(first posted 12/22/2013) Folks around here have been visiting farms like Hentze Family Farm near Junction City for generations; the farm dates back to 1902. It’s a regular on Stephanie’s short list of farms for all the produce she freezes, cans, pickles and dries each year. Yesterday was a beautiful warm and partially sunny day, so we went for a hike and swung by Hentze’s for walnuts and tractors on their last open day of the year.
I instantly gravitated first to this fine representative of what I consider the most beautiful tractors of the classic period, the Olivers. Their exceptionally slim hoods and Streamline Moderne styling made them the standout of the crowded field in the late thirties. This Model 66 is from 1949-1954, so the styling is a bit less exuberant, but it still retained the unusual full engine covers, something the rest of the competition never bothered with for the most part, for practical reasons, or quickly jettisoned.
The 66 was a medium sized tractor for its time, and had a 129 CID (2.1 L) Oliver-Waukesha ohv four that was rated at 25.03 hp at the belt @1600 rpm. It competed against the immensely popular Farmall H and the John Deere B. The next size up, the Oliver 77, had a six cylinder engine, which made it by far the smoothest tractor of its time and field.
I got some seat time on a 77 during my tractor driving career, and its silky-smooth six was a revelation after getting buzzy hands from piloting a Farmall all day, or the full-body shakes from a two-cylinder Johnny Popper.
The Olivers had a three speed gear box backed by a two speed, giving six speeds forward and two reverse. If only they’d been synchronized…life in the field as a nine-year old would have been so much easier.
The second thing that caught my lens was this vintage mini-tractor. From early on, there’s always been a market for really small tractors to replace a mule or horse in certain jobs. I don’t know who made this particular one, but what really attracted me to it was its really big single-cylinder Wisconsin engine. I have some particularly memorable experiences with one…
I wrote about it here, but the short version is that some neighbors of the Mennonite farmers I used to stay with had built a home-made “chore scooter”, something a bit like this, but lower, wider and squatter; its sole purpose was to haul a few cans of milk from the dairy barn to the milk house, or run other chores around the big farm, sort of a proto-ATV. It had the same big Wisconsin engine up front, and was then backed by two three-speed car transmissions in a row, feeding into a narrowed car rear axle and wheels.
With nine gears forward and three reverse, it could slow down to a crawl, or really move out on the gravel road. I never had so much fun bombing around, fooling around with all the gear combinations; reverse-reverse gave a super low forward gear, and so on.
Since third-third gave straight direct drive, this thing was potentially as fast as a car, given its automotive rear axle and wheels/tires. It was just a matter of how fast one could coax the big one-lunger Wisconsin. Which made me wonder, what speed does this thing run at?
A model AGND, with 3½” bore and 4″ stroke, which is very much in automotive engine size. Displacement is 38.5 cubic inches, or 631cc; a thumper in the truest sense of the word. This was the biggest single cylinder engine ever built by Wisconsin, and I suspect it’s the biggest of its whole kind, in more modern history anyway. A quick trip via Google gives me the vital stats: first built in 1957, the AGND produced 12.5 hp @3200 rpm, and 32.5 ft.lbs of torque @2000rpm.
What it doesn’t convey is the wonderful exhaust sound that one big cylinder made through the exhaust system made up of threaded pipe when it was in top-top gear and opened up: chuggg, chuggg, chuggg….I suppose theoretically the chore scooter could have hit about 55-60mph, given that the Wisconsin’s 3200rpm peak was probably only a bit below whatever old flathead six originally applied turning force to the rear axle. I doubt I got it up quite to that, but whatever it was, it felt more like 120, chugging down the straight gravel road wide open.
Enough of childhood memories…let’s head over down on the other side of the farm store, which was once a dairy barn. Hentze’s sells a wide variety of produce, and things like green beans and cucumbers in 5 gallon buckets, so convenient for the home food processor. Walnuts were on our shopping list; a ten pound bag at least.
The Oliver is not used in front line duty anymore; that’s left to several more modern International Farmalls and such. Well, this Farmall 560 with a two-bottom plow may look a lot more contemporary than the Oliver, but it actually dates back to 1958, the first of the “modern” styled in the family. This one look like it’s getting a tire fixed, and not getting its rear end repaired, which was a major problem with these.
The 560 was International’s first six-cylinder tractor, but they used the same final drive as its 450 predecessor, and that turned into a fiasco. International had to rush out a stronger one in 1959, and undertake a massive replacement program for the older ones.
In addition to the tractors, there’s a number of older cars and trucks around too, like this Mercury Topaz. Since we were the only customers, they must live here.
Here’s the rest of the front-line fleet, but there’s some oldies yet to come elsewhere. This looks like a sixties’ International museum down here, except for the one lone John Deere, which I failed to go look and identify. Someone will know.
Here’s the big guy, a 1466 Turbo. When this came out in 1971, it was still in the early years of the tractor horsepower wars. International unveiled the first 100+ hp tractor in 1965, their first turbo, the 1206. This 1466 is a later development of that, and its tested PTO hp was a whopping 145.77; what a massive jump from what most tractors had in the sixties, 50-70 hp. International had a head start in turbo technology, since it owned SOLAR back then, a dominant maker of gas turbines. Very few trucks were using turbochargers in the late sixties.
This International 460 also dates to 1958. It may look like a little utility tractor like the Ford N series and such, but this little puppy has a healthy six cylinder under its hood, a slightly smaller version as in that 560 row-crop. The engine is rated at 71.5 hp; 61 at the PTO. BTW, this web site, tractordata.com, has detailed specs on just about any tractor ever made.
This high-boy 504 is obviously used mainly for cultivating between rows of vegetables and such, but it has been put to use hauling a nice wooden drift boat most recently. The Hentze farm borders the Willamette River, so presumably it’s been used to launch it without getting wet. Clever…
And here’s the classic farm truck, a 1955 Ford F600 in this case. The river is just past that line of trees behind its hood.
The chickens and geese were getting fed, and the goats came to get in on the action. That led to a noisy confrontation, and one of the smaller goats getting bit on its butt. And what’s that being used as a chicken coop in the distance?
An International Metro, my favorite van ever (CC here).
Hmmm; what’s this grinning up at the sun? Quite the horns on that head-becoming-skull.
Fortunately I noticed something bright red peeking our behind the barn, so naturally I went to check it out. And I’m glad I did; what a gem of a tractor, a Massey-Harris 22 looking all the world like a big toy. Well, that’s what tractors are, aren’t they?
Well, its toy-like appearance turned out to be a bit deceptive, as I assumed it was a class smaller than the Oliver 66. Not so; in fact, it has the Oliver beat with 31 belt hp. These were built in Racine, Wisconsin, and used a Continental-built 140 CID (2.3L) ohv four. By the way, overhead valves were almost ubiquitous in tractor engines going way back to the beginning of the species. The Ford tractors were the exception, thanks to Henry’s unabashed love of the flat head. Why?
Almost certainly because of the over head valve’s intrinsic greater efficiency. All tractors were tested by the brutal Nebraska Tractor tests, and their power ouputs at the PTO, belt, drawbar, and tractive efforts were critical for sales and bragging rights. There was certainly no comparable tests for cars; then or now. A flathead is intrinsically less efficient in turning fuel into power.
And back behind the barn is another familiar tractor from the fifties, a bit later than the M-H 22 though. The family I stayed with had an Allis Chalmers WD45 like this, with row crop front wheels, the first two years I went out. It was another player in that popular class, although it was a fair bit more powerful than the Farmall H; with 43 belt hp it was the most powerful tractor in its class, actually.
The Allis Chalmers had an offset driver’s position, like the smaller Farmalls. It made locating the steering column easier, and gave better somewhat better visibility when cultivating.
Almost missed this old tiller in the herbs by the front door. Another Wisconsin engine; this time an AB from the thirties or forties, making all of 3.0 hp at a leisurely 2600rpm.
Here’s a picture of the Oliver being used by Gordon Hentze, from their website. Goodbye!
Cool old tractors Paul I love em, it doesnt look like these guys have had to invest in new machinery for a while and the old stuff is well preserved. There was a single cylinder weapon at a vineyard I worked on built from 2 Standard 8s and some square tube it was a self propelled pruning compressor with a J.A,P, engine.
Of course they haven’t had to buy new machinery in a while since most of the stuff that appears to do the main duty is IH and they just won’t die.
What an interesting read. I know nothing about old tractors but enjoy looking at & reading about them.
That old Ford makes a good-looking medium duty truck — I never thought they looked good as light-duty units though.
Looking at the Oliver am guessing that John Deere must have had issues with the color scheme that Oliver copied .
Nice shots. My father-in-law has an old Farmall sitting in their garage, currently in pieces. Once it’s back together it should be good for another 40 or so years. Too bad their old Kubota died – amazing what that big old diesel twin could do.
Sad to see that old Metro living out its retirement as a chicken coop. I hope someone drags it out of the field and puts it back to work – anything beats that kind of an end. By the way, I’ll take the Ford pickup in the background behind the Oliver tractor. A friend of our family had a nearly-identical F-100 when I was a kid, and I always loved that truck.
Interesting stuff, I will have to upload some tractors (& trucks) I shot recently onto the Cohort.
The “lone John Deere” you mention looks to be a 40-series small-frame utility tractor with an era-appropriate loader; beyond that, I can’t say much more as to the exact model. I can only see through the loader frame that it has the earlier of the “strobe” style decals, with the model number painted yellow on a black background that strobes to yellow with black “JOHN DEERE” lettering. Later model decals (50, 55 and 60 series) would be inverted. The rims would have been painted all yellow from the factory.
My father has, within the past 2 years, obtained both a 1020 and 2020 utility tractor for odd jobs around the place. Both were made in Mannheim, Deutschland, but were eventually also produced in the Dubuque, IA factory (where earlier small JDs like the M, 40, 330, and 430 had been made). The 1020 is actually taller than the 2020 because of its “HU” (“high utility”) axles and tires that make it 4 inches higher than a “U” (“normal” utility) model and 7 inches higher than the 2020 “LU” (“low utility”). Both are great little tractors for moving wagons, running augers or just “puttering around,” but the desirability of the 2020 because of its canopy mounted on the Roll-Gard (like the one seen here) is tempered by its _extremely_ jumpy clutch.
My guess after blowing up the picture (great picture!) is that the John Deere is a 2010 Utility, built from 1960 to 1965. This is from looking at the John Deere logo on the side (chrome surround), skinny silver muffler, and short steering column. (2010 row crops have a longer steering column, and later model 2020’s and later John Deeres in this size have a black oval muffler.) These were a lighter duty utility tractor, with about 40 drawbar/45 PTO horsepower, manufactured along with the smaller 1010 as part of the “New Generation” tractors (the first JD’s with more than two cylinders) in the Dubuque factory. They had a four cylinder gasoline or diesel engine with an odd design in which the cylinder sleeves were all attached to each other by an overhead deck. There were early problems getting the cylinders to seal-the word on them was that if you had a good one, it would run forever; if you had a bad one nothing could fix it.
Confusion comes from later, Mannheim John Deere utility tractors with the same number designations. This one looks to be well maintained, as is all the equipment on this farm, and is standard with the exception of having green wheel rims and maybe an alternator to replace the original generator (a common upgrade, along with electronic ignition). The original rims were yellow, to match the wheels. The condition of all the tractors on this farm looks very good, and reinforces the idea that old tractors will run just about forever and give you good service if you take care of them.
This is a great article and collection of photos full of cool vehicles thank you so very much. Would have thought there would be a few Bathtubs serving as planters or troughs though. Scenes, a climate, and a culture such as in these photos are one of the main reasons I chose to go to Oregon after “fleeing” New York. Sure these scenes remind me of home, but it is not the same. I drove around aimlessly today and tootled through the depressing modern suburbs of Tigard, but seeing all the beautiful countryside as well as fun windy roads beyond the suburbs really cheered me up, even got “stuck” behind a tractor.
Is it just me or were Tractors being commonly being Turbo Charged before cars were? I cannot help but wonder if the farm could make some money by selling the International Metro and some other vehicles instead of letting them rot? Speaking of rotting that is an interesting way of getting a bare steer’s skull, I would be worried about Racoons and other critters being too close to the house possibly damaging the skull and the smell. I have seen people put heads in wire cages so they can still rot and the mice can get them, but sturdy enough to keep the head from getting damaged.
On a side note some of the roads where I grew up in New York are too rough for Scion XBs because their front bumper gets broken or ripped off.Occasionally I would find bits or an entire bumper while driving around, but most owners by now have learned what roads to avoid or how to better drive on them.
Thanks, and welcome to Oregon.
And yes, except for the very short-lived Olds Jetfire and Corvair Spyder/Corsa, turbocharging was adopted much more rapidly for trucks, tractors and other diesel-engined equipment. A diesel really responds well to turbocharging, given its low power output without it. And turbos on diesels are less problematic, since the diesel exhaust is lower temperature than gasoline exhaust; less issues with cooked bearings.
Thank you for the information and that makes sense. The Turbo Charging of Diesels is handy for those times you have drive a big rig or a train through the Rockies.
…or through the Alps. Saurer from Switzerland built the first truck with a turbo diesel engine, that was in 1938. The turbocharger itself dates back to 1905, it was an invention of Swiss engineer Alfred Büchi.
In the late fifties turbochargers on truck diesels became more common.
Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective even the Deco Metros just don’t bring much money. There basically aren’t any restoration parts available though most of the running gear is the same basic stuff as used on the same period pickups so a lot of those parts are available. Basically they are rarely worth more than scrap value.
After being used as a chicken coop I wouldn’t be surprised if it was too rusty on the inside to be worth restoring though I’m sure they could find buyers for a lot of the pieces if they put them up for sale on the IH forums or Ebay and it would still function as a chicken coop.
Typical farmyard for a loyal Lanz Bulldog.
Quite the contrast from Michigan right now where almost everything is covered in ice and power outages are rife as animal feces on a farm!
Regarding the size of the Wisconsin single, I don’t know of a larger spark ignition industrial engine but the largest 4 stroke gasoline single I can think of offhand is the Suzuki DR800 motorcycle engine.
Semi-Diesel engines like the Bolinder or Lanz Bulldog could get all the way up to a 10 liter displacement with a piston the size of a bucket.
I love those old tractors! When I was a kid I used to ride on the fender of my uncle’s WD Allis Chalmers.
In the mid 1950’s my dad was an Oliver factory rep. in Southern Illinois. My brother and I had the whole set of Oliver farm toys. I’m not sure what happened to them except maybe they got lost in a move or younger siblings did away with them. I can remember my mom taking my brother and me to the Illinois State Fair to visit Dad at the Oliver display. I sure wish I had pictures of that. Dad got a new Chevy company car every year and it was always green.
A couple of years ago I was at a tractor show in my area and there was a couple there with Oliver tractors and memorabilia on display. Their family had owned a dealership. I mentioned that my dad had been the factory rep. for their part of the state and they actually remembered him.
As life goes in circles, my oldest daughter is married to a farmer whose family has an antique tractor collection that includes some Olivers including a 77.
When I lived in Eugene (mid sixties) the “oldest house in town”, was a museum. It was built in 1889.
So, this farm in Junction City, established 1902, only 13 years later, has quite a bit of local historic bragging rights.
Norm, the oldest house still standing in Eugene dates to 1855. And there are numerous houses from the 1860s and many from the 1870s. Sorry, but 1889 is not that old for Eugene. I don’t know where you got that idea from.
Love these! (but of course)
The Wisconsin-powered pipe-frame unit is jogging a memory, but I can’t place the make just yet. In my neck of the woods, there are a lot of Farmall Ms still in use, typically running augers during harvest (for unloading grain wagons into silos). I borrowed one from a neighbor back when my 8N was down for a repair.
Another neighbor used to have a JD 730 diesel, and I’ve borrowed it a time or two – one was after said neighbor was in a bad car crash and laid up for months. I used his 730 and my JD 30 pull-behind combine to harvest his oats.
The Farmall M is a common sight here in Southern Indiana as well and many are still in use.
My son in law and his family still use their vintage Minneapolis Moline tractors for various jobs around the farm . They reserve the modern stuff for the heavy work.
Funny you should mention the 8N. That was the first tractor I ever drove. We had one at the elevator for general chores. I remember my grandfather lifting the rear end of his Ford pickup by the bumper with the bucket on the front of the 8N to change a tire.
Where I live there is a lot of “antique ” farm equipment still in use. We have a large Amish population in our county.
When I first started doing my own hay, the 8N was the only tractor I had, so it cut (sickle bar), raked and baled (NH Hayliner 68). In addition to plowing, discing, drilling, mowing, snow removal, gravel spreading, manure spreading, etc. It’s still one of the handiest tools I have on the farm, and I’ll reach for it first for a lot of jobs, despite now also having a NH Boomer 8N with loader.
I always wondered why there were so many around until I looked up the production figures and saw they made over a half million of the little beasts.
Have you ever seen one with the flathead V8 conversion? I think they were called a Funk conversion or something. I have see a couple at tractor shows.
Funk made several conversion kits for the N series.
I wrote up the history of the N Series a few years ago:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/fieldside-classics/ag-history-ford-n-series-tractors-and-the-handshake-that-changed-farming-forever/
And followed that up with one on the Boomer 8N:
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/fieldside-classics/fieldside-classic-2010-new-holland-boomer-8n-retro-goes-farming/
Great tractors. The Wisconsin powered beast might have started out life as a Gibson tractor. Also Wisconsin had an earlier model, the AHH that was 35/8 x 4. good for 41 cubic inches. It was a low performer though with 9.2 Hp at 2200. Awesome motors, the best built air cooleds ever.
the IH 560 could be classified as their first “deadliest sin”. The PR nightmare where they would re-build the rear ends in tents like a revival meeting damaged them so much that when John Deere introduced the New Generation models they pulled ahead of IH in sales and never looked back.
The Allis WD45 was a ubiquitous dairy farmer tractor. Frugally built with channel iron chassis, it put out a lot of belt hp and with it’s upside down 3 point hitch it could put the power to the ground by loading the rear wheels. it had a hand and foot clutch which created a poor man’s live pto
Count me in as another one who knows very little about tractors, but still finds them fascinating. The Olivers in particular are quite the lookers.
An update from 2024: Stephanie has become a close friend of Jan Hentze, who is married to Gordon in the last picture. She drives out to get eggs from Jan every couple of weeks, and I sometimes come along. Unfortunately, most of these tractors are not around anymore; it’s possible that one of the other Hentz siblings, who share the farm, might have them in a barn somewhere.
Hey Paul! There’s a tractor similar to the one in the first photo parked outside the new hotel/store complex on 5th and Olive. I’ll take a pic of it on my way to work tomorrow but I’m sure you’ve seen it. Reminds me of the one that was parked in it’s own gazebos years ago up in Santa Clara.
5th and Oak, not Olive.
We has a ’49 8N when we had a farmette outside of Hanover PA in the ’90s, it was a great little (I bought a ’66 Alfa from him), restores Ferraris and other exotics for rich guys, but he grew up on a farm and he collects Oliver tractors, not cars! I miss that old 9N.
oops, one of the text got deleted:
‘it was a great little machine. All my Vermont dairy farmer ancestors bled IH red.
…A guy in central VT I know (I bought a ’66 Alfa from him) restores Ferraris… etc
He runs RPM, you can see some of his exotic cars and an Oliver here:
http://www.rpmvt.com
Be sure to check out “Sales” then under that, “Inventory”.
Never saw an Oliver crawler before, and some amazing cars there too.
I am another reader who knows nothing about tractors, but I do like the Oliver. A neighbour who lives about 2 km down the road has 2 of them, both pristine. I expect that he is a retired farmer. He has them out in the fall on a trailer, probably for the fall fairs, but he also has a snow blower that he puts on the back of one to clear his driveway, and the lanes of a couple of his neighbours. Being in Ontario in the lee of Lake Huron we do get a lot of snow.
And Junction City, though it may technically be in neighboring Coburg, is the home of Marathon Coach. Not a famous or high volume manufacturer, but perhaps the most expensive consumer product other than private aircraft, sold in the US? I drove by the plant/HQ today.
Those old Olivers have a special place in my heart. From 1953 until 1958 my Dad was a territory rep for Oliver in Southern Illinois. My brother and I got to go to the State Fair and visit the Oliver display tent where they had him assigned for the fair. I remember it vividly even though I was in kindergarten and my brother was a year younger. We had all of the Oliver farm toys. We each had an Oliver 77 toy and had to share the implements. All of them are gone now except for a planter which I have in my toy tractor collection. Dad always got a new company car each year, a new Chevy, always painted green. A few years ago I was at our local antique tractor show and talked to an older lady from Illinois who had a display of Oliver memorabilia. I told her about Dad and she said they used to own a dealership and she actually remembered him. Dad always made a lot of friends. Life comes full circle sometimes. Now I have a son in law who is a farmer and an antique tractor collector who has a couple of really nice Olivers.