Oskaloosa man recalls the time he spent working nearly 40 years for the same company

OSKALOOSA March 24, 2008 12:58 pm

— One thing 90-year-old Charles C. Whitaker knows something about is farm tractors. And for the better part of 40 years, he sold and serviced Oliver farm tractors in Oskaloosa.
Whitaker, who now spends his time at Maple Ridge Assisted Living Center in Oskaloosa, recently relived those years during a telephone conversation.
Perhaps some remember Whitaker’s Oliver farm tractor dealership on the old Pella Road at the southwest corner of the Southern Iowa Fairgrounds. Back in 1946, when Whitaker first opened the Oliver dealership, there were seven tractor dealers in Oskaloosa. He recalls a John Deere, Ford, International, Alas Chamber, Massey Harris, Minneapolis-Moline, and of course, his Oliver dealership, here in town.
Whitaker said he first got started with Oliver farm tractors as a young man in Oskaloosa in 1935 right out of Rose Hill High School.
“Well, I worked for a dealer in Oskaloosa that started selling them one time,” Whitaker said. “And then he had an automobile both, and he didn’t have room for both of them, so he decided to quit the farm machinery business.”
The person Whitaker went to work for in 1935 was his brother, Harold, who also sold Studebaker automobiles.
“So I was working for him and then the company come to me and wanted to know if I would want to go to work for them as a service rep for them in the state of Iowa,” Whitaker said. “So I went to work for them.”
Whitaker said he worked a short time as a service rep for Oliver, went to the service, and when he returned, he took an Oliver dealership contract in 1946 in Oskaloosa, which lasted until 1984.
Throughout his career with Oliver farm tractors, Whitaker wore many hats in many places.
When he worked for the company, Whitaker said he lived and worked out of Des Moines for a time. He said he also ran the retail store and the branch in Charles City for one year in 1941. He said Charles City was where the Oliver tractor factory was located.
Whitaker said when he worked for the company, he was a sort of troubleshooter, unsure of just exactly what his title was in those days.
“I don’t know what my title really was, but every once in a while, I’d get in a spot and they’d lose a dealer, or they’d lose a branch manager, or something, and then they’d put me in there to run it until they got somebody else to take it over,” Whitaker said. “So, I filled in a lot of places for them.”
Whitaker said at one time he attended antique tractor shows.
“Well, not anymore, because I’m in a care center here,” he said. “No, I don’t go to any of them anymore but I used to attend all of them all over the country.”
Whitaker said at one time he would travel the state of Iowa to set up Oliver farm tractor displays at county fairs. He said he also did some work in Nebraska and Illinois.
“My territory actually was in Iowa,” he said.
Whitaker said at one time Oliver tractors were popular with Iowa farmers. He said running a tractor business took some knowledge of agriculture and the needs of the farmer.
“It’s a different kind of a business, that you deal strictly with nothing but farmers and the businesses connected with agriculture,” Whitaker said. Well, you’ve got to be able to deal with agriculture and you’ve got to be able to deal with them kind of people, farmers and all. I loved the job I had.”
Whitaker said the tractor business has changed quite a bit over the years. He said he sold his first tractor for $767 and his last tractor sold for $86,000.
One thing Whitaker brought up was his recent profile on March 28 in a farm implement trade magazine called Oliver Heritage.
In the article, they describe how Whitaker worked his “way up the ladder to become a ‘company man’” and then left to become an Oliver farm tractor dealer.
The article also describes Charlie’s first trip to the Oliver tractor factory to pick up a tractor for his brother. The article says Whitaker “pulled up to the plant with his truck and they instructed him to back up two blocks into a building. He said he pulled in there and couldn’t find a loading dock anywhere. The dockman said ‘Your tractor is on its way.’ Charlie asked how they planned on loading it because there wasn’t a dock. The Oliver man said ‘No problem. It’s coming down the line right now.’ Charlie looked up and saw the 80 hanging from a hook on an overhead hoist where it was gently placed onto the bed of his truck.”
Herald City Editor Michael Schaffer can be reached by email at mschaffer@oskyherald.com

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