auger.
Kathleen Knust of Imlay City, Michigan
The lucky winner of April’s $200 Steiner gift card is Kenny Miller of Warsaw, Indiana. Kenny has been a subscriber since 2015 and his favorite brand is John Deere. Congrats, Kenny!