ARTICLES

George and Bonnie have two tractors that are related, but they also have relations that are not so easy to identify. I am referring to the General Model GG and the Minneapolis Moline BF that they exhibit at shows in the area.

The GG was built from 1939 - 1942 by the Cleveland Tractor Co.. This would be the only wheeled tractor ever built by Cletrac. The B.F. Avery Company would supply the mounted implements.

B.F. Avery was a well respected implement maker and one of the largest plow makers in the world. The company relied on the fact the implements were towed behind the tractor or horses and were universal in their use to all motive types. By the early 40's, tractor manufacturers were building attached implements for their tractors and B.F. Avery had no tractor of it's own to sell and was losing out on many sales. If Cletrac decided to end production of the GG, the loss of implement sales would greatly impact Avery, so in 1943 B.F. Avery took over production of the General GG and moved the manufacturing to Louisville, KY. A short time after the move, the paint color was changed from yellow to red and the model was changed from GG to A.

The GG was a successful tractor with over 7500 sold in the 4 years they were built. Not all the GG's were sold by Celtrac and B.F. Avery. Massey Harris sold the GG in the yellow paint and General name with a plate mounted saying "sold by Massey Harris Ltd.". Farmers Union Company sold the GG in red paint as the model G.. Montgomery Ward sold the GG as the Ward's Twin Row. Wards also sold B.F. Avery implements in their catalog. The original cost of a General GG in 1939 was $595. The GG weighed 2105 pounds. The last year of production for the Model A listed the tractor at $1420. The weight had also increased to 2880 pounds.

B.F. Avery introduced two other tractor models. the Model V (1951) was a small tractor weighing about 1600 pounds and the Model R (1950) which was a full 2-plow size.

As with most manufacturers of the period, Avery changed sheet metal, engine size (to provide more horsepower) and added electric starting but innovation was lacking in their design.

In 1951 Minneapolis Moline purchased B.F. Avery and changed the model designations to BG from N and BF from R. Moline already had a model R. The tractors were given new grills and Prairie Gold paint. These were the smallest tractors in the MM line. Moline continued the use of Hercules motors that had been used since 1939. Production of the BF and BG ended in 1953.

Today AGCO owns the rights to Cletrac, Oliver, B.F. Avery, Massey Harris, Minneapolis Moline and numerous other companies bringing the brands all home. Too bad AGCO chooses to not produce under these brands today.

Thanks to George and Bonnie for helping to keep these two unique tractors available for people to enjoy.