Jim Allen

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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

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. […]

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. […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]