How rare is a 97?

You are right about the 97 being an MM. The 95, 95 Supers and the 97s were all MM. The 98 was an Oliver 99. I don't know where the story got started about a plant fire so they had to buy other makes of tractors. I have always understood that MH just did not have a big tractor ready to go when they needed one so they bought MMs and later Olivers. This is the way I read it in several places when I was studying MH history. The 95 was a MM GB; The 95 Super was a MM GVI(Called a G6) and a 97 was an MM 705 if 2 wheel drive, and a 706 if a 4 wheel drive. There were not many made but I believe I read that MM made and sold more of these tractors to MH than they made and sold themselves. Also the 95s and 95 Supers used 425 cubic engines and I think the 97s used the 504 ci engine. Hope this helps!

Roger

I think Oliver made the same tractor for Massey Ferguson and maybe Cockshutt.

I saw them on display at the Portland Indiana show. They were side by side with only the sheetmetal being different. As I recall, they had GMC blowers on GM engines.

Ken McWilliams