Buddy's OC-3 & OC-6 Crawlers

Buddy Webber purchased his Oliver OC-6 in 1996 at an auction in Durham, Kansas. He described the process he went through to acquire the tractor in an article published in Hart-Parr/Oliver Collector Magazine in 1999. To read the article and to view pictures of the restoration process, click on Oliver OC-6

Buddy's OC-6 was built in 1954. The crawler's serial-number plate reads OC6 - 68 - D SN 1RC-042. OC6 indicates that the tractor is a Oliver Crawler Model 6, 68 specifies that the crawler was sold with a 68-inch tread width (center-to-center), and D states that the crawler has a Diesel engine. If the crawler was an industrial model, an I would be included. 1RC-042 indicates that the crawler was built in 1954. The OC-6 was actually an Oliver Model 77 wheel-type tractor mounted on a track unit. The OC-6 was the first Oliver crawler originating from Oliver's Charles City, Iowa, plant instead of Cletrac's Clevland, Ohio, plant. The OC-6 was designed as a farm tractor. During the last few years of production, it was also available as the OC-66 end loader. An OC-6 with a 42-inch tread width sold for $5,200 in 1958; the OC-6-D was listed for $5,900. A three-point hitch was available for $325; a PTO cost an additional $165. Electric lights were standard, but $25 was deducted if the crawler was ordered without them. Other options included a full hydraulic system and a tool bar for the three-point hitch. Most OC-6's were painted yellow.

Buddy's crawler was featured at the 1999 National Hart-Parr/Oliver Association Show in New York. In that capacity it appeared on the cover of Oliver Magazine, on the slipcover of the show video, and in the video itself. It was, and still is, the tractor pictured on the Association's caps, shirts and belt buckles.

Ten years later, Buddy's OC-6 was chosen by the Early Day Gas Engine & Tractor Association (EDGE&TA) to appear on the button given to all members. The photograph above and on your right pictures the OC-6 at EDGE&TA's National Show in Fredericksburg, Texas, on June 13-15, 2009. The photograph was taken by Fritz Ozuna of Comfort, Texas.

Thomas H. White incorporated the White Sewing Machine Company in 1876. This company produced a variety of products such as bicycles, roller skates, phonographs, kerosene lamps, and lathes. In 1901, the White Steam Car was introduced. The automobile was so popular that a separate corporation called White Motors was formed in 1906. White Company engineers begin to experiment with farm tractors in 1911 and, in 1916, the Cleveland Motor Plow Company was formed to produce a line of crawlers. In 1917, the name of the company was changed to the Cleveland Tractor Company and the company adopted the trademark Cletrac in 1918. The Clevland Tractor company was sold to the Oliver Farm equipment Companhy in the fall of 1944.

The Oliver Farm Equipment Company was formed on April 2, 1929, with the merger of three companies--The Oliver Chilled Plow Works, The Hart-Parr Company, and the Nichols & Shepard Company. On May 17, 1929, the American Seeding Machine Company was added, and on July 27, 1929, the McKenzie Company was acquired. At that point, the Oliver Farm Equipment Company offered a full line of farm machinery, with the exception of haying equipment. By the end of 1929, the Oliver Company tied for third place in sales with the J.I Case Company, behind International Harvester and Deere & Company.

The Oliver Farm Equipment Company purchased the Cleveland Tractor Company in 1944 and the merged companies were given a new name--the Oliver Corporation.

In 1960, the White Motor Company acquired the Oliver Corporation and made it a subsidiary.

In 1962, the White Motor Company purchased the Cockshutt Farm Equipment Company and made Cockshutt a subsidiary of the Oliver Corporation. In 1963, White purchased Minneapolis-Moline and it also became a subsidiary of White. In 1966, White changed its name from Company to Corporation, to satisfy govenment regulations and then purchased the Hercules Engine Division of the Hupp Corporation. Late in 1969, the White Motor Corporation organized the White Farm Equipment Company as a new, wholly-owned subsidiary. The White Farm Equipment Company was a merger of the Oliver and Minneapolis-Moline subsidiaries

The White Motor Corporation experienced a financial crisis beginning in 1975 and it was forced into bankruptcy in 1980. In November, 1980, the White Farm Equipment division was sold to the TIC Investment Corporation of Dallas, Texas. In 1985, White Farm Equipment (WFE) was forced into bankruptcy. In September, 1985, the Allied Products Corporation purchased White Farm Equipment. In June, 1991, the Deutz-Allis Corporation purchased the White tractor line from the Allied Products Corporation and then changed its name to the Allis Gleaner Company (AGCO), with Deutz-Allis retained as a brand name. The last tractor built with the Oliver name and Meadow-Green color was built in the Charles City, Iowa, plant in 1976.