1917 Moline Universal Model D

I would like to apologize ahead of time for the photos of the Universal Model D Moline we have in the museum it is in a spot where it is hard to take photographs.

Moline Plow Company

In the far back of the first building here at Schwanke Museum, hidden behind another tractor sit a Red 1917  Universal D-Moline that was built in Columbus, Ohio, most people miss it as they walk by.
I know this sound a little cliche but in the beginning the Moline Plow Company started out as a group of men, Candee, Swan and Company. They began in 1865 and consisted of farmers, bankers, and business men who were interested in producing farm implements. A few of the items they produced or manufactured were fanning mills and hay racks. When this group, first started they were located in a wooden building which would later be torn down and they would build a plant which would later become the Moline Plow Company. As the business grew more partners came aboard like Andrew Friberg a former Deere and Company employee, while there he would learn how to manufacture a two wheel plows. In 1866, George Stephen would join, he would add enough capital to make him a equal partner, Stephens would be in charge of woodworking and later become the one of the President of the Moline Plow Company in 1882 mean while, Friberg would run the blacksmith shop and iron works, with R.K. Swan working in sales and tending to other business functions, and Henry Candee would do the accounting for the co-op. With sales increasing and production up the group would incorporate in 1870, to become The Moline Plow Company.

Sulky Plow manufactured by the Moline Plow Company 1884 to 1929 (not feature in the museum)

With capital on hand and the business doing very well the Moline Plow Company would buy out the struggling Flying Dutchman Company in1884. The Moline Plow Company would go on to revolutionize the plow business worldwide with the all ready recognized sulky plow. The sulky plow was of the two wheel variety and the Moline Plow company would improve on that design. Now for most of you out there who don’t know what a sulky plow is. It is a plow, or set of plows, having a seat for the driver. With sale soaring and the popularity of the sulky plow that was being manufactured Moline Plow Company was becoming rapidly popular with the farming community.  Again in 1886 Moline Plow Company would buy out the Moline Champion who produced corn planters the company would once again revolutionize manufacturing with their new design of their version and it would almost match or equal that of the Flying Dutchman sulky plow. Even though the company had never built a corn planter before they would soon become a leader in this field. Even though they started out manufacturing fanning mills and hay racks along with the sulky plow the company would take on other farming tools such as, cultivators, harrows, disc harrows, pulverizers, potato diggers, stalk cutters, cotton planters, cane tools, sugar beet tools, and in fact, practically everything used in the way of agricultural implements excepting grain drills and harvesting machinery.
 

From 1895 to 1910, The Company had become very successful and would double their business every five years with gross profit estimated at 15 million by June of 1913. Power farming was beginning to take off and the company could no longer ignore what was happening around them, so in 1915, the Moline Plow Company would buy the Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ohio.

Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company


The Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company of Columbus, Ohio, started out in 1914 featuring the Universal Motor Cultivator. Later that year the company would incorporate, the Universal Motor Cultivator was designed with the drive wheel in front with the engine over the drive wheels it would feature a two cylinder opposed horizontal engine rated at 10 horse power at the draw bar and 12 at the belt and operated at 800 to 1,200 rpm. Forward speed ½ mph to 3 mph. Before the Universal Cultivator sold the company to the Moline Plow company they had Moline design a plow that could be use with the cultivator. The company would only last two year from 1914 to 1915.

The new Moline Universal would feature numerous advanced technologies with its final model. The Moline Universal was so versatile even today people consider it to be the first practical row crop tractor this tractor was a decade ahead of both Farmall and the Fordson. The Universal would become the best-selling tractor of its time; there were many imitations made and it would become the patriarch of the long line of farm equipment which would later become the Minneapolis-Moline.


The Universal would be built upon two ideas. The first idea was obvious; farmers were ready for an agile lightweight row crop machine. Many of the tractors of that time were large, bulky, and unwieldy and never really able to do daily farm work.


The second idea was many of the early-1900s farmers were not ready to let their horse out to pasture and were refusing to retire their horses. Many farmers were reluctance and did not want to change and many farmers still love to work their horses because it gave them a sense of control and that my friends is the biggest reason. 


When Universal Tractors released their Universal Motor Cultivator, the cultivator tractor sold for $385 and featuring a two-cylinder, 10 hp engine, the tractor would soothe a lot of the discomfort felt by many farmers. This tractor was lightweight a lot more maneuverable than earlier tractors and now the farmer could sit right above the actual ploughshares, thus making it easier to operate the implement with levers at hand. In fact, with the engine and drive wheels in front of the farmer and with the steering column, throttle, and brake controls it kind of looked a little like taut reins.

The Universal Company did not build their tractor for very long (1914-1915). The Moline Plow Company had built and experimented with a self propelled design motorized plow starting in 1913. The Moline Plow Company had been working with International Harvester on a design that would work. The Moline Plow company had five sample models built, all of them proved to be less than successful. The Moline Plow Company started looking around for other ideas. That is when the company focused its attention on the Universal Tractor Manufacturing Company so in November of 1915 the Moline Plow Company would buy the company for $150,000.

Now the Moline Plow Company had been building a plow that went with the Universal Motor Cultivator. The Moline Universal tractors continued to be built in the Columbus factory until 1918. Moline would open its own factory in July of 1916 in Moline, Ill.

The 1916 Universal Model D Tractor would still feature the two-cylinder opposed engine which was produced by the Reliable Engine Co. of Portsmouth, Ohio. Several minor design changes were made according to the 1918 instruction book which listed two-cylinder models B and C. The changes would involved the front drive wheels on the tractor, they grew in size and weight, and now the left front wheel could be raised which would allow the tractor to ride level when the right front wheel rolled through a furrow.

People who are fans of the Minneapolis-Moline line are likely to recognize the Universals featured color scheme. The engine and chassis were red and the wheels were yellow. These colors will forever be linked to the Minneapolis-Moline line as long as it existed.

Moline was essentially known for its plows and this would make it easier for the company to offer their implements at a reasonable price when purchasing a tractor. Moline would also offer a power lift option with its factory plow.

Safety also played a big part in selling the Universal. With the drive wheels placed at the front of the Universal made it less likely to roll over a lot less and it was a lot safer than most tractors on the market at that time. Even thought the tractor was ahead of its time it still had a few problems. The first problem was when putting the tractor in its reverse gear the tractor like to buck most likely because of the heavy front end and the light rear end. One of the other problems with the early Universals was tipping. The Universal engine was offset to the left so when taking a right hand turn this would cause the tractor to tip. Moline tried to fix that problem the cheapest and easiest way possible and it worked. They would put concrete in the right wheel and this would hold the tractor down so it would not tip. Most tractor of that time had their drawbacks and the Universal was one of them even still the Universal would become a very popular tractor in its time and it would really take off in 1917 when they release the Universal Model D.

1917 Universal Model D Moline 4 cylinder engine

The Universal Model D would make good on its promise of the earlier models and would prove itself technologically, it was at least 20 years ahead of its competitors. The tractor would feature an electric starter, electric governor and even electric lights, they also improved the engine by putting in a four-cylinder. This would provide 9 draw bar and 18 belt horsepower and had a top governed speed of 1,800 rpm. The Universal farm tractor would be the first tractor with a variable speed governor.

The company would also release a complete line of new implements to go with the tractor. The implements would include grain binders, rakes, mowers, disc harrows and manure spreaders. Salesmen would use these advancements as selling point and it did, the Moline Universal Model D had production numbers of 20,000 tractors by 1918.

The Steering Column of the 1917 D Moline

A look from behind down the back of the D Moline

The Front of the D Moline 

Like most great inventions the Moline Universal would became one of the most copied designs in the history of agricultural engineering. Many blatant copies of the Universal were produced. Most prominent among these were: The Indiana Silo & Tractor Company of Anderson, Ind., The Hokes Tractor Company of South Bend, Ind., made a very similar, if short-lived, model. One of the more popular collectors tractor, the 'Planet, Junior, made by S.L. Allen & Co. of Philadelphia, also seems to have been inspired by the Universal. 



John Deere engineer Walter Silver made an attempt at motor cultivators using a Universal-style chassis in the year’s just prior to1920, but the most successful of all the imitation of the Universal was the Allis-Chalmers 6-12 it was made well and had a low-priced that made it affordable to farmer of the day. Imitation alone would not be able to kill off the Universal Model D; it was because there were just too many things that the other imitators could not get right. One example was the belt pulley on the Universal Model D was at the far front of the tractor. Engineers also added a 90-degree drive and this would allow the user to back the tractor up to tighten the belt.


The thing that was more detrimental to the Moline Universal than the imitation would be its assembly line. The Moline Plow Company devised a mass production line system of sorts. The Model D tractors were built in one place and when parts were needed they would have men using wheelbarrows bring the other parts when they were needed. It did make it easier than making them one or two at a time even still it really was not an assembly line. The truth is because of the lack of mass production it was more likely the assembly line that Henry Ford use to build their Fordson tractor was the real death for the Moline Model D Universal. The Fordson tractor was not any better than the Universal it really wasn’t anywhere near as advanced, it was because Ford could make his tractor cheaper and put it in the price range so that more farmers could afford, it wasn’t till the Ferguson plow system that the Fordson would finally matched the versatility of the of the Model D Universal.

Even though the Moline Plow Company had some success, they were like many other companies they began to struggle. John N. Willys the car magnate would take over management after purchasing controlling stock in 1918, even with his success, the company would still struggle mostly because of agricultural depression and World War I. So near to bankruptcy the company would stop producing the Model D Universal Tractor and many of the implements that went along with the tractor in 1923. When in 1929 the company would merge with the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Co.

The Universal would go the way many ideas would, it was a great idea but it was ahead of its time. The thought of an all purpose tractor would eventually make a comeback in 1924 when Farmall would create their own all purpose tractor the Farmall Regular which proved an all purpose tractor could work.

1936 Silver King

1936 Silver King

When I research many of the cars and truck on the Internet and in publications that I can find sometimes there is not a lot of information about the cars, trucks or tractors. Hence the information maybe small and sometime there is a ton of information some interesting and some a long read. The silver king was one of those that there is a ton of information because of the avid collectors that are out there. So here is what I found.

The Silver King

If you were to look for the small town of Plymouth Ohio on a map it would appear no more than a small dot. But this little town would play a big part in American agriculture history. During the late 1800’s the community of Plymouth would attract the attention of a brickyard worker and a few business friend to their little town with a promise to help them bring jobs to the area by backing them in their ventures. So in 1882 J.D. Fate and his friend Gunsaullus (unable to find his first name) would start the Fate and Gunsaullus Company and they would build clay extruding machinery that would be used for making bricks. Fate would later go on to buy out his partner Gunsaullus and form his own company the J.D. Fate Company in 1892 and would continue to make clay machinery.

Advertising flyer for the Plymouth Locomotive

With the automobile industry beginning to boom, Fate decided to expand so in 1909 Fate would organized the Plymouth truck company. He would go on to build 200 trucks and made an attempt to build one car, but gave up after a fail business trip when the car develop an engine problem and they end up returning hope on the train. It wasn’t long before the truck company failed in 1915. It was not because of the trucks not selling, more due to the fact that Fate had been approached by one of his customer. Fate was asked if he could build a machine that they could use around the rail yard that could replace the mule teams being used at the time. So Fate went to work and developed a yard locomotive which proved to be a successful venture thus laying down the foundation of Plymouth Locomotives which would become his primary product his company would produce.    

Production was good and the company was growing J.D. Fate decided the company would succeed better if they could add more products and when he was approached by Root-Heath in 1919 the J.D. Fate company would become Fate-Root-Heath Company. 

Plymouth Tractor

Advertisement for Corn Sheller

Root-Heath Company was originally founded by Clayton F. and George A. Root in Medina, Ohio, they would manufacture and sold items like, shoe repair kits, horse harness, corn shelter, grist mills, cobbler tools and lawn mower sharpening machines. As the business grew they began to run out of room at their Medina Facility. The Root brothers had been buying casting from the foundry in Plymouth and decided to move their operation to Plymouth when they found a two story building next to the foundry. When the village heard the Root brothers were interested in a building in the village they offered the brother a few inducements to move their operation to their fair city. After deciding to take the village’s offer George A. opted not to make the move he would sell his share of the company to his nephew in-law Charles E. Heath who was married to the daughter of Clayton Root. They made the move in 1895 and change the name of the company in 1904 from the Root Brothers Company to Root-Heath Manufacturing Company and in 1919 joined forces with J.D. Fate to become Fate-Root-Heath. Business was good and the company was moving forward and prospering until the 1929 when the economy crashed.

Advertisement for Plymouth Locomotive

Sales and order slowed in the early 1930’s for the Locomotive, so in order to keep the production going Fate-Root-Heath needed to come up with a product that people could afford and buy in quantity and since the village of Plymouth was located in the middle of the Ohio’s prime farmland a farm tractor was the oblivious choice to add to their production. The company had the engineers and the production capabilities to build a tractor. So when Charles Heath, the General Manager presented the idea of building a farm tractor it would help get the company through the depression. So the Fate-Root-Heath Company set out to build a farm tractor. The first design the engineers came out with was a huge, heavy tractor which was powered by their Climax engine which was big and slow. Part of the reason it was so big and slow was that the engineers were use to building locomotives that were used in train yards. What they needed to build was a tractor that farmer were looking for a smaller, lighter with more maneuverability and inexpensive.

1936 Silver King Left Side View

1936 Silver King Right Side View

 So after their first attempt Charles Heath though some new blood would be needed to build their new tractor and with so many engineers coming from various parts of the country seeking employment and with each one of them bring new ideas with them on how a farm tractors should be designed. They would hire several new engineers and work would begin on a new design for their new tractor. As a result a new innovative tractor the "Plymouth" was born. The companies’ engineers had defined their niche in the farm tractor market. They had designed a machine that was built for a 60 acre or less farm. It also had a definite place as an auxiliary tractor on a farm that was much larger.

1936 Silver King Hercules Engine 

 The new tractor was light and it used a small high speed motor, with a four speed transmission and was powered by a Hercules IXA engine. It uses a one plow standard tread tractor and could plow 5 acres in a ten hour day. The four speed transmission would allow a top speed 25 mph which was unheard of in that day. The Fate-Root-Heath engineers also used a silver paint that would adhere well metal and would give great protection against rust, and they would use this paint on their other products too. All of the Plymouth tractors would be painted silver and were given blue wheels for contrast. The tractor weighed around 2100 lb. and could be ordered with two different tread widths, 38 and 44 inches.

After the new Plymouth was introduced Charles Heath was approached by a young farmer, Luke Biggs who had built a farm tractor using a car engine and the rear axle from a Ford truck. Biggs tractor featured a single front wheel. After Biggs show Mr. Heath a photo of his tractor he was hired on the spot and within weeks he was made superintendent of the tractor division. The Plymouth would be called revolutionary because it was the first tractor designed and built using rubber tires as it foundation. Steel wheels came standard on the tractor but when salesmen would deliver the farmers new Plymouth they would bring along a set of rubber tire then demonstrate the different between steel wheel and rubber. The demonstrations worked well because the salesman would always come back with the steel wheel and the rubber tires could only be purchased at an extra cost (according to Mr. Biggs in an interview) he may have been right because there was a large line up of steel wheel against the fence.

The Fate-Root-Heath Company started a tradition that would confound, confuse and mystify dealer, collectors and anyone else who shared interest in tractors. The first Plymouth would be given one of four model numbers, the R-38, the R-44, the S-38, and the S-44 and these models were solely determined by the tread width and type of wheel used. It was really a simple method the R-38 model was a tractor on rubber tires with 38 inch tread, an S-44 came on steel with a 44 inch tread so on and so forth. When the model line expanded, so would the quantity of model numbers until, at one time, there were be no less than ten model numbers to describe the two basic tractors that were sold. In the 1940's the model number would change every year even though the tractor did not change.

In 1934 the Chrysler Corporation decided they would fight over the use of the Plymouth tractor. Now they had been using the Plymouth name since 1928 as the trade name for their automobile even though they had no complaint about the Plymouth name being used on locomotives, they did have a problem seeing it on these little tractors that were buzzing down the road at 25 mph. This was too much for the Chrysler Corporation so they sent in their lawyer.   If not for the single car built in 1910 by the failed Plymouth truck company which help save the day Fate-Root-Heath would have lost. In the end Chrysler’s lawyers lost and went back home to Detroit dejected after being force to buy the Plymouth name from Fate-Root-Heath. It has been reported that Fate-Root-Heath sold the name for one dollar. Now that they could no longer use the Plymouth name the company would have to come up with a new name and since the tractor was silver in color and the guys who built the tractor thought it was the king, Charles Heath decided to name it the “Silver King” starting with the tractor serial number 315 it would forever be known as the Silver King.

1936 Silver King Front View

Business was booming and four to five tractors were going out the door by 1936. Biggs would lean heavily on his design from his homemade tractor they would be called model R-66 which came with rubber tires and the S-66 which would come with the steel wheels. This tractor would use a swinging drawbar that was attached to the frame eighteen inches ahead of the rear axles center line, this would allow the drawbar to pull the front wheel into a turn thus eliminating the need for turning brakes. It was designed as a row crop cultivator tractor, the three wheeled model featured a unique steering arrangement of levers and chains that formed a bulky appendage located out in front of the tractors radiator. This steering gear was ugly but it was effective, and would not cost as much to manufacture. They would use a cast iron frame on the first 1000 or so three wheeled tractor; later ones would use a steel plate frame along the sides of the engine.

Fate-Root-Heath would build their low but stable designed four wheel Silver King as part of a package it could be ordered with lights and a horn this tractor would become popular for many wide variety of uses. The W.P. A. (The Work Progress Administration) began paving highways and they would begin to spend more and more on keeping the ditch next to the highway mowed and the Silver Kings was the perfect tractor for a highway mower. This little tractor had plenty of power to do the job and with rubber tires and great high road speed; this little tractor could get to and from the work area quickly. With the optional bull and pinion gear sets this tractors could travel at or up to 45 mph. They became so popular in Hollywood that many of the movie companies would use them to tow movie sets around. Warner Brothers was just one of the many movie companies to use this tractor. The California vegetable growers loved them because this tractor could tow a wagon slow enough so that a picker to keep up with it and that was just using first gear. Then after the wagons were loaded the tractor could travel on the roads to collection points using the high speed gears thus wasting precious harvest time. Many manufacturing firms like to use the Silver King industrial tractor and one big company that did use the Silver King was the Willys Jeep plant in Toledo, Ohio.

By the late 1930’s the Plymouth engineers began working on developing live hydraulics, a three point hitch, and a completely hydraulic transmission and in the mean time this little innovative tractor began to attracting attention from all over. It had been said "The Silver King is the best tractor buy on the market.” and that said by Henry Ford himself who reportedly owned several Silver Kings. The plant in Plymouth would entertain many interested people, Harry Ferguson was just one of the many the engineers had the pleasure of meeting, it was also said that a John Deere sales manager was overheard saying that  the Silver Kings was, "The best made poorest sold tractor of its time."

Fate-Root-Heath’s factory fine tuned their assembly lines so it could turn out a tractor every thirty minutes by doing this it would keep Fate-Root-Heath out of bankruptcy. By 1937, the Silver King had its best production year yet, with over 1000 tractors being built. Unfortunately the company would not build that many tractors again in one year. Part of the reason was that the engines and many of the other items needed to build the Silver King were purchased from outside the factory. The stuff needed was bought ahead of time in large batches so that there would be enough to build 50 to 100 tractors at a time. Many times when parts were reordered many of the new item would be different from the one previously that had been ordered. Which would accounts for the many variety of wheels, air filters, and paint colors that are found on many of the tractors.

1938 brought changes to the appearance of the tractor since the name change from the Plymouth to the Silver King. They change the radiator grill to a rounded grill on the three wheeled tractor giving it a more streamlined look and they would make the same design change to the four wheeled tractor in 1939.

The year 1938 brought the first change in the appearance of the Silver King since the name Plymouth was removed in 1934. The three wheeled tractor was fitted with a new, rounded, radiator grill. In 1939 the four wheel tractor also received the new grill. Many manufacturers were streamlining their tractors at this time, and the new grill may have been an attempt to streamline the Silver King. Few would agree that it was much of an improvement on the looks of the three wheeled tractor, which still had the bulky steering mechanism out front. But the first major mechanical change would come in 1940 when they switch to the Continental built engine on the three wheeled tractor (serial #4320). The Hercules IXB-3 engine was put on the four wheeled Silver King for a short time (#4341 to #5319) before it to was refitted the Continental engine. The Continental engine was the engine that Fate-Root-Heath had designed and had the Continental Company build it for them.

By the time the U.S. entered World War II the War Department was making demands from Fate-Root-Heath to build more Plymouth yard locomotives and war materials the tractor production began to slow. Mostly due to the need for iron and steel products that could be use in building war material.

Even though America was at war a new line of Silver Kings were introduce and it would feature the new and improved  Continental F-162 engine with a newly designed sheet metal which was added to the tractor which really did make it look streamlined. They simplified the steering on the three wheeled model by replacing the chain and sprocket with a simple idler arm. Fate-Root-Heath continued with the three wheeled model as well as the four wheeled model with a limited number of special tractors built that include combinations of old and new parts.

After WW II many companies were racing to meet the demand for farm tractors. Fate-Root-Heath continued their production of the Silver King, they also saw the demand for their Plymouth yard locomotive and there was not as much competition and building the locomotive was their primary business. Part of the reason Fate-Root-Heath had entered the tractor market in the 1930’s was to keep the doors open through the depression now management was taking a second look at the tractor division and with demand for the Plymouth yard locomotive the tractor division was no longer needed. Several tractor companies approached Fate-Root-Heath asking for much needed help to meet the huge demand for tractors. Cockshutt was one of those companies and after buying several tractors from Fate-Root-Heath to assess they were impressed. They approached Fate-Root-Heath with a request to build some chassis and final drives for their tractor. Fate-Root-Heath showed no interest so Cockshutt request went unanswered. Harry Lowther would buy a few chassis and final drives for his companies Co-op B2 Jr. But those to would become short lived and fall to the wayside.

 Production would still continue and the engineers worked constantly at improving the Silver King, even though support from management was faltering. New models would see new hydraulics along with several other improvements. Even thought the Silver King had saved Fate-Root-Heath, management no longer support the tractor division so in 1954 Fate-Root-Heath would close the tractor division down. Mountain State Fabricating Company in Clarksburg, West Virginia, approached Charles Heath about purchasing the rights to build the Silver King, and in February of 1954 Mountain State Fabricating Company would begin production of the Silver King with parts and tooling that they had received.

I have not found a lot of information about Mountain State Fabricating Company other than they one of the many companies that came into being as a result of World War II and that they were doing work for the government and now they were struggling to keep their doors open. Unfortunately, they struggled even with Silver King; they would only produce 75 tractors before closing their doors. Being unable to produce the tractor they would send the remaining parts back to Fate-Root-Heath, where many of the parts were sent to the junk yard. It was then that Fate-Root-Heath would end their tractor business once and for all.

With Fate-Root-Heath out of the tractor business, the Silver King would become just another tractor lost to history. The Silver King that Mountain State produce had serial numbers that started at 50,000 and these 75 tractors would become highly collectable. Approximately 8700 Silver King and Plymouth tractor were produce by the Fate-Root-Heath Company and are highly prized by their owners. It was even said May West owned a fleet of Silver King that were used to work her vineyards.

Even today the Silver King tractors are fondly remembered by farmers who used them on their farms, also by the men who worked so hard to build them and also by the people of Plymouth, Ohio which this little tractor help sustain their economy through the depths of the Great Depression. Many of the records that existed where lost or destroyed and most of the information that I have found has been gathered from the Internet from interviews of past employees, Silver King owners, and articles written about the Silver King.

Tractor Dave's visit

Lee Mys     Dave Rottier    Dave Wolfsen aka Tractor Dave

Tractor Dave standing next to his 1951, 1953 and 1999 International Truck

Today I had the privilege to meet an amazing man he goes by the name of Tractor Dave. As I was sitting working on my next blog post ( yes, I know it is a day late) three gentlemen walked through the Museum doors. It was then that Tractor Dave introduced himself and his two friends at the time I did not remember their name at the time. Tractor Dave told me about his mission, he is driving across the United State. He started his journey on June 1, 2011 on a 1937 Co-op tractor. His plan is to visit all 48 states while stopping to talk to Americans about ending hunger and to help give relief to disaster survivors. Tomorrow, Tractor Dave will be speaking at the Prinsburg First Christian Church about two topic and about his adventure he is having while he travels across the U.S. Dave is raising funds for

CRWRC-Disaster Response Services, CRWRC Food Security Programs, and Foods Resource Bank.

CRWRC (Christian Reformed World Relief Committee) and the FRB (Foods Resource Bank)

If you are interested in hearing about his adventures you are invited to stop out and hear him speak here is the address it is the Prinsburg First Christian Church 106 6th Street Prinsburg, MN United States (320) 978-4581

Prinsburg, Minnesota, is in Kandiyohi county and it is 66 miles SW of St. Cloud, Minnesota (center to center) and 94 miles W of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The city has a population of 458.

He gave me some flyer to put in the Museum if anyone is interested stop in and pick one up or check out his web site www.TractorRideAcrossUS.org while there fill out a donation form and give. As Tractor Dave and his two friends went through the museum I stepped outside for some fresh air and noticed a gray international semi truck. I took a few pictures and when Tractor Dave and his two friend exited the museum. I asked about the truck he had arrived in and he told me. It is a 1953 Extended Cab International Semi (ok, I know what you are thinking they didn’t make extended cab semi’s in 1953, and you would be right.)Dave use the body from 1951 truck (I know he told me what it was but for some reason I didn’t write it down) and the chassis from a 1999 low profile 4700 ambulance and feature a DT466E International with a 5 speed Allison air ride. He uses this truck to pull a 36 foot fifth wheel travel trailer.

Here are a few places Dave has been so far and a few dates left on this leg of his journey, July 5^th Winamac, IN, July 6^th Tipton, IN, July 6^th Westfield, IN, July 7^th Wingate, IN, July 8^th Pennfield, IL, July 8^th Urbana, IL, July 9^th Decatur, IL, July 10^th Mount Olive, IL, July 11^th Travel day, July 12^th Keytesville, MO, July 13^th Quincy, IL, July 14^th Chillicothe, MO, July 15^th Chillicothe, MO, July 16^th Travel day, July 17^th Fairfax, MO, July 18^th Friend, NE, July 19^th Malcolm, NE, July 20^th Wayne, NE, July 21^st Canistota, SD, July 22^nd Volga, SD, July 23^rd Sioux Falls, SD, July 24^th St Peter, MN, July 25^th Mountain Lake, MN, July 26^th Fairfax, MN, July 27^th Travel day, July 28^th Spicer, MN, July 29^th ,30^th ,31^st & August 1^st Prinsburg, MN, August 2^nd Edgerton, MN, August 3^rd Sioux Falls, SD, August 4^th Sioux Center, IA, August 5^th Cherokee, IA, August 6^th Lohrville, IA, August 7^th Fort Dodge, IA, August 8^th Travel day, August 9^th Urbandale, IA, August 10^th Pella, IA, August 11^th Waterloo, IA, August 12^th Hazel Green, WI, August 13^th & 14^th Oosburg, WI, August 15^th Fremont, MI.

Thanks again for stopping in Tractor Dave and good fortune on your journey.

May God protect and bless you.

1986 Minikin

1986 Minikin built in St.Cloud, MN. Front view 1986 Minikin side view Minikin In 1983 D & A Vehicles (USA) first introduce the Minikin to the public after acquiring the rights of the Freeway. H.M. Vehicles produced over 700 Freeways before they went into bankrupt. Mechanically the Minikin is almost identical to the Freeway it would use the 16 hp 453.25cc Tecumseh engine, which was a air cooled four stroke engine. The Minikin allows two people to be seated side by side, just like in a regular car. The Minikin utilized the frame work and running gears from the Freeway and was featured as a soft top convertible, the body had a different look than it counterpart but it was still made of fiberglass with a (gel coat) finish. The Minikin could be purchase in yellow, orange and red. When researching the Minikin, all I could find out was that D & A Vehicles was based out of St. Cloud, Minnesota. In 1983 D & A had placed a few two page ads in bubble notes for the Minikin in local publications. only 17 Minikins were produced between 1983 when they started production to 1986 when they stopped production.  When researching the Minikin I was only able to find a few articles written about the Minikin and the Freeway. I did not find any mention of the car in any of the small car publication. So if you have any more information on the Minikin or even the Freeway it would be a great help. Just send me at email at schwankemuseum@yahoo.comit would be appreciated.

1981 HMV Freeway

1981 Freeway

I decided to write about the HMV Freeway because it is such a unique vehicle. Below is the history of the Freeway the company was based here in Minnesota. The company was way before its time and I believe if the company would have succeed, we would see these cars everywhere today with fuel prices as high as they are today.

History of the Freeway

Burnsville

In the 1970’s Detroit believe that anything above 20 MPG was considered “ECONOMY “and when they said “IMPROVED” it meant that the car was bigger and heavier than the model year before. Even in the 1980’s Detroit manufactures believe that it was “IMPOSSIBLE” to improve the fleet of cars being made to average 25 mile per gallon. Ask yourself why then are the cars being manufacture today getting 30 to 50 MPG. Part of the reason many of today’s cars have better fuel mileage is because of big government stepping in and forcing manufactures into developing new and better fuel efficient automobiles. But back in the 70’s one man had a plan to build a more economical vehicle. His name was Dave Edmonson of Burnsville Minnesota. Now Dave took the guild lines that the government of the time had set and did just that he built small and light.

Dave started his project in 1970; he would compete in SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) contest where real life mileages were based on actual road driving conditions. By 1977, Dave would come up with a design that would blow the competition away. The design looked nothing like anything anyone else was designing at the time and he would call it the Freeway. Dave would win the contest hands down. The Freeway would blow everyone out of the water with its 80.3 MPG and then again in 1978 with 88.3 MPG’s. Ok so you are thinking to yourself Dave had to be using some exotic technology that he invents but he didn’t. He just use a simple idea that would stump the big 3 for years to come and that idea was to make it smaller and lighter.

With trials finished Dave sought financial backing and found backer who would help get his company off the ground. So in early 1979 David Edmonson would begin production at his plant in Burnsville Minnesota.  He would offer two body styles and three types of engines, the open air Freeway it would be his less expensive model which would feature a smaller engine and a snap down cover. The second choice was the more expensive freeway 2, which was the fully enclosed all weather vehicle it featured a larger engine and more standard features. Both freeway were powered by Tecumseh engines the 340 guaranteed that it would get 100 MPG’s at a steady 40 MPH this motor was the featured engine for the open air Freeway. The 450 Tecumseh was expected to get 80 MPG at 40 MPH but with more power. Top speeds were around 65 MPH with great handling and fast acceleration. There was also an electric model that was offer but because of the range it had was not a popular model, it could only go 20 miles at 40 MPH before it would need to be recharged.

With the factory set up and production schedules posted, documents published and order taken all was ready to begin production.  Then David Edmondson’s financial backing fell through which meant David wound need to restructure his production. One of the moves he made was to scale back production, then move his production facilities to another location and to start manufacturing on a smaller scale. This did not stop him from adding more options to his all weather hard top. He would offer a standard model and a deluxe model. The deluxe model featured front fenders, a bent bumper and dual headlights.

When production began in late 1979 they only had 200 orders, only after posing for a newspaper article with his prototype did the orders begin to pour in. The orders would increase to over a thousand. It was then that they realized that people wanted this car. Many were willing to put up a small refundable deposit for this unique vehicle. But when production slowed down some people withdrew their deposits. David Edmonson would write a letter to them explaining the delay in production many would reinstate their deposits.

Deliveries on some orders were over a year behind originally expected. Some orders were not delivered till august of 1980. Even though David was short of funds David was still able to make new molds and frames along with retooling and completed the first six production cars to roll of the floor in early march. In April they realized that they had enough part to build 50 more cars. It was said that they had shipped out those 50 cars in May of 1980. It soon became hard for the company to get part because of the shortage of funds and many suppliers were demanding cash up front before they would ship part thus making it hard to maintain production and each freeway required 30 hours of work to complete. To make things worst approximately 2/3 of the original order were canceled before they were able to get shipped out.

The Freeway is small but can still be easily seen by other drivers. The high mileage is due to the fact that it is very light and only weights 750 lbs. they structured the body so that the car was very aerodynamics.  The bottom or as others may call it the belly of the car is enclosed in a smooth shell, the drag coefficient is low and surface area even less. The freeway offers two fuel tanks a 3 or 9.5 gallon tank it was estimated that you could get 900 miles on a single tank. When a deluxe model was ordered it was shipped with items that were optional on the standard. This included the oil filter & heater, the larger engine and fuel tank, and a complete instrument package.

Because of their size and for safety reasons you had the choice of having your car painted yellow, orange and red, with other colors optional. The frame used a ladder design for added strength and safety. One of the weak spot was the door area so a 3 point safety harness was standard. It has been reported that the car could rolled or flipped over there have been no reports of anyone suffering more than bruising. There has been a reported of a head on with a full size truck and the Freeway was knocked off the road and the driver only received a few bruised, but the other vehicle and its passengers received far more damage. The fog lights or side marker lights and the single bright headlight offered plenty of light for night visibility. There had been many changes, but the basic design on the freeway remained unchanged.

The Freeway had a variety of engines that could be purchased. The Tecumseh gas engine was available in 340, 390 or 450cc that could produce 12 to 16hp. The Freeway also has an Italian diesel and electric motor powered versions that were also available. The Freeway used a power transferred through a variable ratio belt drive it was the same kind of drive used on snowmobiles this would provided automatic transmission. The rear pulley was mounted on a shaft and that would transfers power to the rear wheel via chain drive. Reverse was available although it was only on the Deluxe models. A small motor drive and gears were used but they could not get them manufactured at an affordable price. A heater was available and it used the oil that was pumped thru the engine then through a filter then through a under dash oil cooler. Some models had the oil cooler moved then they would slip a factory fan housing over it and that would help keep the windshield clear. I have heard that there were 15 or more Freeway that had the electric motor and there were no diesels. The mid-sized 390 engine was another engine that was not used in the Freeway. The stock Freeway had most of the weight on the rear wheel, as both the motor, drive, and 4 batteries were mounted behind the seat. A DOT report states the electrics were extremely unstable cars.

1981 Freeway as displayed here at Schwanke Museum

The Freeway 340 guaranteed 100 MPG at a steady 40 MPH, or your money back now what other company at the time could make that kind of statement. OK Big 3 let’s see if you can top that one even today! About 700 freeways were sold before the company went bankrupt in 1982 but the freeway would live on in June 1982 and Minikin bought the rights to build the Freeway in the bankruptcy procedures but they only produced 15 cars in 1984 and that was a 2 seat convertible.

When HMV went out of business they paid many of their outstanding bills with excess inventory and gave other cars away rather than have them ship them back to the Burnsville plant. In one case 3 cars were given to an employee to compensate for wages.

1921 Overland 4 cylinder Touring and 1930 Willys 6 cylinder Sedan

1921 Overland Touring  4 cylinder 

side view of the 1921 Overland Touring

Another front view of the 1921 Overland Touring

1921 Overland Badge

front view showing where the placement of the badge is on the 1921 Overland

1930 Willys 6 cylinder Sedan

rear view 1930 Willys Sedan

Side view of 1930 Willys Sedan

Willys Badge

Willys Overland Automobile Company History

When looking into the history of the Overland I found that Claude E Cox designed and built the first Overland’s and took the first test drive on February 12^th, 1903. With little or no money at all Cox’s would be initially financed by the Standard Wheel Company. Mr. Cox operated at the Standard Wheel Company’s plant which resided at 671 Ohio St., Terre Haute, Indiana and after a boiler explosion at the plant a year later Standard Wheel Company lost interest but Cox was able to buy the fledgling company for $8,000.

Cox realized he would need more money so he approached David M. Parry and on March 31^st, 1906  they created the Overland Automobile Company. Cox and Parry would incorporate the company with Fifty One percent of the share being owned by Parry and Cox would have Forty Nine percent of the shares. Parry made his fortune in manufacturing two wheel horse drawn carts; unfortunately a short but severe economic depression in 1907 would see Parry’s two wheel cart empire come crashing down around him, even to the extent of Parry losing his house.

Sometime during the spring/summer of 1907 the Overland Automobile Company had received and order for 500 cars from John N. Willys and a deposit of ten thousand dollars. When early fall came around he began to wonder why he had not began to received any of his cars, it was then that Mr. Willys decided to take a little trip to the factory and when he got to the company, he found that there were not any cars that were complete, just a few partially assembled ones. It also came to his attention that the company would not have enough money to pay the weeks wages let alone finish his order. It was then he decided to purchase controlling stock in the company. With some financial backing from friend from Elmira, he gained control of the Overland Automobile Company. He was able to keep the company out of bankruptcy thus keeping the company going.

 
Willys would go on to reorganize the company, he started by making important upgraded to the production facilities, a new factory would be built in the summer of 1908. Demands were beginning to exceed the capacity of both plants, even though production of the current Model 24 had totaled 465 vehicles that was ten times more than what they had done in 1907.

With sales soaring and production numbers up, the need for expansion became an important issue. In 1909, Willys would acquire the Marion Motor Car Company of Ohio. Then in September Willys bought the Pope plant in Toledo, Ohio. The Pope plant was huge and one of the more modern plant of the day. It proved to be a bargain at the cost of $285,000 because of the surplus material he was able to sell off.

 
Willys would reorganize and change the name of the company to Willys Overland Motors; the reorganization was done by using the Toledo plant as the empire capital. The Overland Model 38 was the first model to come out of the plant in Toledo. They would replace the epicyclic transmission with the Sliding gear transmissions replaced; this was an interesting fact when you consider that in1909 Ford would introduced the ever popular Model T, and it would use the epicyclic transmission right through to 1927.

 That same year Claude Cox would leave to follow a career in photography, he would also go on to obtaining patents on new instruments he would invent and new processes that he would create with his inventive and creative mind.
The Willys Overland facility in Indianapolis would be used for component assembly work only by 1911. The Willys Overland vehicles were growing in popularity and production figures reached 18,745 and this was compared to Fords production figures which were at 34,979 in the fall of 1911. With production up and sales figure moving up Willys Overland became the second largest producer of automobiles in 1912 only one other car company had more cars in production and that was Ford. Willys Overland would add the Garford plant in Elyria, Ohio in 1912; this helped keep Willys Overland in the second place position behind Ford until 1918.

Willys Overland offers many different cars the more expensive cars would carry the Willys badge and the lower costing brand would carry the badge of the Overland and by 1917 the consumers were offered the choice of Overland, Willys or Willys Knight depending on their budget and choice of engine sleeve valve or poppet valve. J.N. Willys preferred the Willys Knight over any other vehicles his plants produced, but he could see that the Overland’s cheaper poppet valve were his "bread and butter". There were many Overland models the car company offered, but it was the cheaper ones that sold in the higher volumes and this was even more evident during the war years 1914-1918. Sales margins were tight during the war years, but when a serious strikes that directly follow the war threatened to cripple the Willys Overland empire still fought to overcome the challenges. Whilst the Willys Knight vehicles proved the companies excellence at precision engineering it was the Overland line of vehicles that would put the company back on its feet.

Willys Overland produced a succession of 4 cylinder models which were designated 4, 4A, 91 and 91A - all on 100 inch wheelbases from 1920 - 1926. 1923would be another year Willys would introduce another 4 cylinder model designated Model 92, it would sit upon a 106 inch wheelbase many collector remember this as the Bird series. Red Birds had red bodies, Black Birds had black bodies and Blue Birds of course had blue body’s collector also know them simply as the Overland Four. The goal of the company was to sell the car for $500 to compete with the Ford Model T. Because of the war the prices for steel had increased along with the labor cost increase thus making it hard to compete with Ford so the cost for a 1920 would ended up at $845 or more.
The total combined production of the 4 cylinder models 4, 4A, 91, 91A and 92 over the August 1919 to May 1926 period amounted to some 642,000 vehicles. All of Willys Overland vehicles would use the Triplex 3 point cantilever spring system consisting of 2 quarter elliptic springs mounted at angles at both the front and rear of the car. However the 6 cylinder Model 93 would use a conventional semi elliptic springing.

 The 1921 model year Overland Four Touring car that is featured in the Schwanke Museum is a 4 door touring car. This model features rear wheel drive, courtesy of a front-mounted inline 4 cylinder engines with a capacity of 2.3 liters. It produces a maximum power output of 27.4 PS (27 bhp) (20.1 kW), which is transmitted to the wheels via a 3 speed manual transmission. The car sits on a wheelbase of 2540 mm.

also featured in the museum is a 1930 Willys 6 Cylinder Sedan

Below is a time line of the Overland and the Willys Overland motors

1906: Overland Automobile Company founded by Claude E. Cox
1908: John North Willys buys the Overland Automotive Division of Standard Wheel Company.
1912: John North Willys renames the Willys Overland Division to Willys-Overland Motor Company.
1936: Coming out of bankruptcy following the Great Depression, the company is reorganized as Willys-Overland Motors, Inc.
1940: Working from a Bantam Car Company design, Willys contracts to build military Jeeps for the war and produces about 360,000 vehicles by 1945.
1945: Willys-Overland begins producing the Civilian Jeep (CJ) line, with the introduction of the CJ2A model.
1946: Production begins on the Willys Jeep Wagon. Over 300,000 are manufactured between 1946 and 1965. Initially the all-steel wagons are only available in a burgundy and cream color scheme, the appearance of which suggested the "Woodie" wagon look typically found on wagons of this era. 1947 Production begins on the Willys Jeep Truck. From 1947 to 1965, more than 200,000 are manufactured.
1948: Production begins on the Willys Jeepster. Only 19,000 vehicles are manufactured from 1948 to 1950.

More Recent News
1970: American Motors Corporation takes over Kaiser-Jeep.
1987: American Motors is purchased by the Chrysler Corporation.
1998: Daimler-Benz merges with Chrysler Corporation to form DaimlerChrysler, the fifth largest auto maker in the world.
2007: DaimlerChrysler sells an 80% stake in the Chrysler division to Cerberus Capital for a mere $7.4 Billion, creating Chrysler LLC

1954 - 1955 Minneapolis Moline

One of the two tractors that are feature outside the museum is a 1954 - 1955 ZB Minneapolis - Moline. The ZB features a tricycle front end and used a 206-ci  four-cylinder engine with a 3 5/8 x 5 inch bore and stroke and had 36-horsepower. If interest the tractor is forsale, it runs very well. You can give us a call or send us an email.

Minneapolis Moline

The Minneapolis-Moline company was formed in 1929 after a merger between three established companies. Moline Implement Company, est 1852, the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, est.1887, and the Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company, est. 1902.
The newly joined company kept the production going with their production of the Twin City models this was a carryovers of the formally built Minneapolis Steel & Machinery Company. Production of this tractor continued through 1934 and was followed by many other popular models of tractors - one of the most extensive in the industry at that time.

More on Minneapolis - Moline later in my blog