BETWEEN THE BOOKENDS

An Informative, Well-Researched Look Back at Minneapolis-Moline Farm Tractors

One of the most interesting developments came in 1938, with the introduction of the colorful gold UDLX Comfortractor (featured on the book’s front cover). However, MM produced only 150 of these car/tractor vehicles. The UDLX’s transmission allowed for speeds up to 40 mph and, with its optional cab, the vehicle could serve as a car. This was not your ordinary tractor. It included a Philco radio, windshield defroster, wipers, cigarette lighter, dash lights and much more. But it proved too costly for farmers and was succeeded by an industrial model, which had some success when cities bought it equipped with snowplows for street snow removal.

One chapter is devoted to the merger of B.F. Avery and Sons Co. and MM in March 1951. MM became the surviving company. The venture quickly became a casualty of war-more specifically the Korean War. Beemer relates how government-imposed limitations on manufacturing materials and production would ‘render MM’s acquisition of Avery not only useless, but detrimental.’ Sadly, MM had to dispose of the Avery plant after sustaining three straight years of losses. Established in 1825, B.F. Avery & Sons was one of the nation’s oldest agricultural equipment companies at the time.

A decade later, management, interested in branching out of the agricultural market, changed the company’s name from Minneapolis-Moline Company to Motec Industries, Inc. Motec consisted of several divisions, including Minneapolis-Moline Farm Machinery.

In 1963, White Motor Corporation bought Motec Industries and White’s influence on MM’s tractors was felt almost immediately. White replaced MM’s 4 Star tractors with the Model U302, introduced in 1964. Then in 1966, the U302 was upgraded to the Super model. Beemer writes that this gave the MM lineup a row-crop tractor with full four-plow power.

The final chapter highlights the stylish G350 and G450 models, MM’s A4T-1600 articulated four-wheel drive tractor (with power ranging from 169 to 225 horsepower) and the last two MM models, the G955 and G1355. White’s management was integrating the Oliver and MM lines into a hybrid tractor with components from both lines. But between 1973 and 1974, Oliver’s influence overshadowed MM and by the end of 1974, the MM line no longer existed.