Co-op Tractor’s Complicated History

The chronicle of the Co-op tractor during its 16-year existence takes many twists and turns and features an extensive cast of companies. The following narrative tries, as best it can, to follow a consistent timeline. However, the confusing number of manufacturing and marketing arrangements that were created and then were ceased will cause some overlap in this time line.

The Original Co-ops

The roots of the numerous tractors that would bear the Co-op name can be traced back to the Farm Bureau cooperatives in Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan.

These three groups were already selling implements made for them by B.F. Avery. Encouraged by some success selling iron, these Farm Bureau groups made arrangements with Huber Tractor Company to build a very limited run of tractors in 1934.

That venture whetted their taste for horsepower. So in 1935, representatives from the cooperative consortium sat down with Dent and Henry Parrett (creators of the Parrett tractor). They inquired whether Dent Parrett, a well-known tractor design pioneer, could design and build a tractor for them.

The Parretts were willing and had a design ready for manufacturing by March 1936 by Duplex Printing Press Company of Battle Creek, Michigan. The Co-op models No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 were introduced that year and promoted as being “Built for Service — Not for Profit.”

The arrangement with Duplex Printing Press continued until 1938 when the formal arrangements ceased. Duplex did appear to build Co-op tractors from parts, turning out a limited number of model No. 3s until 1950.

At this time, a separate organization called the Cooperative Manufacturing Company appears to have started operation out of Battle Creek, Michigan, also producing Co-op tractors from existing
material inventory. It is assumed that this organization operated along with Duplex for a short time.

Custom Manufacturing

Complicating the already confusing arrangements between the two cooperative groups was the fact that in 1939 a separate manufacturer, Custom Manufacturing Corporation, began operation by the Parrett brothers. Custom-built tractors included the Co-op B2, B2 Jr., B3 (1939 to 1941), and then the Co-op C (1944) and the Co-op D3 (1945).

The Celtrac Co-ops

In 1938, the Ohio Farm Bureau began selling a crawler tractor built for the organization by Duplex under an arrangement by Cleveland Tractor Company (Cletrac). In 1939, Cletrac began turning out a Co-op version of its General GG, which was branded by Co-op G. In 1941 to 1942, the Indiana Farm Bureau started selling a Cletrac tractor identified as the Co-op B-1 and then the B-2 and B-3.

Cletrac would be sold to B.F. Avery Company in 1943. This transition appears to have terminated the manufacturing of the Co-op Cletrac tractors.

Farmer’s Union Co-op

At this point in the narrative, we need to take a step back in time to the late 1930s, when a separate cooperative organization, the Farmer’s Union Co-op out of St. Paul, Minnesota, was also marketing the Co-op No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. These tractors were first built for the co-op by Duplex. In 1938, they were built by a separate company called Cooperative Manufacturing Company, and then by Arthurdale Manufacturing Company out of Arthurdale, West Virginia. The Arthurdale operation was created in conjunction with the Federal Farm Security Administration Re-settlement Program.

NFMC is Created

Now fast-forward to 1942, when the three original Farm Bureau groups joined forces with 10 other regional farm cooperatives to form the National Farm Machinery Co-operative, or NFMC. Based in Shelbyville, Indiana, NFMC produced tractors under the Co-op brand.

Some of the tractors marketed by NFMC included the original Co-op No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3. The NFMC would also sell the Cletrac tractor models.

World War II had an impact on tractor manufacturing to the point that Custom Manufacturing appears to have ceased operation sometime in 1945.

One more twist to the Co-op tractor story is that the Co-op No. 3 was renamed the D-3 and built for the war department to serve as airplane tugs during World War II. Once the war ended, those
tractors were ordered to be sold to farmers. Manufacturing of Co-op tractors did continue during the war but to a limited extent.

Cockshutt’s Entry

In 1952, NFMC struck up a deal with Cockshutt Farm Equipment. That agreement produced the Co-op E4 (based on the Cockshutt 40) and the Co-op E4 LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) tractors.

In short order, the Cockshutt Co-op tractors expanded to include the models E2 and E3. Cockshutt was also supplying combines to Co-op. Some pull-type combines were produced in Canada by a group called Co-op Implements.

Later in 1952, NFMC would be sold to Cockshutt, which needed access to the Co-op dealerships in the U.S. to sell its tractors and implements. This transaction appears to mark the death knell of Co-op tractors.