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| I don't know that there was any good silver paint available back in that era - the IH guys had the same trouble with their red in the late 70s and early 80s as lead was removed. Not only was the quality of the paint itself a problem, the color change alone away from the Meadow Green (which had a lot of loyal followers and still does) was perhaps an even bigger issue at the time. I still like both colors for what they are, and for me, it is the tractor design that makes the Olivers and Whites such good machines. The 4-150 and 4-180 tractors were not introduced to compete with a Steiger. Rather, these were like the IH 2+2s - a light and versatile 4wd with superior traction and better maneuverability than an early FWA tractor. They had to compete in the same price arena as a FWA and that was their target. The White 4wd built like a Steiger wouldn't really come about until the intro of the 4-270 and the 4-325 that never saw production.
The 2-150 was a carryover, of course, of the MM (and also Oliver/White badged) G-1355 tractor. These were introduced because White was having a tough time getting a sufficient supply of Cat engines to meet production schedules of tractors. Oliver did not have a large cube engine that could be substituted at the time (there was one in the works in the "Corporate Tractor" but that is another subject) and MM did, and probably had more manufacturing capacity than they had need for in that time, as their sales were falling year over year. So, the decision was made to mate the 585 MM engine to the Oliver chassis. No doubt there was a lot of politics involved in keeping the 2-150 alive and also the Oliver 2255 at the same time. Whether bad or good, quite a few upper management positions in the mid 70s got filled by MM people instead of Oliver people. Had the reverse been true, who knows how things might have turned out?
The 2-105 was a very successful tractor for White. They were far better on fuel than any JD of that era and were just a very capable, versatile tractor for light row crop work. I actually think they had the right tractor for the market at that time and it accounted for a good share of White's best sales years in the late 1970s. Interesting discussion on the 2655s - hopefully we'll see one or a couple at the big Oliver show in Mt. Pleasant (I think??) next year in 2010. | |
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Vintage tractors at auction (pics)
