Oliver had been widely known as an agricultural company even though industrial models were part of their lineup. Their industrial line began to pick up strength in the late 1940’s and early 50’s. Part of their strength came from a company located far from the Midwestern factories of Oliver. This company would join forces with Oliver and help them market equipment that is very collectible today. Like Oliver, the company is no longer around to savor the success of their product line.

Oliver began providing tractor for other company’s in the early 1930’s. These tractors would have the Cockshutt name on them and sold by Cockshutt dealers. This would be the only farm equipment manufacturer that Oliver would provide tractors for until 1959 after being approached by Massey Ferguson.

In this issue of Oliver Heritage we will trace the second branch of the White Farm Equipment family tree in the early part of the 1970’s. Cockshutt is our focus as we take a snap shot look at the White subsidiary based north of the border.

The concept of a general-purpose crawler tractor wasn’t a new idea for the Cleveland Tractor Company in 1934. The company had enjoyed success with the Cletrac Model F about a dozen years earlier. Several different push-type cultivators had been developed to use with this small tractor making it a handy tool for weed removal.

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.

Oliver started work on a heavy-duty tractor in the midst of World War II. Speculation leads us to believe it was in an attempt to sell it to the government for building airstrips. It would be three years later before production actually began with the tractor that was basically a 99 with a facelift.

The White Motor Corporation entered the decade of the 1970’s focused on meeting the needs of the modern farm with big iron. When White entered the farm equipment world in 1960, a large tractor was just 70 hp, but in just ten years, the 100 hp mark was broken and even surpassed.

Helping someone to identify a manure spreader is something I’m asked to do on a regular basis. I had written a story many years ago about spreaders but due to numerous requests, I’ve updating the story and added a little more information. This article will help you to identify the various models in the earlier years of Oliver and color schemes.

The OC-46: The tractor that made a good start for us
By Landis Zimmerman