The years from 1970 to 1975 were an interesting time in the history of Oliver and its two sister brands in the White Motor family. This period of time can also be a confusing time period for WHITE-Oliver fans to follow. In the next three issues of Oliver Heritage we will look back at the history of the three tractor brands that formed White Farm Equipment in the five years leading up to their consolidation into WHITE. First up is the Minneapolis-Moline story of the early 1970’s.
Minneapolis-Moline was formed by the merger of Minneapolis Steel and Machinery, Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, and the Moline Plow Company in 1929. Minneapolis Steel brought tractor experience to the group, having produced tractors for Case and Bull, along with its own line of Twin City tractors. Minneapolis-Moline established itself as a leading tractor producer in the 1930’s building advanced tractors like the UDLX Comfort Tractor. The UDLX was the first tractor in the industry to offer a cab. In 1963, Minneapolis-Moline was purchased by White Motors and joined forces with the Oliver and Cockshutt brands.
White Motors operated its three agricultural brands independently throughout the 1960’s. White assimilated some of its brands equipment across the three companies with Oliver equipment and Cockshutt combines being offered in all three colors and names. Oliver and Cockshutt tractor production was combined while Minneapolis-Moline’s tractor production remained unchanged. Minneapolis-Moline was a well known brand in the agricultural market and the company’s tractor line was well respected for decades but its tractor line was always limited in its number of models compared to the big full line companies like International Harvester, John Deere, Allis-Chalmers and Oliver. Under White Motor’s umbrella, Minneapolis-Moline’s parent company planned to make its yellow tractor brand a real player in the utility, row crop and high horsepower tractor market in the 1970’s.
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