King E20 Baby Diesel

Chuck Most · January 15

King Equipment Sales is a farm equipment dealer on the outskirts of Sickles, Michigan. Today they're known for their inventory of well-used equipment and fire sale prices. In the past they've sold new equipment with little luck.

Current owner Alex Anderson has joked "Since 1952, King Equipment has sold every brand of farm equipment to go out of business, usually a few months after we started selling them." David Bradley, Gibson, Leyland, David Brown, Roths Industries, Long Agribusiness, Gold Star, and numerous others have been sold new by King Equipment over the years.

But for a few glorious months in 1955, King tried to get into manufacturing their own equipment. Sort of.

Due to some convoluted horse trading, Alfred King was able to procure components to build the Fendt F20 Dieselross. Communication with Fendt to import their tractors outright fell through, but Alfred was able to rent a decommissioned aircraft hangar and build these "knock down kits" under his own name.

Wearing a combination of pale blue and bright red, the King E20 Baby Diesel was announced, built, and discontinued within a 90 day period. Al had hoped to sell at least 150 a year. In the end, he built five and sold three. There were numerous reasons why Al's venture flopped, perhaps mostly his own slightly sketchy reputation and his penchant for exaggerated claims.

This is the only known remaining example of the E20 Baby Diesel. It was the fourth unit built and the only one with the optional sickle bar mower. It was one of the two not sold ... It was gifted to the Sickles Village DPW as a promotion, and was used by the village until 1988, by which time Sickles had grown into a city and the King was getting worn out. Not feeling like ordering obsolete Fendt parts from Germany in a pre-eBay world, it was sold at auction to it's current owner, Steve Barnes.

Steve used a friend he made while he was stationed in Germany as a connection to obtain parts and has used the King on his farm ever since. Eventually he plans to do a full restoration. And he occasionally shows it, even though it's not looking it's greatest these days. King Equipment has tried to buy it back quite a few times, but so far Steve won't budge.

The model is the Revell Fendt F20 Dieselross painted in non-Fendt colors. I deleted the passenger seat and ROPS bar, and all lamps except the headlights. The hood is hand lettered and I made a little crown emblem for the nose. The whole reason for the color scheme and backstory? I wasn't a fan of the Fendt color and I wanted to put an American spin on this German tractor.