Oliver’s line of beautiful, stylized tractors looks almost like something a child would draw if you asked them to draw a tractor. The heart of the Streamline Moderne Era was the 1930s and ’40s, and this 1940s Oliver Row Crop 60 tractor fits right in. It can be found listed here on Facebook Marketplace in Rollingstone, Minnesota. The seller is asking $3,750, and here is the original listing.
Rollingstone, Minnesota? The Rollingstones? I mean, Rolling Stones? The name is derived from the Rollingstone Creek that rambles through the area and is said to be translated from the Dakota language as “The stream where the stone rolls.” There are just over 600 people in Rollingstone, so it isn’t big, but apparently, there are some mechanical treasures there aside from its natural and human treasures.
The seller says this Oliver Row Crop 60 has been restored, but it isn’t perfect. Restoring an old tractor can be expensive, as with every other vehicle type, and for $3,750, this has to be a deal, if a person can haul it home themselves. Oliver offered the smallish 60-series Row Crop tractors from approximately 1940 until 1948. They’re known by many as the “tricycle front” configuration with the two front wheels close to each other. There was also a Standard series with wider front wheels. We’ve seen five Oliver tractors here on Barn Finds over the years, three somewhat similar to this one, and two bulldozers.
Known in Canada as the Cockshut 60, this line of Oliver tractors was built in Charles City, Iowa, and was far outsold by competitors. John Deere gets most of the love when it comes to green tractors, but give me an Oliver every time. The 60 was what the company considered a one to two-plow tractor. You moved to a Row Crop 70 if you needed a solid two-plow tractor, and an 80 if you needed three plows. There was also a 90 for those four-plow jobs, and the 99 was said to be the most-powerful tractor on wheels, at least as far as Oliver marketing material went. This tractor would have been around $1,700 new, which is around $30,000 today.
Powering this green jewel is a 2.0-liter Oliver inline-six with 20 gross horsepower, 17 horsepower at the drawbar, and about 19 horsepower at the belt. A 4-speed manual sends power to the 32″ rear wheels, and it looks clean, clean, clean to me. The seller says it runs great, and I’m sure it would be an attraction at any vintage tractor show. Yes, there are vintage tractor shows. Are any of you into vintage tractors? How about the price on this gem, doesn’t this seem like a great deal?
Wow!! Another Oliver. I think I mentioned the last time an Oliver was on Barnfinds that the town we used to live in had an Oliver dealer. And there were quite a number of old Oliver tractors and even a Cletrac of two as well. From wrist I can see, the tin work looks great, very straight, nice paint too. A guy I new had a 70 series Row Crop from the ’50’s and I just remember that funky gear shift patern it had. When they get old and a little sloppy its kind of like Pick a gear…. ANY gear!! I’d love to have an Oliver one day. Unfortunately today’s not that day. . I’m really enjoying all the tractors and trucks on here too please keep them coming!!! Thanks Scotty, I enjoyed your writeup!!!
I saw lots of these in upstate SC at a tractor show. The owners told me they liked that six cylinder engine for it’s smoothness compared to other brands with only four cylinders.