1925 Model Two Ton Tractor Displayed at Altorfer’s Cedar Rapids Location

This Model Two Ton Tractor was manufactured in 1925 by Caterpillar Tractor Company during their first year of business in Peoria, Illinois, shortly after the merger of Holt Manufacturing Company and the C.L. Best Tractor Company. The first Holt Two Ton tractors were built in Stockton, California in an original Holt plant. This machine is believed to be one of the first built in Peoria and has been referred to as a “transitional tractor,” as there are a combination of Holt and Caterpillar branded parts on this unit.

The Two Ton features a unique overhead-camshaft Holt M-35 four-cylinder gasoline engine, with 4 x 5 ½ inch bore and stroke.The engine produces fifteen (15) drawbar horsepower and twenty-five (25) belt horsepower when running at its rated speed of 1,000 rpm.

Altorfer Machinery Company allegedly acquired this tractor as a trade on a new machine in 1968, from a farmer outside of Belle Plaine, Iowa. The machine did run at that time,
but was too worn to be used in production. The unit was painted and shown for many years as a static display at Altorfer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before retiring to storage for several decades.

In January 2015, the machine was moved to Clayton County Tractor Service in Elkader, Iowa, where owner Craig Stodala performed a seven-month complete restoration with the assistance of John Moyna President of C.J. Moyna & Sons, Inc., also of Elkader. The machine is now in perfect running condition, and is displayed as it would have looked rolling off the assembly line in 1925 painted gray with red trim. In late 1931, all Caterpillar tractors were painted in the now-familiar “Caterpillar Hi-Way Yellow” with black trim.

Altorfer Inc. is honored to display this piece of the Caterpillar legacy, and is proud to be a Caterpillar Dealer, serving the needs of our customers since 1957.