Deere's Return to the 4wd Tractor

1/64 Baker 7520

1/32 Baker 7520

The John Deere 7520 was not the first 4WD tractor in the Long Green Line.
It was preceded by the 8010 in 1961, and the WA-14 and WA-17 in 1969.
The John Deere 7520 was introduced in 1972 and it relied on economies of
scale offered in large acreage farming. In 1974, over 2,000 7520s were sold
in the U.S. and Canada. The 7520 provided the additional power customers
wanted by using a 531-cu-in engine, which produced 175 hp. Roy Lee Baker offered a 1/64 7520 John Deere 7520 tractor  for the 1989 Gateway Mid-America show in St. Louis, but it latter ended up as a shelf model.  Only 500 were made for the St. Louis show.  This is a detailed tractor that is made of sandcast, and features deep lugged tires, duals, and oscillating movement. The muffler, air breather, and decals come with this tractor, along with the box. You can either make this a 7020, or a 7520, as both decals come with it.  Baker has also offered a 7520 as a 1/32 scale model kit. This model is fairly rare. Ertl offered a 1/16 scale 7520 from 1972-1974. Today the Ertl 7520 in the box can sell for more than $500. You can read more about the Ertl 7520 below in Phil Altstaetter's article.

1973 7520 4x4.  This toy is exactly like the toy described above.  However it has a one-piece air cleaner.  I will take a second here to describe the difference.  The one piece cleaner has a skinnier stem than the two-piece.  The two-piece cleaner has a wedge shaped or tapered stem which is wider at the top than it is at the bottom.

Other notable information about these two toys include the following

            Solid casting under controls in the cab. 

            Cab is wedged on.  (Tough for me to describe w/o a picture)

            No alignment pin at the base of the cab. 

1975 7520 4x4.  The casting for this toy and the above two toys is virtually the same.  The differences are subtle but very noticeable to the astute collector.  The big thing everyone talks about is the fact this toy has NO air cleaner.  Other things notable to this toy are the following.

Hollow casting under the hydraulic control panel.

            All of these have a cab rivet supplying stability to the toy. 

            Cab top is held on with “push washers”  (remember that needing a picture thing)

            This version does have the alignment pin on the cab. 

These three variations will easily command $500.00 NIB.  The highest priced toy is the version w/o air cleaner and it could easily fetch $750 in the right opportunity.

  The final opportunity to get a 7520 from Ertl was the 7520 and disc set.  This set was released in 1974 and has the “standard” 220 fold over disc.  This is the yellow-ganged version of this disc as the early ones were not the black gang.  This toy’s stock number is 586 and will often sell for in excess of $750.  Box quality is often debated on this toy. 

Remember it is over 25yrs old and often it is tough to find one of those BIG boxes in perfect condition. 

 I am aware of one other 1/16 scale version of the 7520 it was manufactured for the Central Ohio Farm Toy Show in 1990 this toy is highly detailed and was made by D&D Precision Engineering.  This version was very popular and is rarely seen for sale at toy shows or in sales.  A follow up to this toy was released in 1991 and it was simply a decal change back to the 7020 someone interested in these toys should be prepared to spend in the $500 plus range.

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Published 04/27/2000 © All Rights Reserved 2000, 2001, 2002. 

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