Posted by Stanley Krasovic on March 17, 1998 at 15:47:35:
In Reply to: Chronology of Oliver Tractor Co. posted by Paul Stanley on March 16, 1998 at 22:30:29:
: Some folks have been wanting this list from an earlier message;
: It goes as fallows.
: 1855; James Oliver buys a foundry in South Bend, Indiana and founds the
: South Bend Iron works,
: 1892; Charle Hart transfers to the University of Wisconsin and meets Charles
: Parr,
: 1897; The first Hart-Parr Company is incorporated in Madison, Wisconsin,
: 1901; The Har-Parr Tractor Co. opens in Charles City, Iowa,
: 1902; The first advertisement for Hart-Parr appears in The American
: Thresherman and the first Hart-Parr tractor is delivered to the first buyer,
: David Jennings, after a little mishap with a bridge,
: 1903; Hart-Parr produces 15 gasoline tractors,
: 1904; The kerosene motor is perfected and patented by Charles Parr,
: 1910; Hart designs a railroad to serve his plant.(The Charles City and
: Western Railroad),
: 1918; Hart-Par develops its lightweight tractor line by introducing the
: Hart-Parr 30,
: 1929; The Oliver Chilled Plow Works acquires the Hart-Parr Company, and the
: Oliver Farm Equipment Co. is formed,
: 1935; Oliver introduce the 70 Row Crop. Operations are affected by a 25-day
: strike at one of the plants,
: 1937; Oliver sales increase by 39% over previous year due to popularity of
: the Oliver 70 row crop (prettiest tractor ever built),
: 1938; Oliver Corp. is out of debt for the first time since 1929,
: 1940; Oliver 60 and line of implements comes onto the market,
: 1941; The company builds bomb crates as well as shells, signal guns, and
: tank transmissions for the war effort,
: 1944; The Clevland Tractor Co. is acquired. (Cletrac),
: 1945; War contracts cnaceled. The HGR Cletrac is introduced,
: 1947; Model 88 is introduced with the 70-styled sheet metal,
: 1948; Models 66,77, and 88 replace the oler tractor lines,
: 1952; Oliver acquires the Farquhar Col a builder of farm implements,
: 1952; Korean war has Oliver in the defense business again,
: 1953; Oliver buys the Be-Ge Co. of Gilroy, California, which makes
: industrial equipment and earth movers.
: 1955; Six brand-new wheeled tractors with 6 speed trnsmissions, available
: with diesel or gas engines,
: 1960; White Motor Co. acquires The Oliver Corporation,
: 1980; White Farm Equip. Co. is purchased by Texas Investment Corp. which
: them becomes prt of Allied Products Corp in 1985;
: 1987; Allied reorganizes its subsidiaries and forms the White-New Idea Farm
: Equipment Co. This is the last manufacturing group to work in the Charles
: City plant.
: 1992; The White Tractor Division becomes part of AGCO; tractor manufacturing
: is moved to Independance, Missouri,
: 1995 The hart-Parr manufacturing plant in Charles City is demolished.
: All information is from "Oliver Photographic History" by April Halberstadt
: published by Motorbooks International.
This is all very interesting, but no mention is made of Oliver's link to Fiat. I have an Oliver Model 1250, which was made by Fiat (Fix It Another Time) in Italy.