In the mid 1940s, as the war ended and the youth of America returned home, there was a surge in demand for farm machinery – a demand that was met by companies selling whatever they had been producing during the conflict and even before that.
John Deere was by no means alone in profiting from this bonanza, but its management was acutely aware that a longer-term view needed to be taken if the company were to grow and prosper.
The great dilemma faced by the company was whether to continue with the horizontal twin engine format it had inherited from its purchase of the Waterloo Boy company 27 years earlier.
Limits of the twin
Deere’s engineers were warning the board of directors that there limits to how far they could take the concept before it became too wide for row-crop work, and with the extensive use of upright multi cylinder engines in allied fighting equipment, younger farmers might be looking for more advanced machinery upon their return from the battlefields.
On the plus, the old ‘Johnny Poppers‘, as these engines were affectionately known, were solid reliable units that could easily be repaired on the farm, a mindset that is somewhat distant from the company’s train of thought in the ongoing right to repair debate.
Another issue facing the company, was that of fuels. Distillates of heavy oil which had been in use before the war were now more expensive than petrol, and provided less power, yet a diesel, running at a higher compression ratio, could also provide a higher output, and more economically than either petrol or oils.
By 1949, the company had come up with its answer, for the time being – a twin cylinder diesel that provided 51hp at the belt when tested at Nebraska in late April of that year.
It was a powerful tractor for the time and one that was aimed at the larger farms with big acres to cover.
John Deere’s most powerful yet
This was known as the Model R and it was the first diesel produced by the company, it was also the most powerful at the time and it marked the start of John Deere’s relationship with the compression ignition engine.
Between 1949 and 1954 over 21,000 Model R tractors were produced at John Deere’s factory in Waterloo, Iowa, eventually being replaced by the M80 which produced 68hp at the elevated engine speed of 1,150RPM
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of this event, the organisers of the Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show have introduced a special exhibitor class this year for original two-cylinder John Deere diesels.
It will be judged at the event, with 70, 720, 730, 80, 820 and 830 models eligible.
