The Carroll Story
by Bill Struth as published in Antique Power
About one hour west of Topeka where the Kansas rolling hills transition to vast endless grass lands, Dick and Shirley Carroll farm 160 acres of wheat - and collect Wallis and Massey-Harris tractors. Antique Power was invited to visit the Carroll's this past June to photograph his collection away from the crowds and busy schedules usually associated with tractor shows. Dick's restorations have been featured in Dupont's Farming 1995 Calendar, on the Gallery page of the magazine, and to lucky Florida residents and visitors to the annual Zolfo Springs Pioneer Days celebration conducted the last week in February.
The Carroll's spend their summers in Kansas and winters in Florida. Tractor projects carry on regardless of location. Although the Florida tackles are usually on MH 101s (or similar sized tractors), keeping the multi-ton Wallis projects for Kansas!
Dick was raised on a farm in Northwest Illinois. When he was about ten years old, a neighbor bought a new Massey-Harris 101 to run a threshing machine. Prior to the arrival of this red and yellow tractor, steam engines were the machines of choice for threshing. A HUBER was tried one year that although had sufficient power, its speed control failed to adequately track the load variances the thresher tended to have as wheat bundles were fed in for processing. Everyone was skeptical that this relatively small, sleek looking tractor would do the job. But the doubt was swept away. Although the MH 101 was not as powerful as the HUBER, its fast action governor successfully accommodated the threshing machine's load variances. The ability of this modern looking machine to run a thresher as well as being a versatile, easily controlled general purpose tractor latched onto Dick's heart.
Dick
grew up to become a pilot and operated is own crop dusting company. His
business served farmers throughout the Midwest from Ohio to Kansas. He
owned and maintained his 
own fleet of multi-engine passenger and crop dusting
aircraft. In 1975 he and Shirley decided to relocate to Kansas, basing his
Crop Care business from his farm/home on a 160 acre track. The farm was to
be a working farm, growing wheat on the land around the house, hangers, and air
strip. To work the land, Dick bought used Massey-Harris tractors due to
their low purchase prices and life long fondness of MH machinery. Please
note that a pilot is usually a bit fanatic about his machinery's condition - a
trait enthusiastically supported by this frequent flier! Well Dick applied
this trait to 'fixing up' the used 30+ year old tractors he found to work his
farm. in 1975 not too many people, especially farmers, had seen such
effort to overhaul, then pretty up old farm tractors. But not only did
this end up economically providing fully capable machines that are still in use
today on the farm, it turned out to be fun!
Twenty years later, all that is left of the crop dusting business are walls of photos of a beautiful Piper Twin Comanche, an airstrip, two hangers (for restored tractors!), and a wind sock. But now the love of restored tractors taken over.
To date more than
twenty five tractors have been restored, most being kept at the Kansas
farm. Dick's special tractors include three Wallis units including a rare
1914 Cub
and 1916 Cub Jr. model. His third Wallis is a 1930 20-30
unit which includes its original factory certification
papers. 'Certified' models were shipped with special forms signed by key
factory managers declaring th tractors successful, passing of sell off tests
conducted prior to shipment.
Dick's interest in Wallis tractors is due to their rarity and lineage to the Masse-Harris Tractor Company. Founded in 1902, Wallis Tractor initially operated in Cleveland, Ohio as a division of the J.L. Case Plow Works Company, organized and run by H.M. Wallis, the son-in-law of J.L. Case. In 1912, Wallis tractor relocated to Racine, Wisconsin to share facilities and administration resources with Cast Plow Works, but operating as a 'separate' company until 1919.
During these times, a rivalry between the Case Plow Works and Case Threshing Machine Companies - separate and competing companies sharing the same founding family name - built into quite a fervor. The Threshing Company built steam traction engines in the late 1800s through the early 1900s, introducing a gasoline powered tractor coincidental with Wallis' move to Racine. Public displays of the Case tractor rivalry appeared in advertisements of the two companies' products. A unique barb was placed on Wallis tractors serial plates of the period. Show in a close up of Dick's 15 HP Wallis OK S/N plate, words distinctly state which Case company produced the tractor.
During the 1920's,
business troubles developed in the Plow Works due to crashes in the nation's
economy and escalating inner-Case company rivalry. In 1926 the Canadian
company, 
Massey-Harris approached Wallis/Case Plow to become their
representative in Canada. Rumors developed associated with this Canadian-U.S.
agreement to the point of threatening the deal. But
Massey-Harris was
undaunted in its search for a source of tractors, that business discussions
evolved to Massey buying the J.L. Case Plow Works in 1928. This gave
Massey their tractor line. Case Threshing eventually bought back the Case
family name, which yielded the Massey-Harris Tractor Company. Wallis
continued as the tractor's name plate until the 1930, when Massey-Harris finally
replaced it.
The Massey-Harris part of the collection includes a 1950 Model 44 Orchard, a '30 Four Wheel Drive GP, a pair of Challengers from '36 and '37, a '36 Number 15 Combine, four 101s from '38 through '40 a '38 Pacemaker, '48 Pont, and a '54 Pacer. The Pacemaker turns out to be a unstyled unit three months older than a '38 styled 101 which accentuates the curved sheet metal and engine cowling styling advances MH incorporated at least a year before the better known John Deere and Farmall companies caught up. One might conclude that foreign competition was 'slightly ahead of its time' then, as it is often today. (Side bar comment: Dick questions the author's impression that Deere EVER caught up with MH!)
An interesting
design feature of the Wallis/Massey tractor is it use of a one piece U-shaped
steel casing to house the tractor's main drive and frame components. This
design combined into one structure the tractor's frame, oil pan, crank shaft
support and transmission. This key tractor feature was initially used in
the Wallis Cub, a 8000-pound, four cylinder tricy
cle tractor introduced in
1913. The approach was next applied to the Cub
Jr., Wallis' model based implicitly
on the Cub, but incorporating significant weight and cost reduction design
modifications. This model's U housing was extended to include the final drive
assembly to aid in reducing the tractor's weight by half. Massey-Harris
continued the basic use of this main housing through to the early forties
retaining it even when the tractors transitioned to the 'styled' units in
1938.
The Carroll's - Shirley stays abreast of Dick's restorations - are justifiable proud of the collection. Dick's fine mechanical and painting skills are well represented by the machines he has restored. These units work as well as the look. One of Dick's quality control tests is to lay under a tractor looking for fluid leaks. If the opportunity arises to visit an east Kansas show or the Zolfo Springs Pioneer Days event, make a point to meet the Carrrolls and see first hand their fruits of labor and love.