The July/August 2021 issue of Antique Power magazine is available in our gift shop and will be available in subscriber mailboxes and on newsstands soon. Our latest cover tractor is a beautiful 1957 John Deere & Co. Model 620 LP-Gas Orchard tractor owned by Jerry Neal. text by Robert Gabrick • photos by Brad Bowling

Performing with Style

A rare 1957 John Deere Model 620 LP-Gas Orchard tractor has become a North Carolina treasure!

Jerry Neal, the owner of our featured 1957 John Deere & Co. Model 620 LP-Gas Orchard tractor is a co-founder of one of the largest semiconductor manufacturing companies in the world, R.F. Micro Devices Inc., now Qorvo. He and his wife Linda established Linbrook Heritage Estate in Trinity, North Carolina, in 2007 as a working farm and forest to preserve North Carolina’s farming heritage and industrial legacy, as well as conserve the forests and farmland. The 500-acre estate is home to the following four museums.

The Antique Industrial Museum includes a fully restored Houston, Stanwood & Gamble Co. steam engine coupled with a working 1890s DC-current dynamo, a 1925 Skinner Engine Co. steam engine coupled with a generator, and a circa 1920s Model 32 Fairbanks-Morse Co. diesel engine weighing more than 20,000 pounds.
Hoover House is part of a 40-acre farm established in 1905 by Edd Hoover, Neal’s maternal great-grandfather. The restored original homestead with original furnishings represents early subsistence farm life.
Linbrook Hall, the centerpiece of the estate, offers a 36,000-square-foot, four-floor venue known as The Giving House. The Neals designed and built it for special events and filled it with antiques from all over the world. Linbrook Hall has hosted numerous charitable activities for several organizations, including St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and Hospice.
Most relevant for Antique Power readers is the John Deere Tractor Museum. Neal began collecting these tractors over 20 years ago, and the 620 LP-Gas (liquified petroleum gas) Orchard tractor is one of more than 25 fully restored John Deere tractors on display. The oldest tractor in the museum’s collection is a 1930 Model D. Neal’s focus is Hi-Crop models including 1951 Models A and G, and a 1955 Model 40.

Neal likes the looks of the Hi-Crops, which are “rare generally and even rarer in this part of North Carolina,” he said. “It costs just as much to restore what can be called an ‘ordinary’ tractor as it does an extremely rare one, yet the result is something more extraordinary.”

Interestingly, a beautifully restored 1953 Allis-Chalmers Mfg. Co. Model G is arguably Neal’s most treasured piece. His father bought the year-old tractor in 1954, when Jerry Neal was 10. In high school Neal earned money cultivating neighbors’ gardens, and one of them bought the tractor. It was kept in a barn that was struck by lightning and burned down. The tractor languished in the barn’s charred remains for years until Neal rescued and restored it.

The rare 620 LP-Gas Orchard is an attention-getter at the museum, especially among children. “Since orchards are uncommon in this part of North Carolina, people look at it, and because of all the sheetmetal, think it is a racing tractor,” Neal said. He acquired the tractor and had it restored through the efforts of Jeff McManus, who purchased it for him at an auction more than 10 years ago.

To read more about the 1957 John Deere & Co. Model 620 LP-Gas Orchard, pick up a copy of the July/August 2021 issue of Antique Power magazine!

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July/August 2021 Antique Power

Performing with Style

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