Of course, I couldn't tell the whole story of my grandfather's John Deere 520 tractor without sharing pictures and video clips from the day we first went to look at it, the day I first drove it, and the day we brought it back into the family (picked it up and moved it to my shop - its forever home). Unlike the previous video which was just me rambling and no action, this video will show the tractor running and driving, and you'll get to hear some of that two-cylinder music (which my channel hasn't seen a lot of in past years, but will be featured a lot more in the future).
In February 2022, a few weeks after Shane had emailed me that he was ready to sell the 520, we arranged to meet up one afternoon (on my birthday when I had taken off of work), where my girlfriend Kyleigh and I finally got to meet him in person, see his collection, and see the long-lost 520 tractor up close. We spent a few hours that afternoon discussing the restoration in fine detail, putting our back stories together, and just getting to know each other. The tractor had been parked in the back of his pole barn for the winter, but Shane was more than willing to hook up the battery and open the fuel when I asked if it would start. After a few cranks with choke, she fired up and ran beautifully - it was like a reunion with my late grandfather all over again!
In June, we went back to Shane's one evening when he had dug the tractor out of the back corner and was getting it ready for me to purchase. He allowed me to take the tractor out for a spin in his yard and up the back street. It was a great feeling to know that this was the same tractor my family used to cultivate with many years ago (and that it now looked better than it ever did before).
Finally, in July, we (Kyleigh, Jimmy, and I) brought the trailer over to Shane's place, where my uncle (who grew up on the tractor) had drove up to meet us and Shane. They got to know each other and my uncle helped fill in a lot of the missing details on this tractor, from what he could remember. We then loaded the tractor up and brought it back to my house, about 40 minutes from Shane, where it now lives (for the time being). Although it's not living in South Jersey where it originally came from, it's back in the ownership of the same family that it served for so many years - and from this point it will travel many other places (shows, expos, etc) where it will be proudly displayed as a symbol of my grandfather's legacy, and a staple in my tractor collection.
Again, a special thanks to Shane for all his hard work and effort in restoring this tractor to its former glory, to Jimmy & Kyleigh for coming along and helping out with loading/unloading and camerawork, and to my uncle Vince for driving out to PA to meet up with us, help us put the pieces of the tractor's story together, and for allowing Pop-Pop's spirit to live on in the next generation!