unusual sighting but not a necessarily rare tractor

[rrlund]

That one at the museum was found as just a rear end and tub that had been shoved over a bank behind a dealership wasn't it? There wasn't much there. There are a lot of pictures of them, so there's no doubt what they were.

 

[oliverkid]

That one at the museum was found as just a rear end and tub that had been shoved over a bank behind a dealership wasn't it? There wasn't much there. There are a lot of pictures of them, so there's no doubt what they were.

The rear end and top cover, power shift, tub, engine, front axle, cab and console are all original parts. Just original to different tractors and found in different places. Then there’s a second power shift on a stand set up as a cut away. And at a farm north of town there’s a guy that has another bare transmission and rear end housing that they are trying to decide how to display.

 

[NY 986]

Just have to remember when talking about Oliver and White that the blame needs to be pointed at the right White because there was White Motors and then White farm equipment operating as a subsidiary of White motor. The guys I got to talk to in Charles city said the upper management of White farm knew what the problem areas were and they were trying their damndest to fix it but White motor bucked them at every turn because they didn’t want to spend any money of farm equipment. The problem was also exacerbated after Moline was brought into the fold and the farm equipment management was moved to Hopkins Minnesota for a time. Since Moline never had any interest in building smaller tractors the Moline management wanted to kill off the large frame Oliver’s and replace them with the large frame Molines, then use the small frame Oliver’s to fill the lower end of the line. That’s why the 2050 and 2150 were killed off and never developed farther. That was Molines doing. That was also one of the reasons for the turbocharged 310 in the 1950T. At the time Hopkins management thought they were gonna make that the last large frame Oliver model. All of this lead to a LOT of head bashing between Charles city and Hopkins. Ironically, after just a few years the Moline line was killed off entirely and Management and production of the last few models of Yellow tractors were moved back to Charles city. But at that point the damage was done.

Different story than what I got. I was always told that the factory equipment at the MM plant was shot by the late 1960's. That it was nearly impossible to maintain a production schedule. The longer a tractor is on the assembly line the more it costs the manufacturer and hence the dealer with a higher invoice. That there was only a plan to further the Oliver design because the factory equipment was in fairly good condition to build them. The parent White Corp in 1968 did not want to spend any money to upgrade Charles City with the factory equipment needed for the new line thus building the 55 series with minor improvements over the 50 series. White Consolidated had its fingers in a variety of product lines and needed cash in an attempt to grow the parent company. White Consolidated even offered appliances to game shows such as The Price is Right during the 1970's for promotional consideration. I remember White's named mentioned quite a bit at the closing of the show.

 

[rrlund]

Different story than what I got. I was always told that the factory equipment at the MM plant was shot by the late 1960's. That it was nearly impossible to maintain a production schedule. The longer a tractor is on the assembly line the more it costs the manufacturer and hence the dealer with a higher invoice. That there was only a plan to further the Oliver design because the factory equipment was in fairly good condition to build them. The parent White Corp in 1968 did not want to spend any money to upgrade Charles City with the factory equipment needed for the new line thus building the 55 series with minor improvements over the 50 series. White Consolidated had its fingers in a variety of product lines and needed cash in an attempt to grow the parent company. White Consolidated even offered appliances to game shows such as The Price is Right during the 1970's for promotional consideration. I remember White's named mentioned quite a bit at the closing of the show.

White Consolidated was a different company. They had planned to buy White Farm Equipment and assumed the deal would be approved by the justice department. They were so sure of it that they went in and stripped a bunch of equipment out of the factory to upgrade things, then the deal was denied because the justice department said they already owned too large of a stake in Allis Chalmers and it would create a monopoly. Times have sure changed huh?

 

[oliverkid]

Different story than what I got. I was always told that the factory equipment at the MM plant was shot by the late 1960's. That it was nearly impossible to maintain a production schedule. The longer a tractor is on the assembly line the more it costs the manufacturer and hence the dealer with a higher invoice. That there was only a plan to further the Oliver design because the factory equipment was in fairly good condition to build them. The parent White Corp in 1968 did not want to spend any money to upgrade Charles City with the factory equipment needed for the new line thus building the 55 series with minor improvements over the 50 series. White Consolidated had its fingers in a variety of product lines and needed cash in an attempt to grow the parent company. White Consolidated even offered appliances to game shows such as The Price is Right during the 1970's for promotional consideration. I remember White's named mentioned quite a bit at the closing of the show.

I got my info right from the guys that worked at the Charles city plant on the floor and in management. One of the guys was in management in Charles city from the late 60’s until it closed then he followed the tractors to Coldwater Ohio. The assembly line for the corporate tractor line had already been ordered and has started being built by a company right here in Benton harbor Michigan. Got to meet a guy that worked on building it before White canceled it. Then there was a complete new foundry built at the north end of the Charles City plant that was supposed to be brought on line to add the capacity needed for casting blocks for the new corporate engine line. But it never smelted a single pound of iron because the engine line was canceled when the government forced White Motor to divest the Hercules engine division. The maintenance guys ended up scavenging it for parts to keep the original foundry running over the years and the remainder of it was bought and shipped to China at the liquidation auction.