Allis Chalmers WC West Allis, WI 1936

The Allis Chalmers Model WC was ordered as “air front,” meaning rubber was not particularly well- designed, and, built from 1933 to 1948. The WC was tires in front and steel wheels in back. like other tractors of the 1920s through designed from its start to be a nimble, mid-1930s, it lacked usability in the low-cost, but well-powered row-crop In 1938, Allis Chalmers led the way with design of its brake controls. Because tractor that would make the best the Hydromantic Tires (tires filled with there were hand levers on both sides use of pneumatic rubber tires, which sodium chloride to give extra weight of the tractor, the operator had to take Allis Chalmers had just introduced to at a low point to increase traction) and his hands away from other controls to agriculture in 1932. A very successful the WC was there. This worked very apply the brakes. . Other tractors had model, the WC was the best- selling well. However, 30 years later, it was foot pedals on both sides, but that tractor Allis Chalmers ever built. discovered this mixture ate rims and meant the clutch and left brake could rusted them, so such a mixture is now not be operated simultaneously. The WC was a variation on the Model frowned upon. W to be used a cultivating tractor, thus Around 178,000 WC tractors were the name WC. made from 1933 to 1948. They were assembled at the West Allis plant in The WC was the first farm tractor to Wisconsin, near Milwaukee, with around have rubber tires as standard equipment 29,000 of them being built in 1937 at and the first tractor tested on rubber the peak of their production. In 1934, in the Nebraska Tractor Tests. The the WC was listed at $825 on rubber pneumatic-rubber, tire-on-steel-wheel (standard), $675 on steel (optional). By combination was more expensive to 1936, the prices were $960 and $785, make than a steel wheel with cleats. To respectively. The tractor could also be make rubber tires standard equipment, ordered as “air front.” while also keeping the cost of the tractor low, the WC’s designers, C.E. The WC line did not end in 1948 Frudden and Walter Strehlow, gave the because the road grader WC Speed WC drop gearing at the rear (bull-gear- Patrol was continued until 1950. If with-pinion final drives), which allowed you consider the WD and WD45 were row-crop ground clearance while having Because more than 90 percent of WCs basically the same tractor as the WC, smaller-diameter drive wheels. Drop were sold with optional electric started the design continued until 1957 because gearing had appeared many times and lights, Allis-Chalmers executive of improvements and tweaks. before on earlier tractors, but never Harry Merritt decided in 1939 that for this new reason — to minimize the these features would henceforth be amount of rubber needed for the tires. standard equipment. Thus, the WC became one of the earliest farm tractors Like other row-crop tractors from various to have starter and lights as standard makers, the WC could be ordered in equipment. both tricycle (narrow tread) and wide tread (that is, wide front track) versions, The WC, with many good features and with the tricycle configuration by far the various first-to-market attributes, still most popular. The tractor could also be had at least a few drawbacks. Its clutch

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