March 28, 2024

Hundreds of John Deere collectors gather to buy, learn, socialize

DAVENPORT, Iowa — A mecca for John Deere enthusiasts attracted hundreds of collectors and restorers to the Gathering of the Green.

“There’s more knowledge and more parts concentrated here than anywhere else,” said Tony Knobbe, chairman of the Gathering of the Green. “Visitors come to the show to buy parts and learn stuff.”

The four-day conference is planned by members of the Deer Valley Collectors, Illinois Valley Two-Cylinder Club, North Eastern Illinois Twin-Cylinder Club and Northwest Illinois Deer Collectors.

“Our vendors tell us this is the best show they come to,” Knobbe said. “I think that’s because it is a main focus of our show.”

New for the Gathering this year was the Plow City Tractor Show, held at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds.

“I invited all colors of tractors that were related to the Quad Cities manufacturing, including International Harvester, Rock Island Plow Company, Minneapolis-Moline and Root & Vandervoort,” said Ed Vieth, who organized the displays.

“There are some hit-and-miss engines on display,” Vieth said. “Two of the collectors that have Minneapolis-Moline and Rock Island Plow items have almost the whole east side of the Iowa Building.”

“It’s Fair Time!” was the theme for the biennial conference. Displays in the RiverCenter convention center featured products introduced by Deere & Co. from the 1930s to the 1970s.

“All the pieces are restored because they represent what tractor manufacturers were trying to sell at the county fairs,” Vieth said. “And we put together stands — quilting/sewing, grain and forage and pie contest, to give it a fair feel.”

Vieth worked as an assessor for 32 1/2 years, but his early love is construction.

“I have always loved to swing a hammer, that’s my real passion,” he said. “I got into collecting tractors when I found my grandpa’s Allis Chalmers.”

Although he did not have any knowledge for restoring tractors or farm equipment, Vieth joined the Deere Valley Collectors.

“It has mushroomed from there and when Tony called me and asked me to take over the displays for the Gathering, I did,” he said.

Vieth has a variety of tractors in his collection.

“I had an Allis G, a John Deere B, I’m working on a 70 now, I’ve got a Minneapolis-Moline UTS and recently I got an 821 listed corn cultivator and 802 running gear that I restored and both of them are here,” he said. “If someone would have told me 20 years ago I would be into John Deere tractors and know all the people I know now, I would have said no way.”

On the north side of the center, displays included lawn and garden tractors, as well as industrial equipment.

“We’ve never had industrial equipment before,” Vieth said. “Collectors brought a DI, LI, 430LP Crawler and a 301 Turf Special.”

“There’s a W111 Pure Oil that has an engine of a model D tractor,” Knobbe said. “John Deere was contracted by the Pure Oil Company to build those for pumping in the oil fields.”

A very special tractor — the John Deere Waterloo Boy Bathtub D — was on display in the banquet hall.

“John Deere got into the tractor business by buying the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company,” Knobbe said. “The story goes that the chief engineer at Waterloo, Louis Witry, took the John Deere people into a back room and showed them the Bathtub D tractor they were developing to succeed the Waterloo Boy.”

However, the Bathtub D tractors were never produced by John Deere and the company destroyed them.

“In the early 1990s, in Waterloo, they were excavating for a new Deere building and the excavator hit something which was the remains of the Bathtub D,” Knobbe said. “Dan Thomas researched the tractor, developed parts based on pictures and brought this tractor back to life.”

A special evening event was held during the Gathering each night.

“Ten years ago we started a tradition of a Beer & Bull Gears event and I’m super excited about tonight,” Knobbe said. “I’m hosting Sandy Hewitt, John Deere’s great, great, great grandson and the last family member of John Deere who was chairman of the company.”

The event, Knobbe said, includes pictures and videos.

“It is going to be a Tonight Show theme and Sandy is going to talk about the culture he grew up with share some family stories,” he said.

Knobbe was raised on a grain and livestock farm in western Iowa.

“I grew up on John Deere and after college I got a job in banking and worked just down the street from here for 33 years,” he said.

Now retired, Knobbe enjoys collecting antique tractors including his dad’s John Deere 60, which was on display at the fairgrounds during the Gathering.

“I’ve added five more John Deeres to my collection,” he said.

The farm kid also started farming a little more after retiring from his banking career.

“I farm about 30 acres and grow wheat and barley for the distillery in Le Claire, Iowa,” he said. “I’m having a lot of fun using old equipment like a plow, disk, planter, drill, combine, tractors, harrow, baler and rake.”

There are many types of antique tractor and implement collectors, including those who enjoy restoring tractors to showroom quality.

“I enjoy taking my equipment to the field and using them,” Knobbe said. “There are also collectors that like to do tractor pulls to see who can get the most horsepower out of a tractor.”

Knobbe loves to turn a wrench.

“I love to walk past a tractor that’s not running quite right and tweak on the carburetor a little bit to get it running right,” he said. “And the hot trend these days is patina — original tractors that have never been painted.”

Vieth and Knobbe have already started to talk about the theme for the next Gathering in 2024.

“The Gathering is fun,” Knobbe said. “For a week, I walk around and people stop me to tell some story.”

Martha Blum

Martha Blum

Field Editor