Tis' the season to be nostalgic

i am not remebering details,but someone will. AC had other business than ag equipment,I believe a small electrical products division still operated several years ago. But AC had big,big money in a government prodject the governmnt baled on.

Farm Equipment revenue wasn't enough to prop up the rest of the company. But Duetz really screwed the pooch. Handed market share to Deere and CIH.

Bill. I agree with you 100%.

Bill is probably correct. I had forgot that chapter.

Yep, I agree with Bill too.  My grandfather worked for Allis here in La Crosse and he was madder than a hornet about the strike.  He had hated unions ever since.  He retired from Allis but he never talked about it.  If you asked, he'd give you this look and then changed the subject.  The only thing he had after 40 some years, I should say the only thing he kept was his button with his number on it.  He was really bitter.

The 'strike' with all it's communist influence did put AC behind others. The products could have caught up and in some areas did.  The reason AC did not survive the 80's was a lack of well financed , dependent on AC , dealer organization; add to that the finance arm, Allis Chalmers Credit Corp , had dealers sign 100 % recourse on sales contracts.  When the farmers went down in the 80's, repo's went wild and took out the dealers' reserve and then the dealers.   Deere dealers were mandated to return retained earnings into their businesses and became more numerous and financed and dependent on Deere to the point of being almost company stores. AC tried this with Action 80 and IH with the XL program, but it was too late - dealers were going broke and only the strong were surviving. Gleaner was profitable - and wanted to go independent - Ac would not allow this - and it was a mistake.  The small market share resulted in an engine division that inflated the cost of the products - it would have been much cheaper to put cummins in units than the AC engines.  Anyway the times were tough and the decision was made  by David C Scott who was in Washington looking for business when approached by Jimmy Carter  to go all in on the Kiln Gas project to produce gas from coal - all monies went to that project and when it failed - the BOD thew in the towel and tried to salvage what could be salvaged - the divisions were put on the auction block.  KHD bought it then Bob Ratliff and others - one AC guy -bought it back.  It was AC under another name - they then bought other companies and the company has evolved into a world wide company that, if you take out it's construction sales,  is equal to CaseIH in world wide sales.   All from the roots of AC and other divisions who could not survive on their own - but have flourished together. Bad management - a company with divisions that kept robbing peter to pay paul - and an all in for a magic bullet was the demise of the name ... some of the remnants live on - under other names.  The longer the time, the less the name will be remembered.  It is life in a changing world. We tell those who ask what AGCO stands for - it was Allis Gleaner....  and still has a few old AC guys employed.   I shook hands with one, the man who wrote op mans for AC in Orlando earlier this month.