1925 Spoker D

The legendary plow smith was long since departed when management at Deere & Co. decided that they needed to be in the tractor business. R & D work began in 1912 and continued until 1921. With thousands of hours of labor and truckloads of cash expended and nothing that was marketable to show for it, they concluded that the best way to get a tractor they could sell was to buy one. In 1918 Deere bought out the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company and acquired the rights to the already popular Waterloo Boy tractor for a cool two million dollars. Deere marketed the Waterloo Boy Model N until 1924.

In 1924 Deere introduced the first John Deere tractor, the Model D. It would prove to be one of the most successful and longest production runs of any tractor ever  built. Apparently they learned a thing or two from the Waterloo Boy.  Production began in 1923 with the earliest tractors sold as 1924 model year tractors. A total of 160,000 units were manufactured before the D tractors were superseded in July 1953. With a price tag of $1000 in 1924, they were not cheap tractors, especially during the lean years of the Great Depression. 

Serial numbers began at 30401 for 1924 and ran to 31280 at the start of 1925. 1925 tractors included those numbered up to 35309 when 1926 production began. Unstyled model Ds were built up until 1938 with serial number 138413 being the first tractor built that year. 1939 saw the introduction of the styled tractors with the streamlined look. Styled Ds run from 1939 to 1953, 143,800 in in 1939 to 1953 when 191,439 began that year.

There were other variations besides the styled vs. unstyled. Solid flywheels are quite common but you seldom see a spoked flywheel. One source I consulted claimed that only the first production year tractors had spoked flywheels. There were also three separate stack versions, no stack, ( like the one shown here ) , one stack and two stack models. The no stack version was the early one with serial numbers ranging from 30400 to 53387. Listening to the bark of the exhaust no doubt made for a long day on the driver’s seat, so by SN: 53388 the first stack had been added. At number 109944 the second stack made its debut.  One final note about serial numbers. Tractor numbers 31321 to 31412 are not model Ds at all, according to tractordata.com. These were Waterloo Boy Model N tractors that were built after the Model D production had begun. 

Some have said that the early model D’s were just rebadged Waterloo Boy tractors. That position is given support by the Nebraska Tractor Test report number 102 from April 1924.  On that report the manufacturer is listed as Waterloo Gasoline Engine Co. of Waterloo, Iowa. That’s not too surprising since that is what is cast in iron on the tractor, right in front of the operator’s position.  

The two cylinder, horizontal, valve in head engine, was similar to those powering the earlier Waterloo tractors. With a bore of 6 ½” X 7” stroke they displaced 465 cubic inches making them slightly larger and more powerful than the Waterloo engines. The fly-ball governor kept engine speed at the rated 800 rpm. Drawbar pull was rated at 16.75 hp. Belt power was recorded at 27.11 hp. The enclosed, chain drive transmitted power through a disc clutch to produce two forward speeds; low - 2.45 mph. High - 3.27  mph. 

The Spoker D shown here is part of the Berry Family collection. I photographed it at the Richland Creek Antique Fall Festival held annually in early November at Ward, South Carolina. To learn more about upcoming events visit: www.richlandcreekantiques.com . 

Resources:

https://americanhistory.si.edu 

Encyclopedia of American Farm Tractors by C. H. Wendel

www.hemmings.com 

Steiner Tractor Parts Catalog 2017 ed.

www.retiredtractors.com 

www.tractordata.com 

Digitalcommons.unl.edu