The 1938 Minneapolis-Moline Comfortractor was an unusual Depression-era hybrid of car and tractor.

"Jim Spanfeller" (awesomeaustinv) 02/27/2020 at 16:02 • Filed to: Tractorlopnik, oddimotive

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In the mid-30's, Minneapolis-Moline was looking for a way to increase their share of the tractor market. Figuring that farmers, while plowing their fields - subjected to scorching sun, cold rain, and stinging hail - would like a bit of shelter, they came up with the revolutionary idea of making a tractor with a completely enclosed cab. While they were at it, they also had the unusual idea that farmers would like a tractor that could also be used as a car. Cars and tractors are expensive, they thought, and the Great Depression wasn’t doing anyone any favors, so why not build a vehicle that could be both car and tractor? The result: The Minneapolis-Moline Comfortractor.

Although it was based on the design of their Model U tractor, the modifications were extensive. It featured new bodywork with streamlined fenders and an upright grille with extra chrome and a fully-enclosed engine bay, as well as a fancy chrome bumper and the aforementioned enclosed cab, which sat so low that the driver would sit right next to the gearbox. But they didn’t just dress it up to look like a car, they also made some clever tweaks to the drivetrain to make it drive more like a car when you wanted to use it as one.

The rear axle remained the same as the Model U’s, but the engine received new bearings and the transmission was modified. The new transmission had a special housing with a second shifter. This second shifter would disable the first four gears at road speeds, reducing the number of moving parts by a quarter. Under tractor operation, the top speed was about 25 mph, which was about the most you could expect out of the average tractor at the time. But when operating as a car with the use of that fancy transmission, it could reach speeds as high as 40 mph!

That might not sound like a lot, but bear in mind that at this time, a lot of people were still driving Ford Model Ts, which only topped out at about 42. So at the time, you could totally have used this tractor as a car without holding up traffic too bad. Also, being a tractor, it had no suspension, so you wouldn’t have really wanted to exceed 40 mph anyways. Only one other tractor at the time - the Graham-Bradley General Purpose Tractor - could match that speed, but it didn’t have the car-like cab of the Comfortractor.

Speaking of the cab, on the inside, the Comfortractor featured several car-like luxury items as well. It featured a dashboard with a radio, speedometer, oil and water temperature gauges, a cigarette lighter, and a glove box. It was the unofficial Cadillac of tractors.

Sadly, this was exactly why it failed. When it was revealed amid much fanfare, farmers were shocked by the price tag of a whopping $1,900. At the time, you could buy a regular tractor for around $1,000 and a new Ford for $725, so the only real incentive to get a Comfortractor was the enclosed cab and the fact that if you used it as both a car and tractor, you’d only have to maintain one vehicle rather than two. But most farmers decided it simply wasn’t worth it. Buying a car and tractor separately was cheaper, and cars were much better at being cars anyway.

In the end, they only built about 150 of the things, and the few people that bought them complained about the cabin getting hot thanks to being in close proximity to the engine, as well as poor visibility, dismal brakes, and horrible ride quality on the road. Even then, it’s still a fascinating part of automotive and agricultural history ( and significant in that it was the first tractor with an enclosed cab to sell in significant numbers) a nd it’s one of the most unique  classic tractors out there.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:07

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That was fun.

Jim Spanfeller > Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo 02/27/2020 at 16:08

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Glad you enjoyed!

WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:13

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Very cool, great write up!

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:16

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Moline Plow had previously owned a car company called Stephens.

Jim Spanfeller > WasGTIthenGTOthenNOVAnowbacktoGTI 02/27/2020 at 16:22

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Thanks! Also, about 10 of them were built as “Sport Roadsters”, which lacked the enclosed cab but had the rest of the automotive-esque styling:

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:22

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So why isn’t THIS in a ZZ Top Music Video?

Brickman > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:22

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This is Oppo that I crave for! 

vondon302 > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:23

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This is good Oppo.

Doesn’t hurt that the last pic is fantastic either.

KnowsAboutCars > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:23

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Interesting bit of information.

Jim Spanfeller > SBA Thanks You For All The Fish 02/27/2020 at 16:28

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Probably because there are only about 25 of them left in roadworthy condition out of the 100 sold out of the 150 built. They rarely go up for sale, and when they do, they can sell for as much as $110,000. So they’re not exactly the easiest tractors to obtain...

Jim Spanfeller > vondon302 02/27/2020 at 16:39

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That last pic is from this really cool Y outube video I found:

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:43

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LANZ in Germany did the same thing with it’s Bulldog tractors at about the same time. I’m not actually sure which came first, the Moline or the LANZ, but the LANZ was certainly the more successful tractor when it came to sales. There were full hard top, heated, fancy versions of the Bulldog, but most of the car-dogs were fitted with a simple folding windshield with a wiper, a folding roof and a padded bench seat instead of the standard driver’s seat. They were not huge sellers, but probably as many as a 1000 were sold across Europe with some level of body fitted, which is 10 times what moline managed. Possibly the more flexible option choices helped, one of which was front suspension, which dramatically enhanced its comfort both in the tractor and car role. In any case the Bulldog car was a modest success as opposed to the flop the Moline was.

SBA Thanks You For All The Fish > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:45

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OOOOHHH! Cabrio!

MontegoMan562 is a Capri RS Owner > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 16:50

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I enjoyed this.

Cool tractor.

Jim Spanfeller > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 02/27/2020 at 16:50

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Wow, I hadn’t heard of those! Very interesting.

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 17:16

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I suspect the Bulldog was markedly cheaper than the Moline as well. The basic bones of the Bulldog are a huge single-cylinder hot-bulb engine with most of the tractor bits bolted directly onto the engine. The design is simple, robust, low-tech, and dating to 1921. A few square meters of added sheet metal, lights, and a wide seat added to that still made for an inexpensive package. I do wonder just how much the front suspension helped, as the low-speed reciprocating mass of that giant single (originally 6.3l and 12hp, but at the end of production in 1960 it had grown to 10.5 liters and 55hp) was a discomfort in itself... But the option was quite popular and LANZ continued to offer the suspension as an option even after discontinuing the car-body option.

Edit: fur ther research indicates the LANZ does indeed predate the Moline, as the car body was first offered as an option in 1935. It was never a full separate model though, just an options package on the Bulldog. 

Cé hé sin > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 02/27/2020 at 18:39

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I was just going to post about that...

They’re worth fairly serious money now.

Cé hé sin > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 02/27/2020 at 18:49

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I see Bulldogs every year at shows and it’s always interesting watching attempts to get them going - it’s a long process involving (nowadays) a blowtorch and the steering wheel, which does double duty as a crank handle. The usual method is to start the engine in reverse and then cut the power to the point where it nearly stops whereupon you add fuel again just before the piston reaches TDC so combustion happens before that point and pushes the piston back from whence it came.

ranwhenparked > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 21:17

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The ‘30s, specifically 1934-1938, has to be one of my favorite periods for car, or car-tractor styling.

Jim Spanfeller > ranwhenparked 02/27/2020 at 21:44

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They were definitely very elegant back then.

ranwhenparked > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 22:02

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So many all-time greatest hits came from those 4 years - Chrysler/DeSoto Airflow, Lincoln Zephyr, Cadillac Sixty Special, Buick Century, Cord 810/812, Graham Spirit of Motion, Mercedes 540K, etc

Jim Spanfeller > ranwhenparked 02/27/2020 at 22:09

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And the S tout S carab:

Buick Y-Job:

and one of my personal favorites, the Peugeot 402:

ranwhenparked > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 22:15

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And that Pug is just scratching the surface when it comes to France

SilentButNotReallyDeadly...killed by G/O Media > Jim Spanfeller 02/27/2020 at 22:58

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Australia scored something like that in the 1950s and 60s with the locally made Chamberlain Champion. It could do 50 km/h but one was modified to take part in the annual Redex rallies of the time (basically a race around Australia) and it could do 110 km/h.

They are still popular with the right crowd and many have been restored and are road registered. There is a club that organises annual treks about the place...

JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t > Cé hé sin 02/28/2020 at 21:21

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I think the reason they end up starting backwards is because they kick back on the first ignition from the direction the starter (the dude spinning the flywheel using the steeringwheel as a handle) was spinning it... Once you’ve got it firing you may as well let it warm up so it’s running smooth, an important consideration in a hot-bulb engine ... But then you have to get it spinning the right direction, which is easier if you just use the engine’s own momentum rather than fully stopping it and spinning it the right direction... I’ve also seen people get them in a ping-pong state where the piston just goes almost to TDC and then reverses over and over again, back and forth... Its a neat trick, but apparently you can’t do it for too long though, as the engine oil-pump, though bi-directional (i think its also a piston, with a simple check valve, so as long as the piston is reciprocating it moves oil) , does not pump any oil in that mode.

Cé hé sin > JawzX2, Boost Addict. 1.6t, 2.7tt, 4.2t 02/29/2020 at 15:34

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The surprising thing to me about the Bulldog was that it continued in production for at least four years after the Deere takeover. It must have been hopelessly outmoded by then. Interestingly some of the later ones had posh electric starters, though the driver seemingly still had to do his business with the steering wheel so as to get fuel moving into the engine.

I tend to encounter them with Field Marshalls which are pretty much the British equivalent although they weren’t hot bulb designs as such and are started with the aid of a burning paper and as per Wiki

Depending on the condition of individual tractors, it may need considerable physical exertion to start a Marshall .