John Deere Evo and Green Snoopy

Get the award-winning book John Deere Evolution with the brand-new story of Deere and IH's battles in the 1970s and 1980s! 

SNOOPY AND THE SPY 

On the farm fields of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the stakes had never been higher. The era marked one of the hardest economic environments of the twentieth century, and two of the world’s toughest competitors were locked in a high-horsepower arms race to create the world’s best piece of agricultural equipment.

For John Deere, winning meant maintaining global dominance. For International Harvester, winning would mean survival. For all the other ag equipment makers—well, it was mostly bad news.

In a big money game of poker, the two top makers bet on various new technologies and raced to build the best one first. The new machines were designed and built in secret spaces, then tested in dark pastures and remote corners of the world. They were transported carefully covered under tarps and rail cars . . . all in effort to keep them from the prying eyes and nimble cameras of the competition.

In this rollicking non-fiction trip back in time, the salesman, engineers, and executives who played the game offer firsthand accounts of how and why this techno-turf war was fought. As the game escalated, one salesman took matters into his own hands. In the name of company loyalty, he crossed a line he shouldn’t have and found himself deep in enemy territory.

Includes never-before-published photographs from the time period, in-depth interviews with engineers and team leaders from Deere and IH, insight into how and why Deere dominated and IH failed during this difficult time in ag history. 

JOHN DEERE EVOLUTION

This visually stunning work blends tractors photographed in custom-built studios with concept drawings and behind-the-scenes looks at how the machines were designed and built. The beautiful book also is encyclopedic, containing examples of every model line built by John Deere since 1919. With contributions from industrial designers Chuck Pelly and William Crookes as well as detailed accounts of new technology for John Deere engineers, the book takes you deep behind the scenes to understand how these machines were designed and built. The stories inside include the fascinating rotary engine Deere prototype, detailed evolution of the Sound Gard body from both designers and engineers, a detailed account of the 7000 series engineering, and machines you never heard of including the rotary articulated Deere combine prototype from the late 1970s! 

The book includes dozens of drawings and images from the archives of the Henry Dreyfuss Archives housed at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in Manhattan, many of which are from a newly-uncovered and previously unlabeled box of materials showing tractor design and development. In-person research was also done at the Theo Brown Archives kept at Wooster Polytechnic Institute. Period images from the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress, and other notable historic archives add visual depth to the history. Matching the strong visuals is an in-depth history that includes interviews with John Deere engineers, industrial designers, dealers, and farmers who created, sold, and used the machines, many of whom provide insight on developmental evolution and secret protoypes. 

The book features more than 300 images, including many depicting one-of-a-kind machines and serial number ones. The stunning restored 6030 on the cover is the first example built, and the working 4020 shown here is the second built and the first powershift model. These and dozens of others in the book are some of the most valuable tractors in existence. 

This lavish book offers fresh insight into the evolution and design of an American icon--get your copy today!