John Deere Tractors.

John Deere was born in Rutland, Vermont, U.S.A. in 1804.  After completing an engineering apprenticeship he established a blacksmithing business in Grand Detour, Illinois in 1936.  He produced his first steel plough in 1837, plough production was moved to Moline, Illinois in 1859, in 1876 the leaping deer trademark was introduced.  While the company showed some interest in tractors in 1892 nothing materialised until they acquired the Waterloo Gasoline Tractor Co. of Waterloo in Iowa in 1918.

The Waterloo Boy Model N tractor was sold in the U.K. as the Overtime Model N, in 1923 it was replaced by the John Deere Model D.  Many Model D's were sold in Europe between the two World Wars, many of which were still in use up to the late 1940's.

All of the John Deere two-cylinder Tractors from the original Model D in 1924, to the last series in 1958/1960 were called "Johnny Poppers" or "Poppin' Johnnie's" because of their distinctive exhaust note. During the course of two revolutions (a four-stroke cycle) of the engine (720 degrees) the first cylinder fires at 0 degrees, the second at 180 degrees, then the engine coasts 540 degrees until it fires again beginning the next cycle.

John Deere was the only major U.S. tractor manufacturer without a European factory, in 1956 they acquired a share in Lanz, subsequently they purchased the Mannheim factory in Germany in 1960.  The Lanz Bulldog tractor was discontinued after being in production for 35 years,  following a vast investment in the Mannheim factory, the first of the John Deere-Lanz series of tractors appeared in 1961.

To this day the John Deere Company still has preeminence in the production and supply of tractors for the global marketplace.