- Related Articles
- BETWEEN THE BOOKENDS
- On the Cutting Edge
- LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Jumping in With Both Feet
Deere Collector Makes Up For Lost Time
By Leslie McDaniel With Photos
As a collection develops over the decades, it progresses at a leisurely pace. But when you go from zero to 60 in a short time - say, purchase and restoration of 70 tractors in about 10 years - the fur flies. Mel Cope knows: he's done it.
When Mel retired from a career as an executive with Southwestern Bell about 11 years ago, he became a serious John Deere collector.
"When I first retired, I just had so much pent-up energy for this," he said. "Every night I'd be down working on tractors until 9 or 10 o'clock. It was a driving passion."
"I've got so much now I can hardly say grace over it all," he said with a wry smile. Raised on a farm at Beverly, Kan. (west of Salina), Mel grew up with tractors.
"As a kid, I can remember lots of mornings, waking up and laying in bed, I'd hear dad go out early and start the tractor," he said. "I always liked the tractor end of it. But after college, that was the end of farming for me."
Career and family intervened, and more than three decades passed before Mel - who now lives near Topeka, Kan. - got reacquainted with tractors.
His first project was restoration of his father's 1960 630, one of the last two-cylinders Deere produced.
"He was so happy when he bought that," Mel said. "It was just the second tractor he'd ever bought new, but he didn't want any part of those new four-cylinder tractors."
Mel restored the tractor as a sentimental gesture. As work progressed, he thought maybe he'd do a couple more.