1949 John Deere Model A
Owners: Laurel & Nancy Vanderpol, Pella, IA
Agency: F & M Insurance Services, Marshalltown, IA
Mr. Vanderpol writes:
DAD'S 1949A JOHN DEERE
On April 12, 1949, the tractor was built and ready for delivery from the Moline, Illinois plant. The tractor was shipped to Pella, Iowa on April 13, 1949. The dealer was VanderMeulen and Hoekstra and was delivered to the Chris Vanderpol farm east of Monroe, Iowa.
When the tractor arrived it was equipped with a remote hydraulic cylinder and a roll-o-matic front end. Most tractors have the same brand of tires on the front and back. This tractor had Firestone tires on the front and Goodyear on the back.
When the tractor arrived I was only seventeen years old. At that time, I thought what could they do to improve on what a tractor could do for the farmer. That was a short-lived statement because of the 60 series, the 620 then the 630 all of which replaced the model A, and the end of the two cylinder tractors.
When the weather got cold that fall, we discovered that the tractor would not start when the temperature got below 20 degrees. Dad and I visited with the mechanic about this problem, and his response was, "You don't know how to start it." Dad commented to the mechanic that it was going to be cold in the morning and invited him out to the farm to start the tractor. After he tried to start this green machine, he got off and said you are right, it won't start. This created an ongoing problem. It came with a wico magneto and we replaced it with a wico distributor, no improvement. We then replaced the wico distributor with a delco remey distributor. Even that did not help so we just decided to live with it. To solve the starting problem, we kept the Ford tractor in the dairy barn so it would start, and then belted up to the A and let it crank it so we could grind feed and do the heavy winter chores.
Both my brother and I served in the Armed Forces. Upon our return after the crops were harvested in the fall of 1955, I saw a newspaper ad for a 1951 M Farmall for sale. I said to my brother let's go trade Dad's A for that M. So in the winter of 1955, the A was gone. In the spring of 1957 I bought the M from my Dad and started farming.
After a few years, older and a little wiser, I realized what was wrong with the A as to why it wouldn't start. It had to be the timing marks on the gears that drove the camshaft. For the next forty years I would always check the 1949 A John Deere's to see if by chance it could be Dad's old tractor for I had memorized the serial number when I was eighteen years old.
In the summer of 1998 after I had retired I went to a show at Waukee, Iowa. As we were walking around, I said to my neighbor Jim Williams that looks like a 49A, let's check the serial number and sure enough there it was! What luck! Mark Wilson of Prairie City, Iowa owned the tractor, twenty-five miles from where I lived and we had lived in Prairie City previous to our move to Pella in 1995. I asked Mark if he would be interested in selling the John Deere and his response was no. After talking with him several times, his response was, "You give me your 240 Farmall or buy me a 530 John Deere and I will trade." So the waiting game began. In January 2003 a friend of mine called and told me Mark wanted to sell the A and the price was right. The temperature moderated a few days later and I went after my tractor.
The first thing on the tractor that needed to be fixed was the starter. As I started to take the flywheel cover off, I told my friend, do you see that stove bolt in the center of that round cover? Now if my memory serves me right, there is a key attached to that bolt. When we opened it up, there it was. That key had been there over fifty years and it is still there. I put that key there in the summer of 1950 when the wico distributor came with an ignition switch with keys. Since I didn't want to loose them, I put one behind the flywheel cover.
The engine was in good shape and I did have to replace two gear clusters and some bearing and seals in the transmission. My nephew from Boulder, Colorado drove the tractor on the WHO Tractor Ride in the summer of 2003. I still needed to replace he axle and the hydraulic seals. It needed sheet metal work and a repaint job.
In November 2005, the tractor was taken to Scott Curry's in Prairie City for restoration. What a beauty. Scott did a great job and he brought it back to me in February 2006 and we displayed it at the Vermeer Pavillion for the Red Rock Tractor Sow. Now our family is please to share this Tractor and our story.
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