oliver changing to white?

[swindave]

was any one around during the change from oliver to white?
it doesnt look like a smooth transition, from oliver to white,or was it?
but could white motor company do anything differant?

in my neighborhood, at least one family who was strong oliver, never did go with white,
but i dont know the details,
my great uncle and family were strong oliver people and very relucantly changed to some white , but only a 2-
180 and 8920 combine, then switched to case ih
and some oliver guys chnged completley to white over time

how was it in your area?

 

[ziffel]

Some folks didn't change at all. Some changed out of need and others because they liked the Oliver dealer in their neighborhood and would have bought whatever he was selling.

 

[rrlund]

Not to say there weren't hard feelings, but it took a while before White had anything new except paint color. The White 2-70 was just an Oliver 1655. The 2-85 and 2-105 were Oliver 1855s with 1850 engines and the 2-150 was a Moline G1355. The only thing new right away was the 4-150 that replaced the Oliver 2655 and Moline A4T 1600. The 2-135 and 2-155 were the first all new White designed two wheel drives. As Ziffel said, there was dealer loyalty. The damage to Oliver was pretty much already done by the 1855, 1450 and 1250, before the name and color change.
The combines had already changed name and color two years before the name change on the tractors.

 

[NY 986]

The ownership of White during the 1960's and early 1970's used the farm equipment division as a cash cow to support other portions of the company among other objectives. The lack of new products during the early 1970's while farming was doing generally well hurt White-Oliver. Stand alone Oliver-White dealerships took it on the chin by the time the late 1970's came along. The 5100 planter came along after the grain embargo hit so the sales potential was hurt on a good product. The lack of a hay tool and forage equipment line also hurt bad. White was in a very poor position to start the tough 1980's. JD and IH having full product lines at least got customers in the door for parts which gave salesmen the opportunity to see what the farmer's intentions were on equipment. Did not see any salesmen on the road at least around here for a good portion of the early to mid-1980's.

 

[rrlund]

Some things you have to remember, White bought controlling interest in Oliver in 1960. The name and color change didn't happen in total until 1975. They had bought Cockshutt and Moline in the early 60s too and had been merging products together slowly every since. White Motors went bankrupt in 81 and the farm equipment division shut down for a while until parts of it were bought up by Texas Investments. In the interim, dealers had nothing to sell since they had contracts with a company that didn't exist anymore. Some that hung on in the mean time signed contracts with other companies. Around here, a few went to Ford. One that sold Case and White just stuck with Case and never went back when White Farm Equipment was revived. Some just closed the doors and had an auction.


Speaking personally, after my family and myself being big in to Oliver for generations, when I was wanting to buy a new tractor in early 1981, I bought a new 4040 Deere, even though the White dealer offered me a better deal on a new 2-105. The hand writing was on the wall and I figured the Deere dealer would be around longer. I was right, but since then, Deere has made the dealer situation impossible around here while AGCO has bent over backwards to get back their dealer presence, so all the Deere stuff that I accumulated in the 89s and 90s is gone and everything on my place is White and Oliver again, or some other form of AGCO.

 

[ztrmowers]

was green oliver for years due to dealer then when they started going to the white it was just not the sdame period nothing to due with dealer he tried, then gave up and sold out dealership, new guy did not last more couple years, doors on place are still closed today and is all for sale yet at this typing . area is all pretty much deere now but last couple years red color has come in strong