Oliver Heritage Issue #125

Oliver Heritage Issue #125 Feb/Mar 2025

• Featuring: Oliver Super 44. The idea of an offset model of tractor started nearly a decade before production actually began. From one plant to another, the 44 transitioned through three different plants before it joined the Super series. So, why did Oliver’s “spunky” little model wait so long and get shuffled around like a foster child? Here’s the rest of the story. Feature tractor owner: Engelmann Farms - Green Isle, MN.

• Meadow Green Takeover: When Oliver Lost Control. Oliver sold out to White! Not really. It was an inside job that even got an Oliver family board member booted off the board. Here is a year-by-year synopsis of how this life-altering event happened.

• 770 Literature: Looking for Paper. I never assume that I have everything, and I’m constantly on the look. To help others who think the same way, we’re going to attempt to identify most of the sales literature about the 770. Notice I didn’t say ALL because there’s always that illusive piece out there.

• Floyd County Museum: Becoming a Tractor Museum. Floyd County Historical Society was established in 1953, a time when Charles City enjoyed steady growth and a thriving community. Little did the populous know, the newly organized historical society would later be the primary archive for the tractor company at the north end of town. It would be another 45 years, however, before the historical society museum would often be referred to as a “tractor museum.”

• Collector Corner: Don Turner and his elite Oliver Super 55 pedal tractor.

• Another Oliver User: Jim Bequette. I’ve been fascinated, or should I say obsessed, with the Oliver Super 44 and 440 series tractors ever since I visited Ollie Schaefer’s shop along the outskirts of Greenville, IL, some 20 years ago.

• Oliver Superior Grain Drill: Living up to its name on the Shank farm. The biggest news on the Shank farm near New Cambria, KS, in 1953 was delivery of a brand-spanking-new Oliver Superior drill, which was unloaded a few days in advance of the fall planting.