995 OLIVER LUG A MATIC- HOW MANY ?

Would anyone have an idea how many Oliver 995's are still in existence? I know of at least 7. I've read comments from other 995 owners on Yt, so I know there are a few other's out there. I have an old Lug a matic backed in the shop for a full restoration, for a winter project. You just don't realize how much time it takes to complete a big project. I have several 990's & Super 99's that I have already restored.

Ollie,

I know how long it takes, after completing my 990 this late fall.Good Luck on your new project.

Richard,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I was sure glad to finally see picture's of your "990" completed. Did you outfit your 990 with wheelie bars & a pulling hitch?
I was hoping to see other responses to the #'s of 995's out there.

Ollie,

I haven't built the wheelie bars or the pulling hitch yet. If you have any pictures of the wheelie bars you built for yours, and feel you can share, you could send them to me via E-mail. I would really appreciate them.

I haven't any idea how many 995's are out there, but I am aware of one being sold by a jokey out of South Dakota. He bought the remaining salvage parts from my 880, and was bragging about how much he sold the 995 for.

I think the lack of response to your question stems from the fact that nobody actually knows the answer in terms of specific numbers. Maybe when someone goes through the build cards in Charles City one by one and counts out the 950, 990, 995 and 98 we will get that information but for now all we can to is estimate. So even though I can't say exactly how many were made I can say with confidence that very few were made. Of the 995s that were made most were made for industrial applications so the an ag version of 995 is even more rare. (By rare I mean less than 100.) Consider this. There have been several numbers and lots of speculation as to how many Massey 98 were made. I know of several guys that claim only 228 Massey 98s were made. A guy in Iowa even has sign on his Massey 98 that says only 228 were made. I've never been able to verify that. What we do know is that less than 500 Massey 98 were made. Looking around today I see nearly 10 Massey 98s for every ag version 995 I see. Relatively speaking one could extrapolate that approximately no more that 50 ag 995s were made. Certainly less that 100. Please keep in mind I'm just guessing. I'm also assuming that 995 survived at a similar rate as Massey 98. Considering the torque converter that may not be a good assumption. I started collecting Oliver tractors almost 20 years ago. Everybody seems to be making a case for how rare (and therefore valuable) their tractor is but the ultimate Oliver collectors item has always been the 995.

Well, lets just get a count going and see how many people reply who have one on here...

I've got one. Runs good, fairly straight metal, not restored.

"995 OLIVER" COUNT THAT I KNOW OF:
1 in Delaware, Lewis Oneal
1 in New Jersey D. Johnson
2 in Penn. Harry Barrett's
1 in Ohio Brad Canankamp
1 in WA. Scott Franklin
2 in NC. Fred Pittillo

We have a 995 industrial with the roto-barrel scraper in Ionia, Michigan.

Old Cletrac Bill in CA has one. I'm not going to attemp to spell his last name. It's mighty rough.

That guy in Minnesota that was or is an International dealer has three. He's the guy that was featured in the first HPOCA magazine after Losey took over. All three are painted up. One is really nice.

I believe Greg in Iowa has one. At least he did. Restored.

What is the condition of the 995s you listed? I've heard some guys put in a straight shaft bypassing the torque convert rather than rebuild the torque convert if it does not work. Is that true? Does the torque converter still work in them?

I have a genuine Oliver Service manual for the torque converter and it also mentions the Super 99 with Torque converter. Don't recall seeing a Super 99 with one. I though Bill had one. He got it out of a junk yard. He was telling me about it when I was out there once. He did not have it home yet at that point.

I guess that would be possible, to remove the special short shaft in to the Trans. My tractor drove ok, shifts ok, motor a little tired from all the birthdays...I'm ready to drop in a fresh 371. looked like something got dropped on the hood and made a real mess of things. The tractor is in a thousand pieces, right now. I also need to mention it was painted yellow when it was new, than orange and sometime painted green. Serial Number says its a 1958 model, outfitted with a strait front axle 10:00-20 front tires and power steering. I'm considering repainting the "995" , to it's original color. Anyone have a comment on resale value's "Green Verses Yellow" ? ? ? Before photo shown....

Have you got a build card on this one? I wonder if that would give you more info on paint and other info such as industrial designation?

AP, All I have to go on is the Serial Plate, where would anyone find the "Build Card"? I'm replacing the hood with one from a "990".

Green is indicative of an ag version and yellow is industrial. Green is probably worth a lot more since most guys collect farm tractors and in the 995's case the ag version is far more rare. In my opinion the yellow is not very good looking. But 995 you have is clearly an Industrial. The cast iron front wheels and straight axle is a dead giveaway. Power steering was also more commonly found on the Industrials. As were the 23.1 x 26 rear tires. Other than the hood it looks like a good one. You can get a copy of the build card from the museum at Charles City. Give them you serial number and $10 and they will send you a build card. They will also tell you were the tractor was originally sent and on what date. For $10 it's kind of interesting. The build cards also have the serial number for the engine block that the tractor left the factory with so if you swap out engines it will no longer be an matching numbers tractor. It might not effect the value much today but it certainly will in the near future. The first ones it's going to hurt are the high end tractors like a 995. I would not swap engines myself but if I did I sure as heck would keep the old block with the tractor. Otherwise it would like flushing money down the toilet.

(quoted from post at 12:23:17 11/28/08) I have a genuine Oliver Service manual for the torque converter and it also mentions the Super 99 with Torque converter. Don't recall seeing a Super 99 with one. I though Bill had one. He got it out of a junk yard. He was telling me about it when I was out there once. He did not have it home yet at that point.

Click to expand...

John, we have that same book. Super 99 GM TC. Always wanted to see one of those.

Also, forgot to mention in my first post. But ours is an Ag version. 18.4-34s, no Power Steering, and the Torque Converter works too... Wish I had pics of it.

Richard Bowman IN Sterling Oh. has a restored one also.

My friend in North Carolina just made a deal in trading for another OLIVER "995", it's not run in a while. The tractor has front steering and is Hooked up to a dirt Pan. What a find ! He's been working with the owner for a couple of months. I'll post a photo of a "99" Pan Scraper (not running) just for conversation or start other comments about "Scrapers". Same owner of the 995.

(quoted from post at 11:48:59 11/29/08) You can get a copy of the build card from the museum at Charles City. Give them you serial number and $10 and they will send you a build card. They will also tell you were the tractor was originally sent and on what date. For $10 it's kind of interesting. The build cards also have the serial number for the engine block that the tractor left the factory with so if you swap out engines it will no longer be an matching numbers tractor.

Click to expand...

3-71 fan,
how abouts does one go about doing this?
I have a 60- would they be able to give me the information on that.
Does the museum have a web site for this?
Thanks
Lyle

I'm not sure of what mine actually is. I believe it's a 995, it's yellow but under it is green paint. I bought it from a guy who pulled a scrapper with it but still used the scrapper with another tractor. So I was unable to get the scrapper. I don't remember how much I paid for it or exactly when but it has been 3 or 4 years that I have owned it. I bought it, loaded it and then unloaded it. Have yet to try turning it over or doing anything to it. I have so many projects that this one was left outside along with the others that need work. My interest has gotten me fired up about this one and will be working on it soon. The I.D. Plate is painted over and hard to read the numbers.