I agree! I wish Gleaner would make a retro combine...paint and decal them like the N series...

I also like how Versatile went back to their old colors. 

With the average age of a farmer in the US in the mid 60's and farming in the large farming areas of the country becoming more consolidated all the time say in 10 to 15 years how many

people farming that will actually buy a new tractor or combine will care about the old brands

like Oliver or AC? Probably very few so why would AGCO promote brands that haven't been  built for 30 or 40 years? To be honest I like Olivers and AC tractors,equipment etc

but if I was going to spend a quarter million$ or more on a new tractor or combine I'd be looking for the machine that was the best value and would do me the best job regardless of the color or the name on it.

Last May, when I decided to buy myself to a 'compact TLB" as a '65' present, I TRIED to by 'Allis', well AGCO.There was what I wanted IN THE SHOWROOM ! 1st sales guy says ,'you need to talk to Ted and he's fixin a chainsaw for a customer', Well after 1/2 hr of killing time ,looking at 30 years worth of dust on ALL the shelves....I left,disgusted. Went to the Kubota dealer that's actually closer to me. Sales guy said hello, showed me what he had, cut a deal and I've been HAPPY.

Jay

AC could suggest but could not make dealers upgrade be ready for the high tech revolution that was to come.  IH had shear numbers and parts business to help their dealers - but they went down as well. If Jim Kettleson from Case had not got Tenneco to buy them and allow the merger all might be different today.  Case brought little to the table as they had divested all but a slim tractor line but I digress. Agco is trying desperately to rebuild its dealer organization but it is slow go in these times.  The CUE or consumer dealers are faring better than the full line ones.  IF you had the 3-4 MILLION in cash to start a dealership that returned 3-4% with mega headaches, 365 day issues and on and on would you make the investment?

   Did I mention 30 years? Stop and think , many of the AGCO employees were born after the last AC unit rolled off the line.  Yes they ARE taught of the history - but how many of YOU paid attention in history class.  The farm population today is less than 2% - and the pool of farm raised and fed kids available to hire is from a target segment of less than .1% so there are record numbers of employees of all companies who never set foot on a farm or tractor.  That is the paradigm we have to deal with.   Finally the AC Exec's had let the market share of AC go below 5%... think about that.  I have been hesitant to bring that up in the past as it is embarrassing.  Hardly a factor in the market. If you were trying to make a company go in tough times would you base your decisions based on 5% of the buyers?  Now I would have certainly listened more than some Agco guys have but I can see their lack of a burden to cater to a % that would not pay the bills.  Some things are looking up for Agco - they have a good solid line that stands as good as or better than most in the market - still AC style engineered above competition - at a better price. They are going to two rubber tired basic tractor lines - MF and Fendt  - most of the yellow ones are will become dark greenies.  The Gleaner is here to stay for the foreseeable future and is being sold world wide.  The Ideal will be the higher class size offering with a premium price and service package.  The planter and tillage line is HD and high tech with the precision plant being one feather out of Deere's hat.  Yes some units component come from China - as does Deere and all others whether they admit it or not - a lot of Japanese Ag products have Chinese genes if you know what is implied.  Again Agco is a world wide company with basically AC tap roots with a lot of feeders.

IF you want a heritage AC presence or product do as suggested keep the pressure up to company people at shows, write letters or the ultimate make a guarantee you would PAY for a tractor if it was orange and said Allis - Chalmers  ; that is the input that wins the hearts and minds of corporations.    Sorry for the rebuttal length.   

John Deere did something like that, or so I've been told. I heard Deere told farmers in 1959 they had big plans for the 2 cylinders and were going to keep making them for quite some time, then in 1960 out rolled the 6 cylinder tractors. My late grandpa was pretty mad about that, he just knew Deere shot themselves in the foot by going away from the 2 cylinders. He later figured out how wrong he was. 

Allis-Chalmers was the same way. I read an article once about Allis snowmobiles, and someone wrote to Allis-Chalmers back in the day asking for more information about the snowmobile project, but instead of receiving snowmobile information, they received a letter back stating something to the effect of "we are a forward-thinking company and do not like to dwell on the past." 

Recently I contacted the Ben Pearson company (Yes, the archery equipment) about a cotton stripper they manufactured in the mid/late 1970s (very few made, and are almost non-existent today) and the gentleman I talked to was more than happy to look through the company archives and see if he could find anything. That same day he sent me an e-mail copy of an old 4 page brochure for the machines. I really didn't think it would work out that nicely, but it did! It's nice seeing companies with a little respect for their roots. 

I especially like what Deere has done with promoting/preserving their history. 

I wouldn't be so sure. They aren't done with their product line yet. There are big things coming. And they are serious about improving new models even after they have released them.

And now they have bought some big implement companies, so you will be seeing more of that too.

The Japs were very cautious, giving up just enough to make sure they would gain access to certain markets with a reciprocal as they could still make things themselves, even with such high living standards/labor costs in their own country.

When you have suppliers that make one "widget" and that is all they do in a manufacturing area the size of a one car garage for the likes of Toyota, the quality for the one small part is maintained and the relationships go back decades based on tradition/national pride.

They take their time, with patience based on the long term view; importing cars into the US starting in the late 50's and admitting in the early 90's that their plan was to eventually crack the US car market after 30 years. The fake oil shortage hitting in 73/74 helped them considerably when we rolled out Pintos and Vegas . . . . .

When we sold an oilfield equipment "project" into Japan, I would travel from Singapore only once for each installation phase on a 10-20 well project. They stood over my shoulder with cameras and an entire group would monitor my every move, never needing to call us again as they would do it themselves thereafter. They admitted they copied the Germans by simply buying a Mercedes for complete disassembly, measurements before building something they felt they could do better, called Lexus.

Not bad for a country we rebuilt after WWII, but hey, the Mitsubishi Zero had hydraulics for the landing gear while we reportedly still lowered our gear with a version of bicycle chain in the late 30's.

In the early 1990's, Kubota sold one of their larger tractors at the time to a dairy farmer in the area I grew up in, upstate NY. After one year, the farmer was given a brand new tractor FOC to use while his was taken to a shop they had prearranged. The shop bay they used was completely partitioned off and secure for the two Japanese mechanics flown in. The farmer had his tractor returned after complete disassembly/redress as they wanted to measure all components for wear to see just how it held up. Reportedly, they were very pleased with the results, results used to build the next frame size larger tractor for the US and European market less than two years later.

We see plenty of the smaller utility units from all over the world flooding the market and those same companies have now pushed into the 100hp+ market.

Will most of them hold up?

I think the Kubota has the best chance, as long as they build them themselves, and maintain their quality standards. The units I have priced are right there with JD pricing in most cases but if I had to buy a unit new in the under 100hp size, I would take the Kubota over the JD.

There are 3 of them here, and they get the jobs done.  If I needed another work tractor (which I don't but who let's that stop them) I'd buy another Kubota.

When the Global series unit production reaches a certain # (sales are good on the 4700 series, over sales plan) the plan  will be to build them in the US......

As stated , they are no where near perfect, but Agco retrenched about 2 years ago with new direction and a positive plan for N. America.  Things are not 'rosey' with any of the farm equipment mfgs that build high dollar row crop equipment or the dealers that sell them.   We hope we are at the bottom of the curve of a long downturn...

 

I like and appreciate the heritage of Allis, just like I do Oliver and many more.  But that's just what it is, history and heritage and memories.  I really could give a hoot if Agco ever comes out and paints and badges a hunk of their metal "Allis", because it still won't be an Allis.