Lot S37 / Serial No

THREE IN A ROW A TRIO OF CONSECUTIVE SERIAL NUMBERED WHITE 2-44s TO BE OFFERED IN DAVENPORT BY CHELSEY HINSENKAMP he White tractor brand can trace its deep roots all the story goes, White’s son Rollin found his inspiration in the way back to sewing machines, oddly enough. The his father’s unreliable and headache-inducing steam car, a brand’s long and winding tale begins in 1858 in Templeton, Locomobile. So, just before the turn of the century, Rollin Massachusetts, where entrepreneur Thomas White first founded began working on a design for a steam generator with the the White Manufacturing Company. Determined to see the goal of besting the Locomobile. endeavor succeed, White quickly decided to relocate company Rollin was surprisingly quite successful in his undertaking, headquarters to the more centrally positioned Cleveland, and he soon secured a patent for his final product. He Ohio, and in 1876, the business was officially incorporated attempted to market the steam generator to various as the White Sewing Machine Company—fitting, as sewing automobile builders of the day, including Locomobile, but machines were what the company produced. finding little interest, he instead convinced his father to White achieved his aim at building a successful and sustainable allow him use of some of the sewing machine company’s business, and after two decades at the company’s helm while resources in order to construct a vehicle of his own. raising a family, White welcomed his sons into the business Rollin’s brothers Windsor and Walter were quick to join as they came of age. Young, brash and eager, the boys weren’t the effort, and their hard work paid off in 1901, when the content constructing only small home goods and gadgets, first vehicles built by the White Sewing Machine Company and they began to search for other promising pursuits. As were offered for sale to the public. 2 • MONTHLY By 1905, the auto manufacturing side of the business was the owner of four automobiles, his favorite of which was strong enough to warrant a division of the department reportedly his 1911 White Model M. from its sewing machine parent company, and the White As the company continued on fruitfully, Rollin again Motor Company was born. Having already made a name for grew restless. He soon decided to put his energy into the itself, the auto company was an immediate success, even development of agricultural vehicles, and he chose to leave becoming one of the earliest vehicles allowed on the White White Motor Company to found Cleveland Motor Plow, House grounds; in fact, President William Howard Taft was which later became Cletrac tractor. MECUM.COM • 3 As for the White Motor Company, business continued on with a healthy ebb and flow in the decades that followed, and after a shift in focus, the company eventually took a stronghold in the heavy- duty truck and tractor-trailer industry. By 1960, with business booming, White Motor Company executives got the itch for ag, much as Rollins had many years before, and they decided to enter the tractor industry through the purchase of the Oliver Tractor Company. Ironically, just a decade and a half earlier, the Oliver Tractor Company had purchased Cletrac tractor, Rollins’ own company Lot S37 / Serial No. 234 903-019 he had founded back in 1916. The purchase proved to be a good move for the White Motor Company, motivating company execs to move forward with the acquisition of other agriculture equipment manufacturers, including Cockshutt in 1962 and Minneapolis-Moline in 1963. In the six years that followed, the various brands involved in the merger continued to produce independently, though “cross- pollination” of technologies and designs was prolific enough that some models, while marked as entirely different brands and models, were actually, essentially exact copies of one another. In 1969, the decision was finally made to bring all of the brands together under one umbrella, which gave rise to the Lot S38 / Serial No. 234 904-019 White Farm Equipment Company and its modern Field Boss line of tractors. Tractors’ consecutive serial numbers MECUM.COM • 5 Lot S39 / Serial No. 234 905-019 Before the Field Bosses took over the assembly lines entirely, tractors to their original condition, and that statement does the early-style White tractors continued to be assembled not apply only to appearance; each tractor also underwent a and delivered for a few more years, though determining complete engine overhaul to ensure operation as intended. just how many were constructed in total would be nearly Further boasting auxiliary hydraulic valves and three-point impossible. Regardless, among those post brand-merger hitches, each with a rare draw bar, these little 2-44s make for builds were these three 2-44 models, which amazingly, boast an absolutely stunning set of consecutive serial numbered consecutive serial numbers. tractors that would be an amazing addition to any collection. Manufactured on August 29, 1972, in Charles City, Iowa, While they may be able to trace their roots back to more these three Whites were all painted green from the factory than 160 years ago, White tractors were built for only a and earmarked for shipment to the University of Arizona relatively short time, and today, they are by no means – Tucson, where they were used for years on the university common. That rarity coupled with the fact that these three farm. The sibling group managed to stay together through the examples rolled off the factory line one right after the decades and today feature all new tires on their professionally other as some of the last of their kind make this offering restored bodies. No expense was spared in returning these one that no collector should pass up. OFFERED MARCH 30 AT DAVENPORT 2019 MECUM.COM • 7.

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