Restoring glory

The picture has become a treasured memory for David (pictured above), now retired to Eugowra.

The family farm “Choubra” near Paytens Bridge, between Eugowra and Grenfell in the Central West, was sold that year, as was the tractor at the family’s clearing sale.

More than 43 years later that image helped David find the same model tractor he hadn’t seen since the clearing sale all those years ago.

Two years ago David came across the same model tractor in its “working clothes”, up in Dalby, Queensland.

The two-cylinder tractor was imported from the United States by an Australian collector, and David couldn’t resist buying back a piece of his childhood.

The model – now somewhat rare in Australia – differed little from the tractor David remembered as a young boy.

“The one on the farm ran on petrol and kerosene but this one is just petrol – it’s unusual one this size would be just petrol, the rest of these would be kerosene or gas now,” David said.

“It was the first John Deere series that had power steering as an option – the one we had on the farm didn’t have it, but this one does.

“The smaller wheels out the front are designed to run between the crop rows.”

A rusted number plate reads “IND” – suggesting it lived in Indiana for its working life, David said.

“It would’ve been a middle-of-the-range model back then, but now the green tractors are a premium price to most others – particularly the two cylinder model,” he said.

The tractor idles at 200 revs and purrs along at 1000 revs.

“Twelve mile an hour (19 kilometres an hour) is flat out,” David said.

The original hand clutch and a brake pedal for each wheel are still features on the model.

David said the engine was also original.

“In all the old John Deere models the cylinders are lying down, so they go back and forth rather than up and down.”

David is still in the early stages of restoring the John Deere 60 to its former glory.

The forest green paint is one feature that has remained the same throughout the history of the brand and he was able to source some from Orange.

“I’ll get a spray painter to do the tin work and I’ll spray the cast when I pull the wheels off,” David said.

“The rest of the parts came from the United States – I find them in catalogues.

“I just ring them up, I don’t know how to use a computer.

“I get the same lady on the phone every time and they just send it over.”

So far David has replaced the seat on the tractor and installed new clutch plates, and is looking in to new seals for the back wheels.

“Whatever you can think of you can find it,” David said.

“You can go so far as to get all new gauges if you want to, and the decals on the side, reading the brand and the model, they’re all available.”

David’s John Deere 60 made its debut at the Eugowra Show last September and once restored will spend some time on the road.

“I will take it along to the shows and do tractor treks. I’ll join a club down the track, when I want to head out on the open road more,” David said.

A passion for old tractors

Photo above taken in 1960 of then 15-year-old David Glasson with a 1955 model John Deere 60 tractor.

DAVID Glasson has seen machinery, and farming, transform with time.

He was raised by his parents Joe and Madge on a mixed farming property of cropping, sheep and cattle near Eugowra.

The second youngest of six children – and the last of five boys – David has fond memories of driving machinery as a teenager.

This passion has carried throughout his life.

“I started driving tractors as soon as my leg was strong enough to push the clutch in,” David said.

“At harvest time I was the tractor driver and Dad would operate the comb up and down.

“My brother Angus was on the platform – he was bagging the grain and sowing up the bags and stacking them on the back tray.

“When we had enough we would stop and tip them off – it saved us time stopping to empty the box.”

The Glasson brothers went to Yanco Agricultural High School in the Riverina.

At 15, David began work at the neighbouring property “Cairnhill”, where he would spend the next six-and-a-half years as a farm hand.

He married his wife Dora in 1966 and went on to share farm at properties across the region.

The first tractor he purchased when he started share farming was a diesel John Deere 730.

“I bought it second hand; they were discontinued then,” he said.

His love for John Deere machinery is shared by his brother, Angus.

“Angus has the first tractor he ever owned – he bought it brand new in 1964,” David said.

“It was a John Deere 4020 and he found out where it was many years later, bought it back and restored it.”

Angus now owns four John Deeres – all restored.

“He has one two cylinder old model and the rest are what we call new generation tractors,” David said.

In 1984 David went into farm supplies and seed cleaning and became a partner in J.C. Adams and Co, Eugowra.

He stayed in the business until 2005.

Each of the Glasson brothers went into a career in agriculture and their only sister, Jennifer, was a teacher.

“My oldest brother Trevor moved to Sydney to work in the wool stores, Don had a property at Ingower, Angus had a farm at Condobolin, and Russ was on a property at Grawlin, south of Forbes,” David said.

All these years later, David still works part-time driving green machinery.