What is this?

[Anonymous-0]

What tractor modle is this?? Looks like a Deere

 

[Lanse]

Dane all wheel drive. Was a deere prototype, only made, i think 3 of them

 

[Anonymous-0]

All you Deere guys are alike if it's a good idea let's paint it green and yellow and say it was our idea. LOL. Is that in Moline at JD Commons ? Don't have any idea what it is.

 

[utupuller]

Definitely looks like a Dain. The Dain if I remember right was the transition attempt between the waterloo and the C

 

[RobMD]

one hundred of these Dain tractors were built, however, a lot of them were purchased back and scrapped by Deere. There is a SLIM POSSIBILITY that another one of these lurks in a field or a barn somewhere.

If found, one would expect it to sell for at least $0.75 - 1 million.

Built WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY ahead of its time, the dain featured a 4 cylinder engine with 3 wheel drive.

 

[rednekelmo]

looks like a deere dain to me also.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Dain, as others have stated. The one I saw at Mount Plesant Iowa twenty years ago was in a glass box that was impossible to take pictures thru. It did indeed have a John Deere tag on it, but mother Deere tried to say not. The owner would sell us pictures, and we got a few from him somewhere. If my mind serves me correct I think the three left is the magical number. At the time there was numerous articles about it, but have not seen much in the last twenty years.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Joseph Dain was heading up one of Deere's tractor programs. Deere produced 100 of the second generation machines in the Quad Cities and then distributed them I believe in a small area. Some may have been sold. Dain died, Deere bought the Waterloo Boy company, and recalled all the "Dain" tractors. It is a long story about the one you see in the photo. Person that found it setting in a fence row and bought it from a couple of brothers. He fought with Deere for many years whether this three wheel drive rig or the model D was the the first "Deere" built tractor. He finally won. It is really the only "complete" tractor although a couple other partial tractors exist. Somewhere I read that the castings from the recalled tractors were dynamited and thrown into some river. The guy that found this tractor didn't want Deere to have it because he was afraid they would have it destroyed. He died and the family sold it to Deere for I assume a pretty good penny. This is just a few of the highlights and lot more can be easily found.

 

[RobMD]

Oh and yeah, look in front of the rear wheel, it's leaking oil already. These Danged Deeres!

 

[Fergus]

Her"s a pic (hopefully) of the tractor in question when it was still privately owned and displayed at the MMOGTA show in Oakley MI in 1995. The owner was on a tour to various shows that year. He was quite a character, but was very willing to show, describe and operate the tractor to a very appreciative audience.

 

[Anonymous-0]

The last privately owned John Deere Dain All-Wheel Drive Tractor did not meet the reserve price and, therefore, did not sell. The high bid at the end of the auction on May 11 was $180,100. Only 100 of these experimental tractors were made between 1917 and 1919. Most are rumored to have been destroyed. This tractor has been restored and was in the Smithsonian for a year. It was once owned by Frank Hansen, who took the tractor on a nationwide tour. He called it the oldest, or "The World's First John Deere Tractor." Hansen, recently deceased, had made an earlier attempt to sell the same tractor on eBay for $1 million, with no success.

 

[Nebraska Cowman]

No, You don't remember right. The All-wheel tractor came first. John Deere bought the Waterloo Boy facilities to build them in. Then they found they had orders for the primitive Waterloo Boys and as they say, "the rest is history"

 

[Steven f/AZ]

Please see this video on YouTube for one of the Dain all wheel drive tractors in action. It is a very sad story, I still shed a tear for the fella when I watch it...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LvzGbPVfNQc

 

[Don L C]

Wish you guys would narrow it down to the video........all i see is 50 choices and give up.....

 

[Steven f/AZ]

(quoted from post at 08:23:24 05/28/08) Wish you guys would narrow it down to the video........all i see is 50 choices and give up.....

The link in my above post is good. You could also go to YouTube.com and look up "Investment of a lifetime"

 

[Anonymous-0]

I read many years ago that he paid $1000. Perhaps it sounded better that he hadn't screwed the brothers too badly, and he really paid $5 or maybe $5 now makes a better story. It was complete except for the fancy radiator cap. He located the drawings and had a new one cast.