The Minneapolis-Moline ZTU is a tractor of the Z line, the four-cylinder family that Minneapolis-Moline built after the Second World War. The company’s published history records the Z series and its ZB version of 1953, but gives no separate description of the ZTU.
Minneapolis-Moline ZTU at a glance
| Maker | Minneapolis-Moline Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota |
|---|---|
| Line | Z, four-cylinder petrol tractors of the post-war years |
| Related version | ZB (1953–1955), 34.8 hp, five-speed gearbox |
| Company formed | 1929, from three merged firms |
| Factories | Minneapolis (Lake Street at Hiawatha Avenue), Hopkins, Minnesota, Moline, Illinois |
| Earlier landmark | 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 ZTU separately.
History of the Minneapolis-Moline ZTU
Minneapolis-Moline was formed in 1929 by merging Minneapolis Steel & Machinery, the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company and the Moline Implement Company. It built tractors and farm and industrial machinery on Lake Street at Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis, in Hopkins, Minnesota, and in Moline, Illinois.
The company made its name with the U series and, in 1938, with the UDLX Comfortractor: a 2.9-ton tractor with Prairie-Gold bodywork, an enclosed cab, a passenger seat, a heater and a radio, powered by a 46 hp four-cylinder engine. Only 125 were built before production stopped in 1941, largely because at US$2,155 the tractor cost about twice a Farmall or a John Deere.
After the war the range moved to four-cylinder models such as the Z. The ZB of 1953 was an improved version of the ZA with a more comfortable seat and improved steering; its four-cylinder petrol engine produced 34.8 hp and drove a five-speed gearbox. Buyers could choose a tricycle front axle with double front wheels, a single front wheel or a wide front axle, and production ran until 1955.
The ZTU sits within that Z line and comes from the same post-war generation. The published history does not give its own dates, engine rating or production figures, so this page keeps to what the company record describes. Minneapolis-Moline later became Motec, was bought by the White Motor Company in 1963 and lost its name in 1974; AGCO kept the White brand going until 2001.
Design and features
- Z-line generation: a four-cylinder petrol tractor from the post-war years that produced the 34.8 hp ZB.
- Minnesota engineering: built by the firm whose 1938 UDLX had pioneered the enclosed farm cab.
- Company record: the ZTU appears in the collection but has no separate entry in the published company history.
Minneapolis-Moline ZTU versions
- ZTU: the model described on this page.
- ZA and ZB: the Z versions covered by the company history, the ZB built from 1953 to 1955.
- ZBU, ZBN and ZBE: ZB variants with tricycle, single-wheel and wide front axles.
The Z and ZB page gives the documented figures for the Z series, and the U series page covers the closed-cab UDLX. More tractors are in the Minneapolis-Moline collection.
Sources
- Minneapolis-Moline, English Wikipedia: company history, ZB series, UDLX
