Editor’s note: “Max’s Tractor Shed” is a new column based on broadcaster Max Armstrong’s regular TV segment. Each report will focus on a different old machine.
The familiar adage “start ’em young” applies to broadcaster Max Armstrong’s “Tractor Shed” selection this week — a 1941 John Deere H. The storied machine was meticulously restored to its former glory by a budding mechanic 74 years its junior.
“We love it, love it, love it when there’s a tractor restoration involving a young person working with their parents or grandparents, or aunts and uncles. We have an example this weekend from Minnesota,” Armstrong says about 10-year-old Charlie Duden’s 4-H project, which was showcased this summer at the Wabasha County Fair. As a member of the Happy Ramblers 4-H Club, Charlie began working on the project at 8 years old with his father and uncle.
When they started, Armstrong says the antique tractor “was in pieces on pallets.” Two years later, its iconic green paint has never glimmered brighter.
Manufactured throughout World War II from 1939 to 1947, the John Deere H was the smallest tractor produced at the brand’s Waterloo, Iowa, plant. Its competition included horses, which were prevalent in use on smaller family farms. Needless to say, it outperformed them.
Mechanically, its rear wheels could be adjusted to accommodate specific spacings for row crops. The machine’s two-cylinder engine ran on kerosene, outputting 14 hp at the belt. A camshaft-driven transmission and cast-iron rims proved to be distinctive design elements that withstood the test of time — from inception until now.
At an affordable price point, the John Deere H was an immediate hit. During its eight-year production run, nearly 60,000 machines rolled out of Waterloo and across U.S. farm fields. These 75 years later, they’ve retained their desirability and value as a classic piece of American farming history.
More than a piece of history, though, Charlie’s old tractor represents his first foray into heavy-machinery restoration. And it probably won’t be his last tractor project.
“There will be more to come. He’s going to restore more,” Armstrong concludes, adding that Charlie “wants to be a mechanic someday, as a matter of fact. It looks like he’s got a good head start.”