Though John Deere designated its new-for-1937 workhorse the
Model G, a more obvious name choice might have been Model P--as
in, the first letter of the word uttered most by farmers with
work to do... power. Deere designed the G to be a three-plow
tractor with 34 horsepower at the belt. Power came from a
412.5-cubic-inch, two-cylinder, all-fuel engine that ran on
kerosene and distillates. Famously, the Model G's engine was so
much larger than the powerplants offered in the rest of the
company's lineup, that the tractor's frame had to be customized
with the addition of a bulge to accommodate its girth. Another
widely known fact about the G is that its bigger, more powerful
two-cylinder proved to be too much for the tractor's radiator to
keep cool--a problem that led to more than 2,000 of the first
tractors off the assembly line being recalled. Later versions
used a taller radiator, with a coolant capacity some two gallons
larger than the original, to alleviate the problem. A larger
upper radiator pipe was also