[AT] White JD ?

[Dean VP]

Ivan:

I suspect you may have run onto a John Deere Lawn Tractor known as a "Patio"
model. In 1969 through 1971 John Deere tried to spice up the looks of their
Lawn tractors and custom painted them all kinds of different colors. These
Custom Color lawn and garden tractors were painted entirely in Dogwood White
except for the hood and seat. The hood and seat were offered in one of four
colors: Patio Red, Sunset Orange, April Yellow, and Spruce Blue. These
colors matched those of John Deere's popular competitors. Tractors were
shipped minus the hood and seat; the dealer would then install the colored
hood and seat of choice. All the attachments were painted Dogwood White to
match the garden tractors. This marketing ploy didn't work very well and
sales were disappointing. Customers wanted the recognizable JD Green and
Yellow. 

Today the Custom Color or patio garden tractors that John Deere made have
become highly collectible. Due to the fact that they sold poorly when new,
they are somewhat more difficult to find than their green counterparts. Many
have been found wearing the familiar green and yellow paint, so be sure to
examine the type codes. Many collectors consider the Custom Color 120 the
most difficult to find, and there is much debate surrounding which of the
colors is the most rare. Many of the attachments other than the mower decks
are among the hardest to find of John Deere factory attachments.

Below is the list of the Dupont Centari paint codes and a listing of custom
color type numbers.

Starmist White 59373 
Lemans Blue Metallic  5030 
Sunset Orange 60659 
Fleet Red  2622 
Fleet Yellow 23820

I believe the only difference was the paint colors but I'm guessing about
that. I have seen others who are intensely interested in the "Patio" models
so I know there is some collector interest but I don't know how much. 

I'm not a JD Lawn and Garden Tractor collector although I do own three of
them but I just haven't taken a collector interest in them. They all have to
do real work here. 

There is an active JD Lawn and Garden Tractor collecting community on the
web such as:

www.weekendfreedommachines.com

This should get you going to learn more about them.

Then there is a site that offers reproduction parts for these old JD GT's
called:

http://www.hapcoparts.com/

Between these two sites you will become an expert overnight. 

Dean A. Van Peursem
Snohomish, WA 98290

I'm a walking storeroom of facts..... I've just lost the key to the
storeroom door 


www.deerelegacy.com

http://members.cox.net/classicweb/email.htm



-----Original Message-----
From: at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
[mailto:at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On Behalf Of ivan
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2005 6:49 PM
To: Antique tractor email discussion group
Subject: [AT] White JD ?

I got free run of a local scrap yard , over the weekend I was "shopping"
and came across a white JohnDeere with a yellow hood . Not being a lover of
the "green" I left it there but wonder if I walked away from a valuable pile
of scrap ?  It was complete with mower deck , but I didnt really check to
what was wrong with it .
   Among my treasures were a complete IH  h4 mag and governor ,a 4 sp
peerless transaxle ,a couple engines ,another old poulan chainsaw . I had to
twist Bobs arm to take a $ 10 , not as good as Cecils luck but darn close .
Ivan



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