The Rise and Fall of Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors, The Orange Tractor Everyone Forgot

The Rise and Fall of Allis-Chalmers Garden Tractors: The Orange Tractor Everyone Forgot In the early 1950s, Allis-Chalmers employed more than 30,000 people and generated more annual revenue than IBM. The company was larger than 3M and Coca-Cola combined. By 1983, it had sold off the very product line it built for America's backyards — and most people never noticed. This is the full story of the Allis-Chalmers garden tractor. From the 7.25 horsepower B-1 that rolled out of Port Washington, Wisconsin in 1961, to the 620 and 720 series machines that became the most capable consumer tractors of their era, to the compact diesel lineup that arrived just before everything fell apart — we cover the entire arc. We go back to 1847, where the company's roots began in a bankrupt Milwaukee foundry called the Reliance Works. We follow Edward P. Allis as he rebuilt that business into one of America's largest steam engine manufacturers. We trace the 1901 merger that formed Allis-Chalmers, the 1929 decision by Harry Merritt that gave every tractor its Persian Orange paint, and the postwar suburban boom that pushed the company into the lawn and garden market for the first time. Then we cover the fall. The 1974 Fiat joint venture that quietly stripped Allis-Chalmers of its construction equipment business. The 1982 farm crisis that hit every revenue stream simultaneously. The 1983 sale of Simplicity Manufacturing. The 1985 sale of the entire agricultural division to a West German company called Kloeckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG — at a $153 million loss. The 1987 bankruptcy. And the 2008 revival that lasted just two years before the name disappeared again. The machines outlasted the company. The story deserves to be told.