There’s nothing like diesel’s strong aroma at 5 a.m. to knock off the sleep — especially when it’s emitting from a 50-year-old Oliver-Waukesha 5.1-liter, six-cylinder diesel engine. That’s a regular experience for Illinois farmer Ben Miller, whose antiquated Oliver 1755 still works an auger.
“He has one operating out there in German Valley. I think that’s a Unverferth grain cart that’s in the picture,” says farm broadcaster Max Armstrong about this week’s tractor selection.
By the 1970s, achieving higher horsepower had become an engineering race. U.S. farm equipment manufacturers raced to keep pace with expanding domestic acreage. The market shifted toward bigger machines.
Manufactured in Charles City, Iowa, in 1970-75, Oliver’s 1755 tractor fit that bill. Its engine, the Oliver-Waukesha diesel, powered three models — the 1755, 1855 and 1955.
The latter two featured turbochargers installed to squeeze out as much possible horsepower. It was too much. The turbo-charged overheated at maximum output.
Produced with either a gasoline or diesel engine, the 1755 did not. Sans turbo charger, the Oliver-Waukesha diesel proved over decades to be a reliable diesel motor. With the right maintenance, some might even call it “bulletproof.” Oliver’s old 1755 is living proof, as are others still hard at work across the United States — either front and center, or behind the scenes.
“Some of them are very visible as you pass along the road going by the farmstead and others are tucked away back there behind the bin, operating in anonymity — still performing an important responsibility as an auger tractor,” Armstrong says.
Besides Oliver’s old workhorse and its grain cart, Armstrong points out another element in the photographs that tells a different story entirely on its own.
“Did you notice the clear skies in those pictures?” he asks. “Many farmers had good harvest weather. Some went nonstop practically this harvest season 2025.”