One hundred years of tractors will be on show at the John Deere 50 Celebration & Heritage Event at Langar near Nottingham on September 24 and 25, 2016.
John Deere will publicly celebrate its 50th anniversary in the UK and Ireland.
The free outdoor event will feature activities and entertainment for all the family.
These will include archery, laser clay shooting, falconry and skydiving displays, synchronised kite flying and live music.
A parade of 50 vintage, classic and modern John Deere tractors and machinery will start with a 1916 Overtime Model R tractor, belonging to Lincolnshire farm manager Malcolm Robinson.
This will also include the iconic 4020 tractor, marking the beginnings of John Deere Limited at Langar in 1966, and represent every decade up to the present day, finishing with John Deere’s new flagship 620hp four-track 9620RX.
The Overtime tractor was given credit for helping the World War I effort by putting in many hours of overtime producing food for the war zone and the home front.
John Deere’s first step into tractor production worldwide came in 1918 when the US company bought the Overtime’s manufacturer, the Waterloo Gasoline Traction Engine Company in Iowa, who also made the Waterloo Boy.
This machine’s simple two-cylinder design became a feature of John Deere tractors for another four decades.
Later in the 20th century, John Deere three wheel, high clearance tractors came into East Anglia from America at the end of the Second World War under the Lend-Lease deal.
For a short time in the early 1960s, a few dealers sold large John Deere tractors such as the 4010 – the UK’s first 100hp tractor – and 5010.
In addition to the 4020 tractor, several of the machines that represented the John Deere Limited product line in 1966 will also be at the event, including the first 5010 and 5020 tractors sold in the UK, ploughs, the C10 cultivator and the 530 and 630 combine harvesters.
"Aside from the historic two-cylinder John Deere tractors on display, the main focus of the event is to gather together examples of John Deere tractors and machinery sold through John Deere’s UK and Irish dealers from 1966 to 2016," says heritage event organiser Peter Leech.
"At the moment we have registered tractors for every decade from the 1940s, but we would still love to hear from anyone with more recent machines, especially classic models from the 1980s and 1990s – even up to the modern 30 Series tractors."
