This is the fourth installment on the history of the Cleveland Tractor Company and its products. In most respects this issue's installment on the history of the Cleveland Tractor Company will really start in 1936 where we left off the last time.

Cletrac Orange Paint

By 1936 most tractor manufacturers were painting their tractors much brighter colors to increase visibility when used on the road. Since many Cletracs were used by townships and counties for road construction, it was important that Cletrac would also brighten the appearance of their machines.

Cletrac crawler tractors had been produced in a number of color schemes down thru the years. Even though, these many colors were correct and was the standard color specified for the given period of time, none of these colors were ever officially coined as a Cletrac color. However, in early 1936, Cletrac Orange would become Cletrac's official color. Cletrac would paint any of their tractors special colors if so ordered for a set fee. I'm sure there were instances when tractors were painted Cletrac orange before this date on special order.

When the new Cletrac AG came on the scene in 1936, it was painted Cletrac Orange. The Cletrac model E, which was introduced in 1934, was probably the only of the letter series that were painted two-tone brown. However, this changed when the Cletrac Orange paint came on the scene.

Streamlined Cletracs

In the 1930's most automotive companies began putting a lot of emphasis on streamlining their products. Appearance would play a big part on the consumer's part. One by one all major tractor manufacturers followed and streamlined their machines in a wide array of designs. The Cleveland Tractor Company hired the expertise of industrial designer, Lawrence Blazey of Cleveland, OH to come up with a new design. Beginning in August 1936 with the E and A models and ending with the model FD in May 1938, the complete line was streamlined. Gone was the transverse mounted barrel shaped fuel tank and all sharp lines were rounded. The top of the radiator, the hood and the seat back were all in a straight plane. The louvered side panels had slots punched inward and the new grill gave the tractor a smooth, clean appearance. On the smaller models, Cletrac even went as far as having no projections above the hood such as the exhaust pipe and air cleaner intake pipes. The exhaust was routed down and to the back of the tractor and the air intake drew its air from under the fuel tank. Soon a barrage of complaints were voiced by the farmers that had their fields set afire due to the hot, horizontal exhaust. Also it was found that the air intake was too low and picked up a lot of dirt. By May 1937 the exhaust pipe and air intake were again moved above the hood. The hood sides had their louvers punched outward again for better air flow.

Also the first streamlined Cletracs did not have the name Cletrac cast into the top of the tank. The tank was plain and had a stainless steel nameplate riveted on. Very few of these exist as they were easily torn off.

By 1936 all numbered model designations were dropped in the favor of the letter designations. In the last issue of Oliver Heritage we covered a few of the letter series models that we felt were mostly associated with the 1930's. This included the CG, EG, EHG and the pre-streamlined FD and FG. The basis of most of these new models was provided by the earlier numbered series. In addition to the new streamlined sheet metal, many improvements were incorporated. In this installment on the history of Cletrac, we will cover the models that were introduced and built from 1936 to 1950.

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