Voices

An Antique Caterpillar Finds a New Home

On a warm July morning, as workers were starting their day in the cavernous new Caterpillar Visitors Center that was still under construction, amidst the general clamor of hammers and buzz saws, a small, unassuming gray Caterpillar tractor was unloaded by a forklift off a trailer.

Even though this machine was dwarfed by its environment – particularly the Center's replica of a Cat® 797 Mining Truck, which serves as a 70-person theater – it quickly became the center of attention. That's because this little gray machine was a 1928 Caterpillar Model Twenty Tractor restored to the way it would have looked when it came off the assembly line – even down to the bolts and the wiring.

While the machine looked pristine as it was placed in its new home just opposite of the 797 theater, it certainly didn't look that way when Kent Bates received it from donor Ted Halton of Portland, Ore., in 2007. Bates has been restoring vintage machines his whole life and has a special interest in Caterpillar machines. He's also a member of the Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club.

The Antique Caterpillar Machinery 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 Caterpillar 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 circumstances. 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 Model D4 from Crown Point Mountain 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 received 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 components 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 restorations to ACMOC members. They strive to make every restoration identical to the day the machine 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 (approximately 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 believed 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 delivered 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 company's history every time they pass by.

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