The Minneapolis-Moline R was one of the tractors built by the Minnesota firm that pioneered the closed-cab farm tractor in 1938. The company’s published history does not devote a separate section to the model, so this page sets it in the context of the firm’s range.
Minneapolis-Moline R at a glance
| Maker | Minneapolis-Moline, Minneapolis, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Documented example | a 1942 R, shown in the video below |
| Documented example | a 1952 R industrial tractor, photographed in Pennsylvania |
| Company formed | 1929, from Minneapolis Steel & Machinery, Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company and Moline Implement Company |
| Factories | Minneapolis, Hopkins, Minnesota and Moline, Illinois |
| Landmark model | UDLX Comfortractor of 1938, the first closed-cab farm tractor |
| 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 R separately; the dates of the two photographed examples come from the captions of the Commons photographs.
History of the Minneapolis-Moline R
Minneapolis-Moline came together in 1929 from three businesses: Minneapolis Steel & Machinery, known for Twin City tractors; the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company, which built Minneapolis tractors; and the Moline Implement Company, formerly the Moline Plow Company. It had manufacturing facilities on Lake Street at Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis, in Hopkins, Minnesota, and in Moline, Illinois. Originally called the Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Company, the firm later shortened the name to Minneapolis-Moline Company.
The company made its reputation with the U series. In 1938 it pioneered the closed-cab farm tractor with the UDLX Comfortractor, also called the Model U Deluxe, which carried a passenger seat, a heater, a cigarette lighter, an ashtray and a radio, and reached 40 mph from a 46 hp four-cylinder engine. At US$2,155 it was about twice the price of a Farmall or a John Deere, and only 125 were built before production stopped in 1941.
The R belongs to the tractors of that generation and the years that followed. Two examples survive in photographs: a 1942 R and a 1952 R industrial tractor, both shown on this page. The published history of the company does not give the R its own production figures or specification, so the table above keeps to the documented examples and the company record.
Minneapolis-Moline reorganised under the name Motec in the 1960s and was acquired by the White Motor Company in 1963, which also owned Oliver. White dropped the Minneapolis-Moline name in 1974, six years before it folded, and AGCO, which bought White in 1991, produced tractors under the White name until 2001.
Design and features
- Minnesota pedigree: built by the firm whose UDLX of 1938 pioneered the enclosed farm cab.
- Agricultural and industrial use: the surviving photographs show both a farm R of 1942 and a 1952 industrial tractor.
- Post-war range: part of the generation that also produced the four-cylinder Z series and its 34.8 hp ZB.
Minneapolis-Moline R versions
- R (1942 example): the agricultural tractor shown in the video below.
- R industrial (1952 example): an industrial version photographed in Pennsylvania.
- Company neighbours: the U-series UDLX of 1938 and the four-cylinder ZB of 1953–1955.
The closed-cab U series and the four-cylinder Z and ZB are described on their own pages. More tractors are in the Minneapolis-Moline collection.
Video: 1942 Minneapolis Moline R Tractor. We go for a ride!
Video on YouTube.
Sources
- Minneapolis-Moline, English Wikipedia: company history, UDLX, ZB
