Behind The Scenes At Ertl
by Bill Walters

My First Farm Toys at Ertl

I started working on farm toys in 1995. Before that timeframe I worked in our customer/consumer service area.

Prior to 1995, the Ertl 1/64th scale vintage offerings were very limited. We really only offered a two piece and four piece set for John Deere and Case IH dealers. In 1995 we were also offering some collectible 1/64th sets including the John Deere 330/430 tractors/crawlers, the Farmall "M", Super "M" and their variations. Around that same timeframe we also did the Oliver/MM/Cockshutt 1555/1655 series as well. These were all decisions made before I was involved.

My boss at the time was working with the John Deere archives on some issues with the Two Cylinder Club, and happened to notice some information about "Power Train '66". We started calling people we knew at John Deere headquarters to try to find out more information about this. Obviously 1996 was going to be the 30th Anniv. of this event, so the timing was right to produce some of the new tractors and implements that were introduced in 1966.

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One other aspect of the decision to produce these classic John Deere items turns out to be our Farm Country sets. If you have one of our 1995 catalogs, you'll notice that we came out with a Freight Train set in 1995. Let's see, Freight Train set and Power Train '66. There seems to be some connection there!!!

We had a plan. Produce the JD 2510 and 5020 along with a 95 combine, put them on the flatcars and do a special freight train set commemorating the 30th Anniversary of the Power Train '66. It was a great plan. It didn't take us long to find these three units and start tooling them. We did the corn head on the 95 because that's what you saw on the advertising for the Power Train '66.

We had all of our marketing plans ready and went to John Deere for final approval. Ouch!!! Our train engine was not really the same engine as used on the Power Train '66. John Deere also did not like the fact that we only did three units. The Power Train '66 also introduced the new 1020 and 2020 tractors. The question was why we did not tool these as well? What about all the implements shown on the Power Train? Obviously we could not tool all of them. There were cotton pickers, multiple corn planters, various cultivators, etc............

In the end, John Deere decided against approving the Power Train '66 concept. So, in 1996, you see the 2510, 5020 and 95 Combine introduced as three new standalone items. Ten years later, these tools are still being used. Who knows what 2006 might bring. Perhaps a 40th Anniversary special of the Power Train '66?

1996 was a great year for 1/64th. Notice we also came out with the new JD 8000 and 6000 series tractors, along with a NH/JD V-Tank Spreader and Forage Blower to name a few.