60's Muscle Tractors

K

kruser

Well-known Member

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

from the Illinois State Fair today.

 

S

Spudm

Member

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

I would like to do a winter project of an old John Deere tractor with a modified V-8 engine.

 

F

fixerupper

Well-known Member

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

Seems like just yesterday when they were the big dogs, now they are painted up collector tractors. We didn't have any tractors that big in our neighborhood. 4020's and 806's were the ones the big guys ran back then. A couple farmers farmed a half section with 4020's and we thought they were crazy for farming with a tractor that big for 320 acres.

 

OP

OP

K

kruser

Well-known Member

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

Ah yeah, spent a little time on a 4020 in the early 70's.

 

I

IA Roy

Well-known Member

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

We had 2 706's and farmed 400 acres. As much moldboard plowing as we did, I don't think we could have done it with less. We disked the cornstalks before plowing. We just disked the bean ground after anhydrous before planting to corn. We also had sod to plow most years. Neighbor had 2 4020's and a 4010, but farmed a lot more. I knew one guy with an 806 propane, a couple brothers with 806 diesels, one with an 1850 Oliver and a couple brothers with 1030 Case's and a guy with a Minneapolis 706. Dad's cousin had 2, 560's and his brother worked for a guy with 2 560's also. I think that was the extent of the big tractors.

 

S

Sprint 6

Well-known Member

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

In DuQoin? We go there every year to take my son to the Nubability sports camp. Nice little town and great people.

 

F

flying belgian

Well-known Member

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

We only had one BTO in the neighborhood back in the 60s. He farmed 1500 acres with a 5010, 2-4010s, a brother and 6 sons.

 

G

GreenEnvy

Well-known Member

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

Out here in MT those were a common size of tractor. Some farms even had bigger tractors like Wagners.

 

N

notjustair

Well-known Member

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

We farmed a section with an 856 and 966 IH. It never crossed my mind that those might be small someday. They seemed like monsters back the. They seemed like a good fit to me.

 

R

Rich'sToys

Well-known Member

Location

Southern MN

• Aug 14, 2016

• #1

When I was a kid if you had a 4020 or 806 you were a pretty big operator.
After I was married I had someone tell me that his 4020 was just his yard tractor. That's what drove it home for me how much times have changed!

 

R

RandyB(MI)

Well-known Member

• Aug 15, 2016

• #1

Right out of high school in 1969 I hired on to a farmer to get some fall plowing done that fall. He had a 1206 / 5btm and 806 / 4 btm but only himself to drive so hired me. Most of the time I got the 1206 accept when he plowed too, then I got the "old loud" 806. What a nice job for a tractor loving teenager. Plowing and getting paid for it too. 1206 was a nice powerful smooth and quiet tractor. No cabs back then.

 

Blackhole49

Well-known Member

Location

White Lake MI

• Aug 15, 2016

• #1

He must have towed that Oliver there. There's puddle of oil under it.

 

F

farmerwithmutt

Well-known Member

• Aug 15, 2016

• #1

When I grew up tractors like 4020 and 806 were thought to be to big for farm's around here . Now there elevator tractors. Working for a guy that had a 1206 they were nice tractors might take a little room to turn .

 

D

Donald Lehman

Well-known Member

• Aug 15, 2016

• #1

Yeah, Pop bought the first 4020 Widrick and Sons sold. Created quite a stir. The first tractor he ordered as an Oliver dealer was a 1650 4WD. General reaction was :Who in the world needs a tractor that big! Most "yard tractors" today are over 100 hp. and are used in the field only as an emergency when the "real" tractors are broke down.

 

T

Texasmark1

Well-known Member

• Aug 15, 2016

• #1

Nobody touched on it so I will: Outstanding restoration job whomever you are that own these tractors. Having diddled in the subject personally, I know how hard it is to turn a junker into a showpiece; course I never was good enough to get to the "showpiece" level.

On the Oliver and oil, I guess I'm going blind. All I saw was grass and gravel.

On what was and what is, it's really a shame that bad management can deprive us of some fabulous machinery.......I H to name one. Oliver to name a second.

 

J

Jshum40

Member

• Aug 15, 2016

• #1

Green oil?

 

BarnyardEngineering

Well-known Member

Location

Rochester, NY

• Aug 15, 2016

• #1

Yeah, but who's to say things would be any different now with the technology, at least?

With all the economic ups and downs, and the rise of the BTO, many of the big players would have had to merge/acquire each other anyway.

We might have Deere-NewHolland, and Ford-Allis for example, but mergers still would have happened.

Heck, IH never really ceased to exist. Most of the implements after the merger were what IH was selling before. The Magnum was an IH design. They kept the British-built IH utility tractor design well into the 2000's.

Same with Oliver. White tractors are pretty much Oliver "55" series with different engines and sheet metal, and they continued that design into the 1990's.

 

4

4wdtom

Well-known Member

• Aug 15, 2016

• #1

Looks like grass under the Oliver. Nice tractors.

 

M

Married2Allis

Well-known Member

• Aug 15, 2016

• #1

60's muscle tractors probably helped sell 60's muscle cars. I always liked the way they were designed. Nice eye candy. Incredible paint jobs, straight metal and attention to detail. Oil all over? Where?