Slipping Through the Cracks of History
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John Deere Dain tractor
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Along-lost member of the Deere & Co. family was welcomed back into the fold when John Deere's oldest-known tractor - the four-cylinder Dain All-Wheel-Drive - was put on permanent display at the John Deere Collectors Center in Moline, Ill., March 13, 2004. The tractor is significant because it's the only complete unit known to exist and pre-dates John Deere's first two-cylinder tractor, the 1923 Model D.
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'The response has been wonderful!' Brian Hoist of the Collectors Center says. 'Collectors who didn't understand the significance of this tractor have been surprised since this tractor was made locally and has a lot of heritage in common with this area.'
Now that the Dain is parked at the Collectors Center, the tractor's special place in history can be shared.
One owner to the next
This particular Dain tractor's history started like any other. Emil Obitz of Stockton, Minn., bought the tractor from a John Deere dealer in Winona, Minn., in 1918. He used it for about a decade until he traded it for a Model D in 1928. The receiving dealership's owner in turn loaned the Dain to his brother, who used it for a year then parked it in the trees due to an engine malfunction.
In 1930, Morris and Erwin Timm, who lived in rural Minnesota, purchased the Dain. The Timms bought it for the tractor's chains, with which they wanted to repair a feed mill. Evidently, the brothers never got around to using the chains, and the Dain languished outdoors until 1962 when Frank Hansen purchased it for $1,000. Hansen had known about the tractor's whereabouts as a boy, and after he returned from military service he researched and confirmed the special nature of the Dain. Hansen then restored the neglected Dain tractor from pure rust and displayed it at antique tractor shows until he died about a year ago.
Hansen's family auctioned the Dain tractor on eBay, but it didn't sell because the reserve was never met. Deere & Co. negotiated with the Hansen family to purchase the tractor for an undisclosed amount in July 2003. Now, the Dain is finally at it's new home in the Collectors Center.
During the Gathering of the Green -a John Deere-specific equipment show held every other year in Moline - AI Higley of the Collectors Center led a dedication thanking the Hansen family, which also included a 45-minute history session and explanation of the tractor's mechanics.
The Dain was well-advanced, sporting features that John Deere tractors didn't utilize until the 1960s and some not even until the 1980s. Many of those features include a gear-driven water pump, key ignition, on-the-go shifting, shiftless speed changing and positive traction. These features, however, made the Dain too expensive for most farmers to afford its $1,500 price tag.
Hoist says the Dain will be available for special events if and when the Collectors Center deems the function appropriate. Until then, every collector who 'bleeds green' should be pleased that such a unique tractor is finally back in Moline at a permanent home in the Collectors Center.
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