[AJD] late B

Tue May 31 05:11:25 PDT 2005

Interesting about the Ad copy book!
I know on IH side, the less than steller President during the 1950s 
(John McCaffrey) wanted to get into a planned obsolescence model, where 
IH would ship new models ir raidically changed models out yearly or at 
least more frequently. I've often wondered whether this was in response 
to what Deere was doing. Let's take the M/Super M line for instance

Super M with larger engine, 1952.
Stage II Super M with live hydraulics, late 1952.
Super MTA Torque Amplifier and Live PTO, January, 1954.
Farmall 400, restyled and with Fast Hitch, late 1954
Farmall 450, larger engine and weight shift Fast Hitch two tone paint, 1956
Farmall 560, six cylinder engine, mid-1958.

The two tone paint was in response to Deere, probably the 560 increase 
of horsepower at the last second that was harmful to the 560.

What happened, of course, in the 1950s, to IH, is that there were big 
rushes to build inventory for those new models- factory working 
overtime, etc. You had to clear the older models from the lots. WIth the 
decline in the tractor market that happened after the end of the Korean 
War, you ended up with inventory sitting around that wasn't the current 
model, then layoffs at the factory when all that new production didn't 
get sold because of the sales on the older models, and the decline in 
the market. Kinda sounds like the same thing happened to Deere, only 
less so due to some sanity in high places. Deere's better dealer 
management started tightening down the screws on IH hard during this 
time period.

Duane Larson wrote:

> Guy,
> Interesting comments.  I guess I thought JD did promote their yearly 
> additions and changes - particularly via John Deere Day movies.  They 
> often contained a "What's New" feature film, which emphasized new 
> developments since the last JD Day.  Many of those films were 
> available through the Two Cylinder Club, and are a treasure of 
> information (in my book, anyway).
>
> I also have several years of advertising copy books provided by JD to 
> dealers, which illustrated ads available from JD for use in 
> newspapers.  An example:  scheduled for the October 1949 Farm Journal 
> and Successful Farming:  "Again, JD steps out ahead with 5 all new 
> tractors... Meet the 1949 additions to the JD tractor family...".  
> Note that the new tractors were referred to as 1949 tractors in 
> October 1949 - interesting - but the new (1950) model year started in 
> November 1949, so I guess they were consistent.
>
> Thanks again for your viewpoint across the industry!
> Best Regards,
> Duane Larson
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Guy Fay" <fayguyma at execpc.com>
> To: "Antique John Deere mailing list" 
> <antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 8:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [AJD] late B
>
>
>> The reason why the concept of "Model Years" is in dispute is that, in 
>> general, the farm equipment industry ADVERTISED that they didn't do 
>> model years.
>>
>> The ad being referred to is talking about new models, which the farm 
>> equipment industry did do. But most of the companies (I've seen 
>> similar claims for at least three tractor manufacturers, don't know 
>> if I've seen them for Deere but from what I know of production 
>> processes, they did) specifically state that they made running 
>> changes- i.e. that as refinements were made, or problems identified 
>> and solved, the changes went immediately into production as a running 
>> change, instead of waiting for a line changeover such as the auto 
>> industry did.
>>
>> I've seen the information that companies sent out at the time about 
>> price increases. For the most part, they didn't hide them as "Model 
>> Year" changes-they just flat out announced them.
>>
>> I also recently had a look in my hometown newspaper in the 1954-1957 
>> for some other stuff (history of the tractor club I belong to). Of 
>> course I checked out the ads. The car dealerships in town were making 
>> the big model year pushes. From the Deere, IH, Allis, Massey, and 
>> Ford dealers, there was no model year announcements whatsoever.
>>
>> Avoiding model year changes was something the Farm Equipment Industry 
>> prided itself in, quite frankly.
>>
>> Guy
>>
>> Dean VP wrote:
>>
>>> Louis:
>>>
>>> One thing should be clear by now. There were 1953 model year 
>>> ([production
>>> year?) 50's and 60's made in 1952. If my memory serves me right 
>>> there were
>>> no 1953 70's made in 1952. As I recall the 70 didn't start shipping 
>>> until
>>> sometime in 1953. Need to look it up again.
>>> But the ad just verifies that the JD Sales, Marketing departments and
>>> Dealers were very aware of Model years and advertised "new features 
>>> for 1953
>>> models that were shipped and built in 1952. The same way the auto 
>>> industry
>>> does it. A way to get farmers motivated to buy something with new 
>>> features.
>>> It also gave JD the opportunity to raise prices each year. New features
>>> slightly higher prices. Older models got sold at the old prices or at a
>>> discount. The way the sales game works in most industries except the
>>> electronics industry. In that industry, new models with more 
>>> features cost
>>> less. Completely backwards of almost all other industries.
>>> I'm having real trouble understanding why the concept or business 
>>> method of
>>> model years is in dispute.
>>> 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: antique-johndeere-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com
>>> [mailto:antique-johndeere-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com] On 
>>> Behalf Of
>>> Louis R Godena
>>> Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 1:57 PM
>>> To: Antique John Deere mailing list
>>> Subject: Re: [AJD] late B
>>>
>>> Well, the Nov 1952 issue of *Farm Journal* has an ad for the "new" 
>>> 50, 60, and 70 JD models, so there must have been at least *one* 
>>> made in '52.
>>>
>>> Interesting thing about *Farm Journal*; my grandfather subscribed 
>>> back in the forties, I guess and maintained his subscription until 
>>> my father took it
>>>
>>> over in the early sixties.  Around 1961, some genius in accounting 
>>> decided to "purge" the subscription list of all "non-farmers".  My 
>>> vegetable-farming
>>>
>>> father, along with the biggest dairy farmer in Rhode Island, was 
>>> purged and "unsubscribed".   Oh, yeah.   The editor of Farm Journal 
>>> also was kicked off
>>>
>>> the subscriber list.
>>>
>>> Ah, the early days of automation:-)
>>>
>>> Louis G
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ronald L. Cook" <rlcook at pionet.net>
>>> To: "Antique John Deere mailing list" 
>>> <antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>>> Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 4:34 PM
>>> Subject: RE: [AJD] late B
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> Dean,
>>>> Seeing as how I started this mess, I will mess it up some more.<g>
>>>>
>>>> A friend of mine still has his dad's 70.  First one sold by Noonan 
>>>> Implement or maybe right after Wes Christensen bought that 
>>>> dealership in Sioux City as I take it.  His dad, now deceased 
>>>> always claimed it was a 1952.  How about that?  I heard there were 
>>>> no l952 70's.  I do not know the serial number, but someday I might 
>>>> be able to find it out but I have no idea what its importance would 
>>>> be.  I think it is a 1953.  My dad has a
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>> 1955 60.  He insists it is a 1954.  Dunno.
>>>>
>>>> Ron Cook
>>>> Salix, IA
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
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