Allis Chalmers Tractor Division Letter
Printed From: Unofficial Allis
Category: Allis Chalmers
Forum Name: Farm Equipment
Forum Description: everything about Allis-Chalmers farm equipment
URL: https://www.allischalmers.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=134782
Printed Date: 29 Dec 2024 at 11:30am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 11.10 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Allis Chalmers Tractor Division Letter
Posted By: TOM (NE)
Subject: Allis Chalmers Tractor Division Letter
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 5:02pm
Thought this might be of interest to all. My dad received this letter for the Omaha Nebraska Tractor Division, Branch Mgr. in 1943. I remember dad saying it was hard to get new equipment during the war years. He purchased his first WD in 1949, otherwise farmed with WC's until then. In 1954 he purchased a WD45.
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Replies:
Posted By: Stan R
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 5:05pm
| Interesting and Priceless! |
Posted By: Craig/insoh
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 5:30pm
| Exactly 20 years before I was born! Exactly 1 year after USS Wasp CV7 was sunk off Gaudalcanal ! |
Posted By: CrestonM
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 5:59pm
| Wow! I'd pay you for a color Xerox copy of that! That's an awesome letter! |
Posted By: ILGLEANER
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 6:12pm
4 1/2 months after my dad was born 😄 Those were exciting times in this country ------------- Education doesn't make you smart, it makes you educated. |
Craig/insoh wrote:Posted By: CrestonM
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 6:21pm
55 years before I was born! 
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Posted By: DougG
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 7:22pm
| Very interesting,, Oscar Cooke had a few Allis Chalmers heavy equipment places around Missouri, if its the same guy ? They were in Sedelia, Fulton, and Chillicothie, sold a lot of equipment to Mertens construction , I got in on a lot of good deals when Mertens bought the Quarry I worked at, |
Posted By: tractorchucker
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 9:55pm
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Was this the same Oscar Cooke that later assembled the huge tractor collection and owned Kerosene Annie the first oil pull. I thought that was in Montana? |
Posted By: Mikez
Date Posted: 07 Feb 2017 at 10:18pm
| Wow that's really cool. |
Posted By: Gerald J.
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 12:48am
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Posted By: shameless (ne)
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 6:01am
| thanks Gerald for downsizing it so I could read it! and thanks Tom for posting it! |
Posted By: Allis dave
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 7:10am
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That's a very cool piece of history! Creston, If you right click the big photo (higher quality) you can save it and print it out. |
Posted By: Ted J
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 8:34pm
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If you can't do it Creston, give me a holler and I'll print it out for you. I can save it till Hutch or send it to you........let me know.
------------- "Allis-Express" 19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17 |
Posted By: Ted J
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 8:38pm
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Tom, do you still have the envelope it came in? Would have had a .03 on it. You are one lucky man to have this heirloom and a piece of the past. CONGRATS
------------- "Allis-Express" 19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17 |
Posted By: Bill Long
Date Posted: 08 Feb 2017 at 9:22pm
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My father's dealership in Maryland did not receive this letter. However, it is very appropriate for the time. We knew it was a war we had to win. We all did everything we could to make it happen. There was no help so Pop had me put lugs on the steel wheels, - he would come around later and tighten them -, run parts, do whatever I could to help. We also gathered scrap iron when asked, went through swamps to collect milkweed pods for life preservers, bought War Bonds and Stamps, and anything else we could do. We were fitin the war in our own way. I wish you all could have lived through that time. There was a feeling of purpose in the country that I have never seen again. We all pulled together. Good Luck! Bill Long |
Posted By: Ted J
Date Posted: 09 Feb 2017 at 4:36pm
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Amen Bill. The closest we have come since was right after 9-11 and that didn't last long. The Liberals and the people with money overseas couldn't let that happen. God bless ALL of those men and women from that era. They DID make America GREAT. ------------- "Allis-Express" 19?? WC / 1941 C / 1952 CA / 1956 WD45 / 1957 WD45 / 1958 D-17 |
Posted By: AC7060IL
Date Posted: 09 Feb 2017 at 5:36pm
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Thanks for posting this letter. This Allis-Chalmers company letter really puts things in perspective. My Dad is 89 years old and a WWII veteran. I will print a copy of this letter and share it with him. I'll see if he remembers finding it in his Dad's farm mailbox. Both, Dad & Grandpa farmed with AC tractors over the years (U, UC, WD, WD45, & D-17). Lots of young men from all over this great country fought for our freedom then and still do today. Thank you - Veterans!
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Posted By: CrestonM
Date Posted: 09 Feb 2017 at 5:53pm
Now why didn't I think of that?? I'll do that!
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Posted By: TOM (NE)
Date Posted: 09 Feb 2017 at 9:11pm
| Ted, I do have the envelope it came in which does have a .03 stamp. We found this letter in an old trunk after my mother pass away preparing for her household sale. Really pays to check all items when going thru a family estate. It was a great find. |
Posted By: darrel in ND
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2017 at 12:28pm
Yes, Oscar Cooke did have an impressive museum in Billings Montana. He died, and they auctioned the stuff off back in the mid 90's. I went and seen it the last year that it was open to the public. Glad I did. He was very instrumental in getting Allis Chalmers to develop the roto baler. One of the very old proto type roto balers was located at his museum. The auction of his stuff was an overwhelming success, so the auction company decided to have a consignment sale of antique farm equipment at the same place the following year. That sale was an epic failure. Darrel
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Posted By: TOM (NE)
Date Posted: 10 Feb 2017 at 9:48pm
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Farm Collector - 1982, here is a paragraph from a interview with Oscar. If you search the internet, you find a lot of information on the man. Oscar is a man of many parts and experiences. He started out on a farm, and as a teenager bought a farm of 160 acres in eastern Kansas. He was 14, and he put $400 down on it. 'I broke sod with a team of Molly mules,' he recalls. He grew watermelons on part of the land 'most beautiful vines you ever saw.' He did threshing, then went into the machinery business at Emporia, Kansas. Next he went to work for Allis-Chalmers and was Omaha branch manager. 'I helped develop the round baler,' he states with pride. 'I have the No. 1 round baler. Tom |