The Minneapolis-Moline 4-Star was one of the tractors built by the Minnesota firm that pioneered the closed-cab farm tractor in 1938. The published history of the company gives no separate description of the model, so this page sets it against the firm’s documented history.
Minneapolis-Moline 4-Star at a glance
| Maker | Minneapolis-Moline, Minneapolis, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Company formed | 1929, from three merged firms |
| Factories | Minneapolis (Lake Street at Hiawatha Avenue), Hopkins, Minnesota, Moline, Illinois |
| Landmark model | UDLX Comfortractor of 1938, the first closed-cab farm tractor |
| Four-cylinder line | Z series, including the 34.8 hp ZB of 1953–1955 |
| Six-cylinder line | G series from 1959, reaching the 142 hp G-1355 of 1972 |
| Ownership | Motec around 1960, White Motor Company from 1963 |
| Brand retired | 1974 |
Based on one source: the English Wikipedia article on Minneapolis-Moline, which does not describe the 4-Star separately.
History of the Minneapolis-Moline 4-Star
Minneapolis-Moline was created in 1929 from the merger of Minneapolis Steel & Machinery, the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company and the Moline Implement Company, formerly the Moline Plow Company. It built machinery on Lake Street at Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis, in Hopkins, Minnesota, and in Moline, Illinois, and was first registered as the Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company.
The company’s best-known tractor was the UDLX Comfortractor of 1938, also called the Model U Deluxe, which pioneered the closed-cab farm tractor. Inside its Prairie-Gold bodywork were a passenger seat, a heater, a cigarette lighter, an ashtray and a radio, and its 46 hp four-cylinder petrol engine gave a 40 mph top speed. At US$2,155 it cost about twice as much as a Farmall or a John Deere, and only 125 were built before production stopped in 1941.
After the war the range centred on four-cylinder tractors such as the Z. The ZB of 1953 was an improved ZA with a more comfortable seat and better steering; its 34.8 hp engine drove a five-speed gearbox, and production ran until 1955. From 1959 the company turned to a six-cylinder G series, which became its largest and most powerful line and ran through models such as the G-1000 and the 142 hp G-1355 of 1972.
The 4-Star belongs to this later range, and the video below shows a 4 Star Super at work. The published company history does not give the 4-Star its own specification or production dates. Minneapolis-Moline later became part of the White Motor Company, which bought the firm in 1963 and dropped its name in 1974; AGCO kept the White brand alive until 2001.
Design and features
- Prairie-Gold pedigree: built by the company whose 1938 UDLX pioneered the enclosed farm cab.
- Later range: a model of the years when the line was led by the four-cylinder Z and the six-cylinder G series.
- Working tractor: the video below shows a 4 Star Super skidding timber with the Ampli-Torque transmission.
Minneapolis-Moline 4-Star versions
- 4-Star: the model described on this page.
- 4 Star Super: the version shown working in the video below.
- Company neighbours: the ZB of 1953–1955 and the six-cylinder G series from 1959.
The 5-Star is its better-known stablemate, and the documented four-cylinder figures are on the Z and ZB page. More tractors are in the Minneapolis-Moline collection.
Video: Tree Skidding with Minneapolis Moline 4 Star Super While Demonstrating the Ampli-Torque
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- Minneapolis-Moline, English Wikipedia: company history, UDLX, ZB, G series
