Every Tractor has a Story: A Boy Grows Up Loving John Deere

Many of us John Deere lovers caught the bug at a young age. This is true for Earl Stauffer. Shortly before his parents married in the 1980s, Earl’s father purchased a 1955 John Deere Model 70 Diesel. The tractor was purchased as a Roll-o-Matic, but was later converted to be a wide front and 730-style fenders were added. Earl’s father also decided to remove the pony motor in favor of a 12V direct start conversion. Two years after the tractor was purchased, Earl was born. He can remember being very young and seeing his dad on the 70, chopping corn using a 38 harvester with a two-row head. His first memory of driving the “big tractor” on the farm (the other tractor was a 2010 Diesel) was at the age of 9 when he used it for disking. At one point, he looked back to check his work and the disk was no longer behind the tractor because the pin had jumped out. During it’s time in the Stauffer family, the 70 has mowed and bailed hay, cultivated and chopped corn, disked, and spread manure. It had also cultivated a love for John Deere tractors in a young boy and as he has grown into a man the love and the memories are as strong as ever. Now that he’s old enough, Earl has purchased a 4020 as the first John Deere of his own. While the story is just beginning for the new 4020, his father’s 70 Diesel was the first John Deere in his life and Earl knows that it is to never leave the family.