The Ship’s Cat | A Historic World War II Ship With a Historic Caterpillar Engine

The Caterpillar Tractor Company wasn’t the first American engine maker to offer a diesel but their engines set an industry mark for power, economy and […]

The Big Kraut

1976 Deutz D13006 The Deutz name goes back a long way, back into the dawn of diesel in the late 1800s and the early days […]

WATER  INJECTED WONDER

1897 Mietz and Weiss Oil Engine In the late 1800s and early 1900s, Rudolph Diesel had a worldwide stranglehold on patents related to his four-stroke […]

Hill Two

1940s Hill 2R Generator Back in 2019, we published a story about the Hill Diesel and it’s connection to Ransom E. Olds, the founder of […]

New Generation Green

John Deere 1010RU John Deere transformed itself on August 30, 1960, when it unveiled a completely redesigned line of tractors and a new focus. They […]

THIS HERC AIN’T NO JERK

1955 Hercules DIX-4ES Supercharged Diesel Hercules was one of the founding fathers of engine manufacturing in the U.S. and one of the earliest manufacturers of […]

Le Jeep - The 1985 Jeep Cherokee Diesel

The 1985 Jeep Cherokee Diesel After decades of super cheap gasoline, people in the ‘70s and ’80s began suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous […]

Whispering Giant -1968 Oliver 2150 Four-Wheel

1968 Oliver 2150 Four-Wheel Drive As a tractor brand name, Oliver was just about lost to history when they started building their most powerful rear-drive […]

Early vs Late Farmall 706

Early vs Late Farmall 706 The Farmall 706 and 806 tractors debuted in the summer of 1963. Both were badly needed touchdowns after several unexpected […]

1955 International Harvester UD-18A

1955 International Harvester UD-18A International Harvester is well known for tractors, crawlers, combines and construction equipment, almost all powered by engines built in-house. For the […]

The Evolution of the World’s Most Efficient Motor.

Two Must-Have Books for Engine Heads Take a moment and try to imagine coming up with the principles of internal combustion all on your own. […]

The 1955 Mysterious Massey-Harris 33D

1955 Massey-Harris 33D When you talk to Massey-Harris tractor collectors, one 1950s model stands out as a proverbial “hen’s tooth” tractor, the Model 33 diesel. […]

The Caterpillar 1935 Diesel Forty

1935 Caterpillar Diesel Forty By the mid-1930s, Caterpillar had only been a company for ten years but was dominating the crawler market. They had also […]

WWII Caterpillar Diesel American 7-cylinder, Tank

1942 Caterpillar RD-1820 Radial Diesel In today’s world, a Caterpillar diesel in a tank seems like a naturally good idea. In World War II, however, […]

A Rare 12 Pack

1972 Allis Chalmers DES-550 Generator Sometimes the best ideas come to a company and bear fruit at the worst possible times. Such was the case […]

The Dirty Porsche

1953 and 1959 Porsche Designed Tractors Close your eyes and say the name “Porsche!” What pops into your mind is likely not the tractors you […]

JIMMY MACK IS BACK!

1949 Mack Model 75 with Jimmy Power While this Vintage Smoke column usually centers around period original diesels, this  Mack drew our attention. While it’s […]

EVOLUTION OF A HEAVYWEIGHT

1961 Minneapolis-Moline GVI At the dawn of the 1960s, Minneapolis-Moline (M-M) had an aging but well-regarded line of heavyweight tractors that had evolved from a […]

A KING OF AG

1978 Case 1570 Agri King Case was within sight of the top power tier of the tractor market when it debuted the 70 series tractors […]

Vintage Diesel Engine That Starts On Gas

International Harvester’s Gas Start Diesels Making diesels user friendly was an uphill struggle in the late 1920s and early ‘30s. The advantages of the compression-ignition […]