My father was a Gleaner fan because of an excellent dealer, so I grew up around Gleaners.  The first one I ran was a CII model probably around  64 or 5.  At about the same time, I had an opportunity to run several 95 John Deeres.  I liked the Deeres better at that time as I thought they were a little nicer to operate and possibly more reliable.  My fathers last Gleaner was a LII that he and I purchased new in 1980.  It had a lot of nice features, but the iron just wasn't there to make the combine reliable. Probably the biggest joke on that combine was the new Hugger 8 row cornhead we purchased at the same time.  It was simply terrible!    Our Gleaner dealer finally folded and the days of seeing Gleaners in our area is almost over.  Several hold outs that I know of, but they are driving 60+ miles for parts or service.  JD is in almost every town now and have the local market basically sewed up.  Quite a change from 50 years ago when Gleaner was probably at least neck to neck with Deere in sales in SW KS.

my grandfather bringing home the first John Deere Lanz combine in 1960.

We later had Claas, currently I own a 1990 Claas Dominator 88s. I soemtimes call it the Lexion's grandfather, as this series was evolved continuously. I plan a couple more harvests with it, it's well built.

Edit, shocking: I started driving combine in '83 and already experienced more combined harvests than I missed !

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My father often said "we used to drive a Mercedes and a Porsche in those days!" - Porsche diesel tractor it was...

The JDLanz combine lasted only 10 years. The bagging station was replaced with a grain tank later. I remember riding on the open station to the dealer when dad sold it. I was 3 then...

We then shared a Claas Mercator like on my last pic with  a neighbour before dad purchased the same model on his own in 1980. I drove that one mainly from when I had a license ('83) through to 2000 when I purchased the 88 in the middle of harvest.

Edit, you farmed in Germany earlier?

I guess those (and an earlier model) were sold in N.A. as Ford, I saw pics of Ford combines here showing the green paint where the blue wore off...

Dortmund, should be like 60 km:-)

I know where there is a Ford combine sitting in the weeds in NE MS. Not sure if it is still there. It is the only blue combine I have ever seen. Had no idea it was related to Claas.

My dad traded 2 JD 45s on a new  1969 JD 95 when I was a kid  learned to run it and still have  fond memories of it. Traded it on a new 6620 what a jump in capacity and operator comfort. We have 8820T2s now and they are a improvement over the 6620. All of them have been good there was a 7720 between the 6620 and 8820s.

If you're talking 1980 then hands down an Axial Flow.  Earlier, IDK, red ones were hard to work on but probably not any worse than a green one.

I really want to hear someone say "Yep, started with a 2008 9660 STS.  That was a heck of a combine back in its day, but boy times have changed."

This post absolutely amazes me with the amount of response.  I guess goes to show that we farmers love machinery.  I told my wife one day, that I wouldn't necessarily miss farming when I retire, but would miss the machinery.  I bet I am not the only farmer that feels that way.