Kevin Fry remembers the “pop, pop, pop” from the exhaust of the family’s 1951 John Deere MT because it could be heard five kilometres away. Today, it still has its original exhaust and is one of the favourites in a shed full of classic tractors and crawlers, collected with his son, Andrew, from sheds and paddocks around the country.
As a young man, Kevin thought he would never be able to afford a new John Deere tractor, while Andrew got hooked at 12 when he was given the opportunity to drive one.
“A neighbour rang and asked if Andrew wanted to come and drive the new JD. It had a cab and all, with all the bits and pieces. When he came home, his blood was green.”
Decades later, Andrew has the latest technology in John Deere tractors in a fleet that works flat out through the season for the family’s agricultural contracting business, based at Motupiko in Tasman.
Over a paddock or two, a new 540sqm shed houses their hobby, which has grown to 25 two-cylinder John Deere tractors dating back to the 1920s, a few crawlers and a plethora of machinery that creates “a sea of green”.
