Oliver Heritage Issue #120

Oliver Heritage Issue #120 Apr/May 2024

• FEATURING: White 1870: A Blended Family. In the 1960s, White Motors owned three farm equipment companies and each operated somewhat independently. The ’70s would change that when White attempted to merge them together as a cost-cutting measure. Out of this change would come two tractor models that would be half Oliver, half Minneapolis-Moline, and would also be sold as a White. 

• Oliver and Waukesha: The Breakup. Oliver and Waukesha had a long-standing, successful relationship for nearly a half century. But, things change in business, especially in manufacturing. What was once one of the best things to happen to Oliver turned into a strained relationship that led to “the breakup” in the 1970s.

• Cletrac Facts: Tractor Operations in Antarctica, part 2. In the previous issue, we introduced you to Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr., renowned explorer of the Antarctic. This is a continuation of his 1933-1935 expedition, which greatly benefited from the use of a Cletrac Model 40-30.

• Truman Woll & Sons: Memories of a San Jose, Illinois, Oliver Dealer. By George Weyhrich.

• Oliver No. 44: Evolution of the Corn Planter. One of the more popular check row planters produced by Oliver was the No. 44, and its counterpart, the 44-T. The “Superior” accompanied the Oliver name, honoring its ancestry from American Seeding. Many of these old two-row planters are still out there in collections, as well as serving as functional planters for wildlife food plots, hobby farms, and sweet corn production.
   
• Another Oliver User: Brad Duske and his two sons, Ryan and Evan, are building their own family farming operation near Montrose, Minnesota, located 35 miles west of the Twin Cities. 

• The Oliver 60: A New World of Power. Hart-Parr/Oliver changed the landscape of tractor design with its new high compression Row Crop tractor in 1935. Two years later, the tractor was restyled with a streamlined profile. It would be 1940 before the next model was introduced, but the Oliver 60 joined the new world of power and became a fan favorite.