Oliver's are scarce around my area.

Arvin Haslem · Oct 7, 2017

I rarely see Oliver tractors or equipment in my area. I sure see a lot of them in the tractor show pics from other areas. I only know of one locally, a row crop 60 and it is yard art. I have an old Oliver potato digger that has been converted from ground drive to PTO drive using an old Ford car transmission and differential assembly. It has the wrong chain on it and it just keeps rolling the potatoes up and down the chain until a dirt clump or a bunch of vines catch them and take them over the back end. Nowadays I just buy potatoes when I need some.

grayrider · Oct 7, 2017

Only a couple Oliver?s in my area as well and I reckon I have the only Minneapolis Moline around (south Alabama)

grandpa Love · Oct 7, 2017

Went to a tractor show in TN ,looks like all the Olivers in SE are pulling tractors. Don't know why. MM are rare too. Didn't know grayrider had one?! Kevin in Central AL

grayrider · Oct 7, 2017

Been trying to sell my MM with a 5-1/2? Box Blade on Craigslist, very little interest in it as southerners just don?t know what it is and never heard of one, $1500 with Blade, wheel weights, runs strong, perfect sheet metal, runs strong.........

rrlund · Oct 7, 2017

Popular in dairy country where the live PTO made them a great choice on a baler and pull type combine.

Arvin Haslem · Oct 7, 2017

I have several MM's. A ZTN, 3 ZA narrow front, A ZA wide front, a ZB wide front and 2 R's. One of the ZA's is a propane model and one of the R's is an RTS if I remember right. If I Looked up the serial number correctly it was 1 of only 3 built for the 1953 model year.

grayrider · Oct 7, 2017

The MM that I have spent its life doing belt work driving a sugar cane mill , brakes on it just like new

grandpa Love · Oct 7, 2017

Craigslist where? Montgomery? Mobile?

grandpa Love · Oct 7, 2017

Found it . Nice tractor.

showcrop · Oct 7, 2017

They were scarce in my area too. There were only two dealers that I know of: one in southeastern NH and one in Northwestern VT. But you go to a tractor pull and they will often make up 20% of the entries. I am a Ford guy myself but I have an Ollie too.

fixerupper · Oct 7, 2017

50-60 years ago in my part of Northwest Iowa we had dealers for all of the major brands. Case, Oliver, Minni Mo, Allis, Ford, IH, oh, did I forget Deere? I never did see Co-op, Wards, Silver King or the rest of the lesser brands. Oliver was one of the more popular brands here because of a very good respected dealer. It also helps that Oliver is a home state tractor.

RayP(MI) · Oct 7, 2017

When I was a kid, there were Deere, Farmall, a few Fords and small ACs. No MM & Olivers were evident, along with other brands. Probably had to do with which dealerships nearby. I thought there were only 4 brands!

Bruce from Can. · Oct 7, 2017

Here in South Central Ontario the most popular brands were MH/MF, IH ,CASE, Alis , Cockshut/Oliver and after 1965 when a JD dealer opened up, we started to see John Deer tractors and equipment. Also about that time David Brown tractors showed up. While we did see the odd MM some one brought in , and the odd Ford , they were uncommon .
Now the market is dominated by JD, CIH/NH, Kubota, Agco /MF, and then there are the odd balls MTZ ( Belarus ) , McCormack , Kiotie, Deutz, and Zetor are all available not too far away.The tractor that is starting to make in roads now is the Fendt tractor. Fendt tractors are becoming very popular with dairy farmers , that are sick of buying tractors from CIH and John Deer , that just dont live up to their past reputations.

coonie minnie · Oct 7, 2017

There were a few Olivers around here, but IH, Deere, Case and AC were the leaders. AC probably because we were 30 miles from West Allis. MM was also very popular in the area, mainly because of one dealer. There was one stretch of county highway, 2-2.5 miles, that had an MM on EVERY farm.

tractorguy2 · Oct 7, 2017

Less Oliver's around here than there was back in the 80's. Grandpa had Oliver's. Said there were better than the other green tractor he had later. Use to see an occasional Oliver combine or square baler. Haven't seen one for ages.

I have the sales ticket for the last Oliver grandpa bought new. A 1974 Oliver 1855. $18,000 minus a trade in allowance of $7500 for his old 1850.

CKain(MI) · Oct 7, 2017

rrlund, you like Oliver's. At our local show today, I talked to a gentleman that brought 2 60's.
AND he said he had 30(60's)total !! over 50 Olivers between his brother & him. near Kalamazoo.

fixerupper · Oct 7, 2017

Oh, I forgot Massey. Massey was hardly seen in my neighborhood.

NY 986 · Oct 7, 2017

Oliver was at the top of what I call the third tier. IH was the leader until the 1960's with JD taking over after that. The next tier would be AC followed not closely by Case. Then Oliver followed by Ford then MM and MF. AC had a very strong dealer network here until the very end of that company.

David from Kansas · Oct 7, 2017

In my first 22 years of life on the farm, we had one neighbor with an Oliver, it was a 1951 model 99 (we're in wheat country) which I bought at that neighbor's retirement auction for $670. It had like new rear tires and was well cared for. I farmed with it as my primary tractor for four years then traded it for a nice JD 820 which was a huge step up. Had one neighbor who had a couple of Masseys, don't know the model. Had an uncle who used Case tractors; two LA models on propane, and a DC. Couple of other neighbors also with Cases. Had several neighbors with MM Model U's, mostly on propane but remember one who had a diesel, probably a G or GB. We had a local dealer who sold a lot of MM tractors in the 40s and 50s on propane. Only remember one neighbor who farmed with IHC tractors; had a W9 and later a 600(??) or 660 diesel. Only remember one neighbor who had a Cockshutt tractor. JD probably outnumbered any other brand.

Part Time Pete · Oct 7, 2017

Quite a few in my area (I've got a couple). I still remember going to the local dealer as a kid, with the guy I worked for (Chase Tractor in Cooperstown). At that time, most farmers "big" tractor was around 50-60HP - his was a 1550. I usually ran the 77, but when I got to run the 1550, I was living large
Pete

Traditional Farmer · Oct 7, 2017

Right many Olivers in parts of Virginia.Dealers I remember were Swann in Culpeper,Watts East of Fredericksburg,Producers Coop in Richmond,Whitesel in Harrisonburg.Lottsburg had a small
Oliver dealership,I have the lighted Oliver sign off their place and most of their books.

hd6gtom · Oct 7, 2017

When I traded my 1800 off 4 years ago I think it was the last one in the county. If I could have found someone to overhaul that darn oil drinking 310 I would have kept it. Like it better than any darn 4020.

LSaunders · Oct 8, 2017

Showcrop, I'm next door in Vermont, Addison County. We used to have two when I was young. One was down in Orwell, John Hansarick (spelling ?). That closed in the early 70's when he came down with cancer. The other was Devine's Sales & Service in Ferrisburg. That closed 10-12 years ago, again when the owner had terminal cancer and Agco refused to transfer the franchise.
Related note, a few days ago Craigslist had 3 tractors listed by someone over your way in Durham. Oliver 1600, Oliver 1855, and White 2-135. I assume they would have been purchased from the N.H. dealer you referred to.

rrlund · Oct 8, 2017

I thought the dealer in Sylvester sold the heck out of Olivers up there? Behrenwald sold Oliver in Lakeview for a while too didn't they?

rrlund · Oct 8, 2017

There were a few Molines around here. Mostly the BTOs of the 50s that had them. They were the only tractors you ever saw pulling a four bottom plow.

jwmfarms · Oct 8, 2017

William was in Farmville. P.L. Duncan at Columbia had a "walking plow" contract with a no cancellation clause. In later years they could sell anything without an engine, and the full line of parts. That contract was in effect until White filed for bankruptcy.

Leroy · Oct 8, 2017

Were quite a few earlier models, up to the S77 but very few from when they went to the 770 series and none from the 4 digit era. Always was more Deere dealers than anything so more of them with Farmall being a close second in dealers and tractors, Allis probably third with Coop next. Then Ford with a lot of 9N,2N tractors out there. Then when the 8N came out we got Ferguson also with quite a few tractors. Next door neighbor wad a Wards and one 7 mile away a Silver King. Case and Massey and Moline not any dealers that I knew of but I guess there were a couple.

Oliver's are scarce around my area.

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