Charles “Short” Holscher owns a two-cylinder John Deere tractor that sits in the toolshed on the family farm. It’s not one he actually farmed with through the years, but it’s similar to tractors he had “back in the day.”

“I bought it pretty much like you see it,” Holscher says. While he’s turned over the reins of the farm operation to his son Larry and Larry’s sons, Holscher still remains active every day. One thing he likes to do is show his John Deere 730 diesel tractor to visitors.

Sometimes the older tractor sits right next to a modern John Deere tractor that’s used in the field today. There is a huge difference in size, horsepower and initial cost between these two machines. There’s about a 50-year span in technology as well.

“This tractor had the wide front end on it when we bought it,” Holscher says of the 730. Many of the John Deere two-cylinder tractors built through the 1950s came out as tricycle front-end tractors. Tricycle front-end tractors were billed as row-crop tractors.

If you look closely at the picture of this tractor, one thing may seem slightly out of place. Note the color of the weights on the front end of the tractor. They are from a classic model from yet another decade in the history of John Deere tractors.

“They are John Deere 4020 front-end tractor weights,” says Larry. “We added them onto the front of Dad’s tractor. They’re about the only thing that probably isn’t stock on the tractor.”

If you have an older tractor or truck you are proud of and that has a history in your family, send information and a photo to [email protected]. High-quality, large-format digital pictures are preferred. Or you can mail the information to: Indiana Prairie Farmer, P.O. Box 247, Franklin, IN 46131. Indiana Prairie Farmer will feature as many of these prized possessions of days gone by as possible.