Allis-Chalmers model G tractor, 1948-1955.

This model G tractor was built by Allis Chalmers around 1948 in Gadsden, Alabama.

This small frame tractor has a tubular frame with a 5-cylinder continental engine, which is mounted at the rear of the vehicle alongside the radiator. The five-gallon fuel tank is installed below the driver’s seat. The tractor is painted with the company’s trademark Persian Orange paint colour, which was intended to resemble the California poppy’s colour.

Allis Chalmers were founded in 1901 after a merger of several manufacturing companies, and became an important manufacturer of agricultural equipment, which they started to produce in 1914.

The model G was developed in 1948 and was at the time the smallest tractor the company had ever made. This design was experimental and unique for its time, being a rear engine and radiator tractor, which was mounted on its tubular frame. This design allowed various types of tools and instruments to be installed on the front of the tractor, as well as offering the operator a clearer view of the field they were cultivating.

The small nine horsepower 4-cylinder Continental- engine and 5-gallon fuel tank of the model G meant that this tractor was more commonly used as a precision planting, seeding and cultivation machine, rather than being used for large scale agricultural activities. As such, the tractor was more popular with smaller farming operations, special crop operations, and market gardeners. Whilst 30,000 units were sold by the company between 1948-1955, the tractors rear engine design was not commonly replicated in the UK or US in the 20th century.

The 21st century has since a small revival in interest in the model G and its rear engine design, with a few US based companies producing their own modern tractor models based on design elements of the Allis Chalmers model G. There has also been interest in the US in modifying the tractor by replacing the small rear engine with an electric motor.