

Olivers did not keep one shade of green forever, just as Minneapolis-Moline used different golds. Manufacturers often changed the shade of the paint even while staying within the same hue. Sometimes, multiple and combined mergers led to tractor genealogies as messy as families with too many “kissing cousins.” Those cases added confusion to decisions about paint. merged with Massey-Harris to become known as Massey-Ferguson. This was the situation when Massey-Harris went from gray to red with yellow wheels in the late 1930s, followed by the introduction of a red-with-gray scheme during the 1950s, after Harry Ferguson Inc. Mergers also initiated new color schemes. These days, people would say these companies were “branding” themselves. Reasons for color changes included safety, as when industrial tractors switched to yellow, and a desire on the part of manufacturers to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Builders no doubt hoped the appeal of brighter colors would translate into bigger sales. Just as those economically grim years were the heyday for upbeat jazz bands, movies, and dancing, so, too, did the apparent need for cheer manifest in tractor paint. Interestingly, the first truly colorful tractors appeared about the time of the Great Depression. Early automobiles, some home decor fabrics, and even women’s fashions reflected a taste for these colors during the turn of the last century. Also, dark neutrals might simply have been popular.

(Yes, you read that right!) I choose to withhold comment on these ideas and (without any actual proof) suggest that the color gray’s association with industry and machinery probably made it seem like a logical choice. The history of paint schemes on tractors is a colorful story, even if it did not start out that way.ĭuring my research, I ran across interesting theories as to why gray, for example, seemed to dominate, ranging from the use of military surplus paint to the color’s ability to hide pigeon poop. It seems most tractors in that era were painted drab colors, such as dark green, charcoal, black, brown, or gray, perhaps with some bright accents. If published back in the late 1800s and early years of the 20th century, however, Antique Power might have looked more like the November landscape outside your window than the artist’s palette it resembles today. Yellow John Deere Tractors were a specialty line often sold to municipalities for commercial use.When dark and rainy November arrives, nothing feels nicer than sitting down in your cozy home with the latest issue of Antique Power magazine, guaranteed to offer plenty of brightly colored tractors among those featured. The pink was a novelty color for showrooms as well. The white models are typically from dealer showrooms. When visiting tractor show grounds, John Deere tractors can be found in various other colors too. And then, there’s the argument that the colors helped with safety because the bright green and yellow was easier to see in the field.

Others say the combinations used in John Deere Tractor paint colors represents growing and harvesting. The colors of the Waterloo Engine Company were green and red. The Waterloo Engine Company was merged with Deere. His company, Deere and Co., bought other tractor companies after 1918. John Deere died in 1886 before the tractor was invented. John Deere entered the market with the invention of the bottom plow under the name Deere and Co. In the late 1800s, evidence points to the color being used in farm implements and machines before it was used on tractors.

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