John Deere DI: A Yellow JD

Image Gallery The John Deere D Industrial: Fewer than 100 were made during a production run that went from 1936 to 1941. Gary Schroller's is a 1940 model, one of just two DI tractors Deere made that year. His daughter, Hannah, is at the wheel.

Everybody knows John Deere never made a yellow tractor ... everybody, that is, except Gary Schroller. Gary is the proud owner of a John Deere D Industrial, fully restored to a screaming yellow that'll make you want to put on your sunglasses. 

The DI was originally sold to a township road department in Kansas, Gary said. It was designed for road work: It has higher speed gears and steering brakes. The seat is mounted sideways so the driver could watch the road patrol. The clutch and throttle are mounted on the left.

"It had high speed sprockets," Gary said. "There's just no power in the lower gears."

And then there's that color.

"It was painted yellow at the factory," he said, "which most people doubt was the original color. When I show it, everybody questions the color. I've got to explain it, and show them the archive photos."

"I talked to an old farmer at the state fair when I showed it down there," he recalled. "Well, I got a lecture. He told me, 'I farmed with John Deere all my life, and they never made a yellow tractor.' He shook his finger at me and everything!"

Gary first learned of the tractor when he was on another tractor mission in western Kansas, buying a John Deere D.

"This guy told me that his neighbor had this real high speed D Industrial," he said. "It ended up being just 90 miles from where I live. But it took me several years of pestering the guy before I got it bought."

When Gary first saw the tractor, it sported a more conventional – though worn – JD color scheme.

"A dealership had had it, and they painted it green and yellow, and put it on the lot," he said. "But they hadn't sandblasted it. It was still all yellow underneath."

Later, a farmer bought the DI. But the industrial tractor was not a good fit to the farm.

"It would never pull a plow," Gary said. "It was geared too high. They just used it for harrowing."

Restoration was a monumental challenge.

"It was the roughest tractor I have ever done," Gary said, "and the toughest restoration job. It had sat for 25 years. It was so stuck when I got it, the wheels wouldn't even roll. It was so darn rough ... I expected the very worst, and that's what I got."

Everything had to be replaced, he said.