John Deere Model D - Waterloo, IA - Old Tractors on Waymarking.com

In the early part of the twentieth century, the John Deere company was trying to get into the rapidly emerging tractor business. Deere was a successful manufacturer of farm implements: The self-scouring steel plow, developed by Deere in 1838 is considered as important as the railroads were to the rapid settlement of the American Midwest in the 1800s. After struggling to come up with their own tractor design, they took the easy route and bought the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company, producer of the already successful “Waterloo Boy” tractor.

The first tractor to bear the name “John Deere” was the Model D introduced in 1923. It featured a relatively simple but powerful (for the time) 2-cylinder engine that could use just about anything that burned as fuel: gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, even some grades of fuel oil. The belt drive was directly connected to the crankshaft and the simple layout was easy to repair and maintain. The Model D proved quite popular, and it remained in production until 1953. About 160,000 John Deere Model Ds were produced.

This museum’s example of a Model D was one of the first produced and is one of the oldest Model Ds still in existence. According to the placard, this one was shipped to Oregon where it possibly powered a sawmill.

And a Model D has appeared on a U.S. postage stamp issued in 1987, at least in my opinion. The stamp describes it as only a “tractor 1920s,” but it’s pretty obviously a Model D. The stamp’s designer appears to have combined characteristics from several different model years however: the spoked flywheel was discontinued in 1925 but that stack arrangement wasn’t used until the late 1920s. Anyway, the stamp saw wide usage on “junk” mail.

The museum, which is free of charge, is well worth a visit. There are several other old tractors on display including a Waterloo Boy.

Engine Type: Internal Combustion Wheel Type: Steel Make: John Deere Model: Model D

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You must include a picture that includes the tractor/engine and your GPSr (and you if possible); The location (coordinates) and the closest town/state/country where you found the tractor/engine; any interesting details about the tractor/engine (Make, Model, Year made, Horsepower, etc); and anything else you find interesting about the location where you found it.

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