As a 12-year old driving tractors and other heavy equipment (legally), I yearned to operate the farm’s new 215hp John Deere 8440. At the time, I was relegated to an old workhorse, the 121hp 5020, but at least it was still Deere Green. The 8440 was my dream machine. Eight wheeled, 4WD, with articulated steering in the middle of the chassis that facilitated unparalleled traction and a tight turning radius, both needed for crop farming in the often wet and relatively small fields of Northwest Washington State.Years later, on my first job off the farm in Frankfurt (Metallgesellschaft), dreams of Deere Green, merged with BMW Yellow and Porsche White. Since initially driving those cars in Germany in 1989, BMW and Porsche have continued to reinforce their brand promise around precise design and engineering, manufacturing cars that produce “sheer driving pleasure.” This is strikingly similar to John Deere’s brand statement of “Nothing Runs Like a Deere.”
As a child, I remember looking down my nose at the farmers who dared drive International Harvester Red. While I’ve been on several fun trips to Italy as an adult, Ferrari Red just reminds me of those poor blokes driving Harvester tractors (aka Case IH).
