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thePeorian.com
The Antique Caterpillar Ma-
chinery Owners Club (ACMOC)
was established in 1991 by a
group of men in Oregon who
shared a passion for the legacy
of antique Caterpillar machinery.
The club was founded around a
small white table in Brooks, Ore.,
though the club’s headquarters
are now in Peoria. For many
ACMOC members like Bates,
restoring Caterpillar machines
has been a life-long hobby. His
grandfather used Caterpillar
tractors on his farm in Kansas,
which motivated him to become
an engineer at Caterpillar Inc.,
where he worked for 35 years on
a variety of products.
“
I have been into restoring
vintage machines all my life –
cars, tractors and shop tools,”
said Bates.
But it’s the antique Caterpil-
lar tractors that he loves most.
He bought his first antique Cat
in 1994 and hasn’t looked back.
When searching for Cat tractors
to restore, ACMOC members like
Bates will tell you that you are
likely to find them in unusual
places and unusual circum-
stances. It’s not uncommon to
find abandoned tractors with
trees growing through them or
home to reptiles and insects of
all stripes. Some locations can
be rather extreme. One ACMOC
member recently recovered an
abandoned 1942 Caterpillar Mod-
el D4 from Crown Point Moun-
tain in Alaska at 4,200 feet, where
it was perched precariously on a
25-
foot wide bench overlooking a
valley of glaciers.
“
When the Twenty was re-
ceived its condition was above
average for its age, but there were
many damaged or non-original
parts,” said Bates. Fortunately,
certain critical parts were intact,
like the undercarriage compo-
nents and serial number plates.
For five years Bates scoured
flea markets and searched the
Internet for the parts needed to
restore the tractor to “authentic,
assembly line condition” – which
is the whole point of these res-
torations to ACMOC members.
They strive to make every resto-
ration identical to the day the ma-
chine rolled off the assembly line
–
even down to the manner in
which it is restored. In this case,
every piece of the machine was
bolted and riveted – not welded –
and features authentic Caterpillar
bolts (with a “C” imprinted on
each head) and fasteners.
Bates even managed to track
down the original Champion®
spark plugs used for the original
gas engine in 1928. Where did he
manage to find those?
“(
Cat dealer) Altorfer had them
in stock,” he said. Numerous
parts could not be found (ap-
proximately 40 in all); for these
Bates rebuilt the damaged parts
or fabricated replacements.
Finally, in February 2012,
Bates had the parts he needed to
bring the machine into his shop
and start the restoration process
in earnest. The machine was
completely broken down, part by
part, and all damaged or missing
parts were replaced, painted and
re-assembled.
This Twenty was equipped
with a canopy (a somewhat rare
Caterpillar attachment). It is be-
lieved a dealer added the canopy
some years after the original sale.
Due to extensive damage, Bates
had a new canopy top “rolled” at
a Peoria machine shop.
The machine was officially de-
livered to the Caterpillar Visitors
Center on July 31 and placed in
its new home, where in the future
thousands of visitors will be able
to catch a glimpse of the com-
pany’s history every time they
pass by.
The Future
