Antique and unique tractors on display

Thursday, June 24, 2010

By Dean Shipley

Andy Mayer is a farmer in Plain City. He grows the usual crops: corn, soybeans, wheat and raises some beef cattle. But he has also been growing an interest in John Deere tractors since the 70s.

By the 80s a certain low production model of John Deere tractor caught his eye and he’s been growing a collection of them ever since. It is the Hi-Crop model.

He said they were used in the south, along the gulf coast and in Florida and California in vegetable fields and sugar cane. So the few found around Ohio are in the hands of collectors such as Mayer. He has six of them.

They are indeed rare and produced in small numbers. He an example of the LP 60 Hi-Crop, which is one of 15 built. He found it near Naples, Fla. Another Hi-Crop, a ’58 730 is one of 72 built.

He procures them in any condition, then restores them to “better than new when I’m done.”

He said the high clearance was achieved through a drop housing and a modified front axle “to jack them up.”

It is one of the featured tractors at the Eastern National Expo VI, which will be held June 24-26 at Clark County’s fairgrounds in Springfield.