While Oliver was known as an agricultural company, they also offered models for industrial use as early as the 1910’s with the Hart-Parr Road King. These machines were not designated as “industrial” until 1932. The industrial models had their own numbering system such as the 28, 35, 44 and then the 50. It was not until 1945 when the ag and industrial models shared the same numbers. The 99 industrial was the largest tractor in the lineup and was eventually replaced by the 900 industrial.

While old Oliver's can be seen hard at work in fields all over our great country, there are two Super 88s and an 880 doing a most unusual job in a most unusual place. These old timers don’t plow soil on the farm; they plow snow in the city. Rochester, a small city in Western New York, contracts with the private sector for sidewalk snow removal. Several of Rochester’s current contractors have farm connections and utilize old tractors to do the job.

In 1935, the Oliver Farm Equipment Company caught the attention of the farmer when it introduced the new Hart-Parr Oliver 70. This tractor was powered by SIX cylinders and even had optional headlights and electric start! It was revolutionary for that era. During the next few years, several models were added to this series but it would be five years before the smallest model would enter the picture. The Oliver 60 finally arrived in 1940.

By the 1950’s, earthmoving machinery continued to get bigger. Allis-Chalmers, Caterpillar and International were trying to out do each other by building bigger and more powerful machines.

1958 was a busy year for the green tractor companies. Deere upgraded their 20 series model to become the 30 series. At the same time, the Meadow Green shade was also making big upgrades to their line-up. The cosmetic change made to the entire Oliver fleet would incorporate a new color scheme that lasted until the end of the Oliver era in 1976.

The Cleveland Tractor Company had always been a forward thinking company. Rollin H. White was a pioneer in steam automobile production since 1900. He had the ability to think outside if the box. Already in 1919 The Cleveland Tractor Company was conducting experiments with a two-cylinder two-cycle diesel engine. It is unknown who actually built this engine. Some people have speculated that it was GM engine but I personally believe that this time period was too early for this to be possible. Over the years Cletrac tested and experimented with literally dozens of diesel engines including some foreign ones.

In this issue of Oliver Heritage we will complete the story of White Farm Equipment tractors in the 1970’s. From 1976 to 1979 WHITE introduced a variety of new modern tractors to build a lineup of farm machines poised to be at the forefront of the farm equipment market in the 1980s.

By 1930 The Cleveland Tractor Company had been building crawler tractors for 14 years and held the title of “the largest exclusive crawler tractor manufacturer.” They had manufactured a number of outstanding larger tractors, which put them in a good solid position. Now it was time to produce a more modern and up-to-date machine to replace the obsolete model W. With its single-speed forward and reverse transmission and very few operator comforts, it wasn’t what the customer was looking for anymore.

While Oliver was a company that offered their equipment with many options, the 1850 can probably be found in more variations than any other model. To add to the variety, it was also sold in different colors and even sold wearing a different name. Production numbers of this model could only be beaten by the 550/2-44 model for any models built after 1960, a testament to its success.