JD History Question

[KPotts]

Thanks for all the help. I suspect the teacher may be working without all the facts. The kids are going to pass-on the information from everyone here that helped out. I'll post the teachers answer when they get it.

 

[trlong]

KPotts,

Although some of the books may have more info, this is from J.D.'s website;

<font color="blue"></font><font color="blue" class="small">( Why are John Deere tractors green and yellow?
No one really knows. Some like to think the color combination symbolizes the colors of corn - green for the stalks and yellow for the ears. The earliest color illustration of Deere equipment with the green and yellow color scheme is of a Deere sulky plow in the 1905 Deere & Webber catalog. There are probably earlier implements painted in this color scheme, but we haven't been able to verify that. )</font></font>

This matches with the info and old add's I saw at the John Deere exhibit in Middlebury, VT, this Fall. Before that add, all the "exhibited" drawings were black and white. No mention of changing color scheme. So, the "assumption" is green and yellow was nothing new when the tractors came along.

Could the teacher be refering to seat color change?

Tom

 

[beenthere]

What are your 'readings' ?

Deere was green loooooong before 1960. Don't leave us hanging here. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif Whatta ya know that we 'don't' ?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

The John Deere green goes back a LONG time before the New Generation tractors. The Waterloo Boy tractors were Green, with yellow wheels, and RED engines. Deere was already painting wagons green before then. The colors of tractors remained basically the same when the model "D" came out in the early 1920's. The red engines turned green at that point.

Sometime in the mid-1980's, Deere's traditional green changed ever-so-slightly, to a shade "brighter" green (with the same yellow) It was an attemt to make their product more visable. As the old green weathered, it got a touch darker. The "new green" weathers to a color near to the "original green" when it was new.

My theory is, someone at Deere knew how valuable their products were, even back in pre-depression days, and decided to make their tractors THE COLOR OF MONEY! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[beenthere]

Reformulation of paint to get rid of the lead and keep up with EPA rulings likely had something to do with the new green paints. It is remarkable how the new paints 'match' the old.

Seems I read somewhere a good while back that the selection of green had to do with the colors available at the time and the formulation of a lasting color. May have dreamed it, because I can't find it now.

But I'm good with the "color of money". /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif