Heritage Iron Issue #95

Heritage Iron Issue #95 Sept/Oct 2024

• FEATURING: Allis-Chalmers 4W-220.  When the Model 4W-220 four-wheel-drive tractor was introduced to Allis-Chalmers dealers at the January 1982 dealer meeting in Reno, Nevada, it may have first been viewed as a sheet metal update of the Model 7580 it replaced. In reality, the 4W-220 was a huge benefactor of the new A-C 8000 Series rigid frame tractors introduced at the same time. Feature tractor owner: Luke Gehris - Minooka, IL.

• Oliver's Traveling Road Show: Growing "O". While it was common for companies to set up “dealer days” of sorts, most were done at a fixed location and often indoors. Oliver was thinking outside the box, however, and had another idea: take the show on the road like a traveling circus.  

• LeeRoy Kingsley's Homemade Tractors. In the early-1960s, LeeRoy Kingsley was a young progressive farmer whose family had been farming for several generations in the Wheatland community. When LeeRoy decided he needed a more powerful tractor for his expanding farm operation, he decided the best way to get what he needed was to build it.

• Last Narrow Front Tractors:  Narrow front end tractors have been around since the early 20th Century, or since the beginning of time in the tractor world. By the mid-1980s, a farmer could no longer order a tractor with a narrow front, nor did many want one. Today, they have become a hot commodity again for different reasons. Includes John Deere, Allis-Chalmers, International Harvester, Ford, Minneapolis-Moline, and others. 

• History Vault: The Ag scene from 40, 50, and 60 years ago.

• Mini Muscle: A pedal tractor sprayer completed by the Trout father and son duo from Mt. Vernon, IL.