Type of Tractors for the different Regions

RoySC · Mar 14, 2010

Does anyone have any ideas on the different tractor manufacture's popularity in the different regions of the USA in the 40s / 50s/ 60s. Were certain tractor distributors only located in certain regions, making them the typical tractor for the farmers in that part USA / world. How were the different tractor manufactures listed on this web site distributed throughout the USA and the rest of the world? What was the popular tractors found in your home town and why?

Thanks!

Riverslim · Mar 14, 2010

Great question! Welcome relief from all the personal stuff. In my little neck of the woods in the 50's, southern Illinois, IH was tops, followed by AC, then Oliver, then JD. MF, Case and Ford were seldom seen.

Flurette Farm · Mar 14, 2010

Largely it had to do with the dealerships. Local and aggressive dealers with good service had their areas covered with their brand....

BigMarvfromGa · Mar 14, 2010

I was born in 1961 but remember in the early 60's that there were many brands of tractors in my area. We had a A/C, IH, Ford, and John Deere dealerships locally. The Massey and Oliver dealerships were about 20 miles from my town. Most farmers had only one brand and no 2 farms had the same brand tractor. The larger more sucessful farmers brand seemed to be the type tractor to have. Strange that the massey dealer had a few masseys in the area but since his dealership was 20 miles away and to the east of town, once you got out of the city limits on the east side of town you go for miles and saw nothing but massey.

jbp · Mar 14, 2010

In the little town of McQuady Ky, population about 50, A R Dyer sold B F Avery,Minneapolis Moline, Massey Harris and Oliver. He had a general store that sold groceries, dry goods,LPgas, GE appliances,fertilizer seed corn and and needs for the farm and home. He also bought cream and poultry. Quite an enterprise for such a small town, but all gone now. Those were the glory days of country living.
joe

Phil in Pa · Mar 14, 2010

Here in central Pa there were different dealers sprinkled all over the region, but they mostly faded away by the end of the 70's.

Our valley had MF, JD, IHC, AC, Oliver.

Now the new stuff is almost all New Holland. That's what the one remaining dealer in the valley carries.

agpilot · Mar 14, 2010

Hi Flurette: I'll second that. In our area the IHC dealer was biggest back in the 1940s and 1950s. Getting service and parts from a local dealer to back up buying a certain brand payed off getting farmers to buy. Now 60 years later it's all green.The green came alive with the 3010 & 4010 switch from 2 cylinders.. Times are a changing. Good question. ag.

Mike (WA) · Mar 14, 2010

As the previous posters noted, it seems to have had a lot more to do with the local dealers than anything else. IH was very big in our area, because they were part of the Darigold farm store, which also sold feed and supplies, bought milk, etc. We also had more Olivers than most, because the Oliver dealer was such a good guy.

Remember going through a small valley in western Idaho (Athol was one of the towns), and seeing Allis Chalmers tractors on just about every farm. Just as I suspected, when I got to the next town, there was an AC dealership (all boarded up), and it appeared to have been the only tractor dealer in town.

Anonymous-0 · Mar 14, 2010

In the late 40's and on thru the 50's, there was an even mix of every brand around here. Many of the farms right around home were cattle and tobacco farms, with just a bit a row crops. Those farms tended to use Ferguson's and Fords primarily, with a lot of small Farmalls as "tobacco tractors". The row croppers had all sorts of brands. A fair number of AC and Olivers in the area once upon a time, very few Molines. Also a decent showing from Case until the late 60's.

There was a succesful IH dealer just down the road, so you'd see quite a few binders. By the late 60's the big guys were making the switch to Deere's. Still a lot of MF's and Fords on the small places. In the 70's as many of the brands fell to the wayside, Deere seemed to take over here. You'll still see some older (mid 70's on back) IH's, but once it was CaseIH, they more or less faded into oblivion here. Still quite a few MF's, New Holland has held on to a loyal following, but late 80's on, probably 75% or more new tractors are Deere's. Many of the faithful followers of other colors have even traded in their off brands on older used Deere. That may be in part to do with the fact we don't have much of a CaseIH dealer presence in the area, but Deere, New Holland, Massey Ferguson, and to a point Kubota has strong dealers. I can't recall the last time I saw a red combine in our county. All green there.

Goose · Mar 14, 2010

All of the above. In the fifties and sixties, it was great fun to go to the county or state fair and spend several hours browsing among 8 or 10 different brands of tractors and machinery, sorting out details, comparing features, etc.

Now, I don't even bother. If you've seen one new John Deere or IHC, you've seen them all.

Bob Bancroft · Mar 14, 2010

Interesting to ponder. Maybe regional, as in type of farming?
Here in my end of the county in central NY I would say AC,IH, and JD were pretty evenly represented. At one time you could drive 20 to 25 miles and have your choice of dealers for one brand! A few Olivers, very few Case, MH, MF, Ford, never saw a MM ! Oliver actually gained with the earlier bigger gas tractors before diesels took over. I remember a few 1850 gassers and 5 bottom plows!
Now JD owns the area. Their max-emerge planter took over. The "new" side saddle combines came out and took over!(I'll never understand that) Then they re-invented themselves with a centerline design combine, and finished off any remaining competition. Of course the new generation, operator friendly, powershift, abundant hydraulics tractor was really the springboard.

John Harmon · Mar 14, 2010

In Ill. where I come from back in the 40's to 60's every brand expected was represented with the 5 mile area around certain dealers saturated with there products. Fast forward to 2010 and most small farms of the other era have been absorbed by larger operators and Deere is prominent with a sprinkling of Case/IH here and there.Cat has a good representation in certain areas around Joliet Ill.A Cat plant is located there but I don't have a clue as to what they make.

NY 986 · Mar 14, 2010

To give you an idea of my perspective, I was born in 1963. My perception as a kid was IH was probably the most popular followed by Deere. IH dealers were much more numerous than the other makes in the area before the 1960's. Deere was geographically the closest to our neighborhood.
We had an extremely strong Oliver, NH, and MF dealer till the early 1970's. The father passed on and the son did not have the aptitude to take over. There were also other factors involved, also. Had a strong AC dealer till the late 1980's but D - A had no interest in letting the son take over the business from the father even though he was a pretty good business man.
Had a couple of really aggressive JD dealers come into the area in the late 1960's and that led to the JD dominance in the area today. CaseIH would have been better off if they had let a few of the IH dealers remain after the merger as opposed to the Case dealers. Case was never very strong here but had their followers just like MM and MF. Ford always seemed like they were in last place.

buickanddeere · Mar 14, 2010

If you are speaking of types as in rowcrop, high crop standard/wheatland chassis etc.
All JD model 435's which all had a rowcrop utility chassis. Wide front and the 2nd lowest chassis height. They sold 40% of total production through the Georgia distribution center.A surprisingly high amount also sold in Canada. Where they soon had block heaters installed for winter starting the balky "S" series Detroit Diesel.
In the US near and east of the Mississipi drainage basion. It appears a standard chassis was unheard of unless somebody ordered an R,80,820,830 or 840.
On the western plains standard chassis AR/60/620/630/70/720/730 could be found. However they were usually missing the rockshaft and sometimes the pto.
In Canada the standard chassis with a rockshaft and pto was the norm. The B,50,520,530 was the exception usually being a rollomatic rowcrop. Usually used with a scuffler to cultivate weeds from between crop rows. And as a light putting around odd jobs tractor.

thurlow · Mar 14, 2010

In the '40s, '50s and '60s in my (or adjoining) county, we had dealers for Ford, Ferguson, Massey-Harris, Massey-Ferguson, Avery, John Deere, Farmall, A-C, Case and Deutz......not necessarily all at the same time. Of the other major brands, I can count the number of them I've seen in the field .....in 65 years......on one hand.....no Oliver, Moline, White, David Brown, etc.

David from Kansas · Mar 14, 2010

From where I sit in central Kansas. In the 40's-60's we had a strong M-M dealer in a little town of a couple hundred population and he sold a pot full of LP tractors. Not much else, just tractors as M-M didn't make much other machinery that was very popular in this area. Most were U models and later G's and GB's, even a few number series in the 60's and early 70's. But, JD dominated the market in our area as we had a strong dealership in our county and in the county south of us. Had several uncles who farmed, along with my Dad. Two were pretty much die-hard JD men, as was Dad. One was a Case tractor guy but used a lot of JD equipment. Another was a M-M fan as he was near the town mentioned earlier. Another was also a pretty much all JD man. The tractors I remember the uncles and Dad using were; JD Model A for row crop, D's, AR, 420 (used for haying), 70D, 720D, 730D, 830D, Case LA LP, M-M U gas. Later came a 5010 and that was about the end of that generation. All except the A were standard. Two of the uncles used M-H combines, the rest were JD. I don't remember any of them using anything IHC. This was pretty much wheat and milo country with some row-crop.

730d se · Mar 14, 2010

Like most products especially back then, it depended on the branding dealer in the area and which one was known for better service.
My grandfather would buy nothing but Allis Chalmers. He knew of the JD two cylinders and the economy but there were two issues. The AC dealer was 6 miles from the farm, the nearest JD dealer was 40 miles away. The other issue was that he was good friends with the owner of the AC dealer.
These denominatiors were not so much of a factor with special featured tractors such as high crops and special configuration tractors made for specific crops and duties. But most tractor brands had models to offer in the specialty area.
It is a bit of an inversion for rare brands today, they were typically the brands did not sell as many back then. Ever wonder why?
I have read where JD knew they would eventually give in to the inline engine designs due to width restrictions, but they basically denied it for almost a decade in order to buy time to get the transition done.

Bill(Wis) · Mar 14, 2010

When I was growing up in the 40s we had just about all of them in a city of 3700+/-. Most were right on Main Street or within a block or two. In some cases, the dealers also sold cars. Saturday night in the summer was band concert night and the dealers showrooms would be open all around the town square and along both sides of Main Street. After WWII (The Big One) things really livened up with all of the new models and features. Bars were open as well. The WCTU didn't like that. Today? The only thing left are the bars. One dealer remaining (NH) but they moved out to the edge of town. I have 4 John Deere dealers within about 25 miles though.

Bill(Wis) · Mar 14, 2010

When I was growing up in the 40s we had just about all of them in a city of 3700+/-. Most were right on Main Street or within a block or two. In some cases, the dealers also sold cars. Saturday night in the summer was band concert night and the dealers showrooms would be open all around the town square and along both sides of Main Street. After WWII (The Big One) things really livened up with all of the new models and features. Bars were open as well. The WCTU didn't like that. Today? The only thing left are the bars. One dealer remaining (NH) but they moved out to the edge of town. I have 4 John Deere dealers within about 25 miles though.

olgentdc · Mar 14, 2010

to take this in a different direction ., Case sold far more 430s here than 530or630s which are morecommon in the deep south I am told.. I recall alot of d-17s in the neighborhood , lots of Oliver 55s ( great dealer )... we had them all in the louisville Ky area ,,. Including MM , which would really get My GreaT uNCLE gUS BRAGGING ABOUT HOW MUCH TUFFER HIS 5 STAR was over a danged Ol Case or Jdeere , and don't even mention IHC around him or you were sure to hear a barrage of miscontents ..LOL today it is an equal tandem between Blue/red / green

Paul from MI · Mar 14, 2010

I grew up in Northwestern Richland County Ohio. In the 50's IHC was the dominant make. Maybe followed by Oliver, Allis, & John Deere in that order. Very few Case and Moline. Of course there were a few Fords but the 2N,8N tractors weren't held in high regard. Most farmers considered them good loader tractors but pretty gutless in the field. There were almost no standard tractors around. The only ones I remember were IHC WD-9's & Oliver 99's. Everything else was a row crop style, no single front wheels either. Although I spent part of one summer cultivating corn with an F12 with a single front wheel for a neighbor. It still had the original diamond tread rear tires. Of course the local IHC dealer was one of the best around. Dad was an Allis man from the start, guess he just liked orange paint. I know my brother & I were thrilled when he bought a John Deere H with a 2 row cultivator.
Paul

HuskerMedic · Mar 14, 2010

In my hometown in eastern Nebraska, dad (who graduated high school in 1957) can recall there being dealers in town for Ford, Oliver, John Deere, International Harvester, and Massey Harris/Massey Ferguson. The Massey dealer is all that remains, and they do very little in farm equipment business; most of their business is in the lawn and garden area.

I can recall the JD dealer; they went out in the early 70's. I know from others the IH dealer went out in the late 60's (I'm not quite old enough to remember them, but don't believe I missed them by much). The rest were well gone before my time.

The Ford dealer was also a filling station/petroleum distributor. Oliver was sold out of an elevator/fertilizer dealership. The Massey dealer was originally in with a Chevrolet dealership (but is a stand alone business now). All the other dealerships were stand alone businesses.

Oh, and there was a Minneapolis-Moline dealer in the much smaller town one town over. They ended up being a New Holland dealer; they went out in the mid-1980's, I attended the sale. No Allis dealer close by that I'm aware of.

Don Wadge · Mar 14, 2010

In western Canada "standards" almost always had PTO and almost never (meaning 99.99999% never) had rock shaft,

Mattlt · Mar 15, 2010

I consider myself lucky to have grown up with so many different makes of tractors around the area. My dad had JD, closest neighbors had White/Oliver, AC, Case, one even had MM. Getting a little farther away there were several with IH/Farmall, MF, and a scattering of Massey Harris. Only thing that was really lacking were Fords. (No further comments re: Fords!)

I'll agree with what others have said regarding dealers. Think of how many more dealerships existed even 30 years ago. Our little town of 1000 people had several dealers years ago, now none.

Type of Tractors for the different Regions

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