Oliver Super 55

Back in the early years of the 20th Century tractors were the “Crypto” that would make you rich and everyone wanted in on the action. The Oliver Chilled Plow works of South Bend, Indiana was no exception, and sometime in the mid 1920’s they decided that the world needed an Oliver Chilled Plow Tractor. Developing a functional machine proved to be more difficult than they anticipated and only one copy of the tractor is known to exist today.

Oliver’s lack of tractor expertise was soon overcome by the 1929 merger with the Hart-Parr , Nichols and Shepard and American Seeding companies that resulted in the formation of the Oliver Farm Equipment Co.  that was positioned to provide nearly everything a farmer needed except rain. Hart-Parr had been building tractors since 1902 and is generally credited with inventing the term “tractor”. The Oliver Corporation, as it became known in 1944, was on its way to a long career of building innovative farm machinery.

The Hart-Parr tractors evolved under the new corporation. By 1930 the two cylinder horizontal engines had been replaced with vertical four or six cylinder inline motors. By 1935 they had gone “streamlined”. It made them look spiffy, but they didn’t go any faster. A more practical innovation was the gradual replacement of steel wheels with rubber tires. A new Fleetline series was introduced in 1948. This series emphasized interchangeability of parts between the various models. Then, from 1954 to 1958 Oliver produced the “Super” series that included the model classes: 55, 66, 77, 88 and 99. 

The Super series tractors were available in both gasoline and diesel versions and the diesel version proved to be the best sellers. Innovative improvements like independent disc brakes, their “Hydra-Lectric” hydraulic system and an independent PTO were well received by Oliver buyers. A three point hitch system was offered as an option.

Oliver shipped a model 55 to the University of Nebraska where it was evaluated in Test Number 524 from September 27 to October 12, 1954 with the following results reported for the gasoline powered version. Maximum observed horsepower; drawbar, 29.6, belt, 34.39. Wheelbase: 73 inches, front and rear tread width:48 to 76 inches. Advertised speeds: first gear, 1.69 miles per hour, 2nd, 2.58, 3rd, 3.46, 4th, 5.33, 5th, 6.39, 6th, 13.18 mph. 

Oliver manufactured its own gasoline engine, a four cylinder vertical in line with the crankshaft mounted lengthwise to the tractor. The four cylinders had a bore of three and one half inches and a stroke of three and three quarters inches. Total displacement added up to 144 cubic inches. 

I photographed this 55 at the WNC Fall Harvest Days Antique Engine and Tractor Show in 2018. It was parked in an area away from most of the exhibits that is usually where items for sale are traded. There was no for sale sign or any information about it displayed. Maybe it had already been sold. It caught my eye because I can’t recall having seen a Super 55 before. 

Sources: 

https://digitalcommons.unl.edu

www.tractordata.com 

https://oliverheritage.com 

Encyclopedia of American Farm Tractors by C.H. Wendel