RE : AC 7020 - JD Seller

NY 986

Well-known Member
Since the original topic is ready to fall off page 1 I decided to start a new post. Anyhow, the 7000 itself was just an updated 200 which still put AC behind its competition. The 7000 series in general here did relatively well when compared to White, MF, and Ford because many of the AC dealers here were highly regarded by their customers. That the relationship started in earlier times carried into the 1970's. Couple that with the occurrence of AC dealers in mostly areas largely comprised of small dairies. That most AC tractors sold did PTO work for the most part versus drawbar work . Not so much in vegetable crop and later grain crop areas unlike JD and IH dealers that seem to have a dealer in every sizable muck area or area of 3 feet deep loam soil. AC dealers did well in general here if they had New Holland as part of the lineup. Some did but quite a few others did not. The ones that did not have good shortlines were among the first of any brand to go under during the 1980's. Some of the strongest IH dealers had NH which created its own set of problems when the mergers happened around the mid-1980's.
 
That's how it was here in Michigan. I credit that fact to us having some decent Agco dealers here yet. AC would give a dealer contract to anybody who owned a screwdriver and a pair of pliers. Oliver was big here because of the live PTO. Couple AC and Oliver loyalty and you end up with Agco still being competitive here.
 
I always thought that Oliver/ White should have done better here given its core of products. People criticize Deere and IH for being heavy handed with their dealers back in the day but maybe there was something positive to it. Maybe some of the Oliver dealers were a little too behind the times or maybe it was just a whole bunch of bad luck not to have motivated and capable dealers unlike other makes. Kind of like trying to figure out why a person's favorite NFL can't get its act together. It can be maddening to figure out as so many factors play into success whether it is a farm equipment dealer or NFL team.
 
Due to their popularity quite a few AC dealers were able to get Ford-NH contracts when things got rough during the 1980's.
 
Ya,there was a Moline dealer here that went to White in the update. They're a big New Holland dealer now.

I had written another response to your last reply,but it won't let me post it. Says I used a dirty word. All I can figure is that I used the word Deere. lol

I sent a message to the moderator and asked what was wrong with what I wrote. We'll see. Maybe it'll pop up yet.
 
Oliver did very well here in Cayuga county. There were three dealers. One in each end, and one in the middle.

MM dealer in the center of the county did nothing. Likewise with Case dealer.

Virtually no MF here. Some Massey Harris.
 
That happened to me a few weeks ago and I was never told what was wrong with my post. No dirty word that I recognized. I was so mad that I avoided this board for a couple days afterward. My favorite NFL team board has quite a few trigger words for disallowed posts. I have to wonder what was going on there before I joined. Must have been some pretty bad people there.
 
There were so many dealers back then,people tended to drive past one in their own town to drive to the next town and do business with the one that fit their personality. Whether the owner was somebody they went to church with,or they sold cars too,or whatever the reason was. Some people were kind of slobs and went to the dealerships that made them feel comfortable buy having their entire parts department in some cardboard boxes. Others who had white collar jobs in town and farmed on the weekend went to the uptown dealers who catered to that type of customer. I don't know if they would have gained customers or lost them if they'd have had a more standardized set of rules of conduct for dealers.
I know speaking for myself,I left Deere because of their Deeremart mentality. It might have happened to a lot of people a lot sooner if it had been the order of the day 40 or 50 years ago. Ironic that I was doing business with what was probably the smallest remaining Agco dealer in the country until they lost their contract just over a year ago,and now I'm doing business with a new one that's filled up an entire former Home Depot store with Fendt and Challenger tractors,and self propelled Krone choppers,but they hired the best when they stared up and they put the customer first,I have to give them that.
 
I'll be darned. I think I found it. I took one thing out and tried it again below Bob's reply. If I told you what the word was,you'd have to laugh or cry. It was actually a brand name that's commonly used to mean a place that's spotlessly clean. I guess you can't use (that word)-and-span. LOL
 
Oliver/ White did well in other areas in NY but it seemed that they were third tier with JD/ IH being first tier and Case/ AC being second tier. I can remember us chasing Oliver parts over in Cayuga County a couple of times. It looks like you guys are going to get hit with snow again after just getting some a couple of days ago.
 
In this part of the world (Central NY)in the 70's there were 3 IH dealers within twenty miles of where I lived - same for AC and Ford had two, but only one Oliver dealer and one Case dealer (Loren's place). Of course there were a bunch of JD Dealers, but they've all been bought up by one mega dealer.
I think as far as numbers, IH sold the most, followed by Ford and Oliver
Pete
 
Ford never did well here and that includes its strongest portion of its lineup in utility tractors. Get more into orchard and vineyard country then Ford ranked number 1 with Deere and Case following behind. It is so hard to tell if JD or IH was the true number 1 in this area during the 1960's, 1970's, and early 1980's. Go down one road you might see quite a bit of JD and then go down the next road and see quite a bit of IH.
 
same thing here in Northern Indiana and southern Michigan. one (or 2) giant mega deere dealer. have closed alot of smaller town shops. i've heard they won't budge an inch on prices. have heard of guys getting stuff shipped in from many states away and still savings several thousands of $$.


dealers make a difference.

i work in a little town called Albion IN. around Albion there must have been a strong CASE, OLiver/White, Ford and AC dealers. THe AC dealer is now agco and is still around selling bobcats and MF equipment. Truelove brothers. never figured out who or where the Oliver and Case and Ford dealers were. THere are alot of smaller farms around there that still use the older Olivers, Cases, ACs and Fords daily. the one near the plant has about a dozen Fords i think. several old 8000/9000's hauling manure and filling silos. some newer (1980s) Fords doing tillage and chopping corn. one of the Case guys uses CASEs from the 1950's thru 1970s still.
 
heres a couple pics of my neighbors 7060 pulling a v-ripper in corn. did a good job, not too bad inside the cab.

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If you're talking about Cazenovia Equip. (mega JD dealer) They've got a 10% off on parts deal until Feb. 28th I heard on the radio today.
 
AC had a following in the 1950s around here. Then by the mid 1960s they started to really slip. By the late 1970s there were few AC farmers left. They where JD or IH mainly with a very few MF customers. Ford with the row crop guys did not do much good until the Genesis series tractors came out. The TW series killed the row crop market in this area.
 
Oliver did not have a credit plan that compared with the JD credit plan. That hurt the dealers badly. White Motor Corp. was the worst thing that ever happened to Oliver, Cockshutt, and MM. Bunch of truck oriented guys who didn't have the slightest idea how to run a truck company, to say nothing of farm machinery companies. One giant plustercluck from day one.
 

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