Here's the early 1954 John Deere 60 vegetable tractor that I bought in January 2022 to serve as a parts donor for our family's 1954 60 restoration project. This one is about 9000 serial numbers before ours. I figured I'd do a walkaround video of the complete tractor before it gets torn down for parts this winter. I know some may dislike the idea of parting out a good straight tractor, especially a long-axle model, but some must die so that others can live on...and it's a better fate than the scrapyard, where this tractor was originally headed.
I bought this tractor from a friend in Vineland, NJ - the former produce capital of the eastern United States. The Vineland area was South Jersey's hub for vegetable production and distribution to other parts of the world, due to its location in the fertile sandy soils near the Jersey Shore and its proximity to Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New York City. The majority of farms in this area specialized in row-crop veggie production, and as such, many of the farms used specialty tractors for wide and tall crop beds. The majority of farm tractors shipped to South Jersey (particularly the Vineland area) were set up as high-clearance, high-crop, or offset models, and this 60 is a perfect example of that.
I learned (after posting this video) that this tractor was built 12/4/53 and shipped 12/7/53 to South Jersey Implement Co. in Swedesboro, NJ - the same dealer that sold our family's original 60. I am told it was a one-owner tractor for many years, and after being retired it ended up in the hands of an elderly collector in Mays Landing, NJ. The tractor had sat parked in the back of his property after he passed away, and following his wife's passing and the liquidation of their estate a few years later, it was destined to be scrapped. A local friend of mine saved it before they had a chance to do so, and towed it down the road (on what were 3 good tires) to his house in Vineland, NJ, where it sat for another short period of time in his project queue before I bought it.
It is a true vegetable model with the 6.50x16 single front wheel, and long rear axles with dished F1478R offset 38" wheels. Judging by the alignment pegs mounted to the frame, the broken-off bolts in the front grill casting, and the lack of a 3-point hitch, this tractor was used for cultivating two 4-foot rows of probably tomatoes or squash. It likely had lift linkages running from the rear rockshaft up front to lift the cultivators. I'm guessing it pulled wagons through the fields as well, judging by the wear in the drawbar hole.
The sheet metal is in very good shape overall, and the tractor is all complete. I was told it would run on starting fluid, so it probably wouldn't take much to get it going again, but I have already begun taking parts off of it for the project 60. I was very fortunate to be able to save this one, to have another local Jersey tractor of the same year and model, and I'm glad it will be able to live on through the other 60 when all is said and done.