Alan Taggart still hears the ghosts of Detroit engines that beat the air to death between a roar and a scream on his farmland, powering eight tractors at the vanguard of the four-wheel drive era. Scavenged from conventionals and pieced together in a mix-and-match style, the Taggart operation built eight DIY four-wheel drive tractors through the 1950s to the 1970s—testament to the mechanical genius of an Arkansas farming family.
Once bright with caterpillar-yellow coats, the faded tractor remains are scattered across Alan’s operation, each articulating hull hiding a unique tale. “There was a time when farmers couldn’t afford a four-wheel drive and they weren’t easy to get even if you had the money,” Alan says. “My family built its own.”
Every farm is an island, containing a unique built-from-scratch equipment history within its boundaries. However, the Taggart operation is a historical hotbed of innovation, and for decades consistently churned out DIY machinery ahead of its time: four-wheel drive tractors, self-propelled grain carts, levee squeezers, three-wheeled spreaders, and far more.
“That’s what farmers did: Build on the farm,” Alan says, “and I guess four-wheel drives became our specialty. People today want to know how they were built, and I guess each one was its own story.”
The Fathers of 4WD
The history and trajectory of four-wheel drive innovation is several shades murky, with claims and counterclaims of origin and innovation from Europe to Australia to the United States.
In 1893, Joseph Diplock, a British inventor, patented four-wheel drive technology for a locomotive steam engine. In 1898-99, Latil, a French manufacturing company, incorporated front-wheel drive into its vehicles, and in 1903, two Dutch brothers, Jacobus and Hendrik Spijker, introduced a gasoline-powered prototype of the first truly four-wheel drive car—the Spyker 60HP, manufactured between 1904-1907.
However, four-wheel drives remained specialty vehicles, beyond the reach of the general public, until 1945, with the introduction of the Willys CJ-2A—essentially a civilian Jeep derived directly from its predecessor used in World War 2. The Willys CJ-2A became the first mass-produced four-wheel drive available to the public.
On a parallel track with cars, four-wheel drive tractors emerged through a staggered series of innovations and upgrades implemented by scores of manufacturing companies, all vying for a spot at the commercial trough, decades before the market dominance of mega-players in the agricultural equipment industry.
In 1912, four-wheel drive tractors debuted via models from Morton-Heer (Ohio-Pennsylvania) and Olmstead (Montana). Several years later, 1915 saw the introduction of the Fitch Four Drive (Michigan), followed in 1919 by the Samson Iron Horse.
By mid-century, riding the coattails of further four-wheel drive innovation, the Wagner Tractor Company (Oregon) unveiled a groundbreaking tractor in 1954, chased four years later by Steiger (Minnesota). John Deere jumped in the four-wheel drive game with its 8010 in 1959, closing out the decade and ushering in large scale four-drive tractor machinery of the 1960s.
“Young guys might have trouble picturing it, but four-wheel drive tractors were once the exception on a farm,” Alan says. “Even in the 1950s, if you didn’t have the money or the means, how did you get a four-wheel drive tractor? You built it yourself.”
Indeed. And in the case of the Taggart operation—by a factor of eight. As in, eight four-wheel drive tractors built in succession.
The Beasts of Yellow
At 57, Alan farms ground in northeast Arkansas’s Woodruff County, outside the tiny town of Augusta—80 miles west of the Mississippi River. On a block of 3,800 acres sandwiched between the White and Cache rivers, atop predominantly sandy loam ground with a fair portion of fit-inducing spongy clay, he grows rice and soybeans as the fourth in a generational chain.
Via the Mississippi River in 1908, the Taggart clan dropped from Illinois to Arkansas, setting roots in the southeast quarter of the state, establishing Taggart’s Corner outside Almyra in Arkansas County. In 1934, Alan’s great-grandfather, Tom, and grandfather, Glen, bought land 100 miles north in Woodruff County, subsequently moving the family, including Alan’s father, four-year-old Charles, to Augusta in 1938.
“We built what we needed from scratch. We farmed all year so we could build stuff in the wintertime,” says Charles, 87, with a deep chuckle.
Clearing ground with stump saws hauled on sleds, the Taggarts carved out farmland for crop production through the 1940s, but like many farmers of the era dealing with big acres and harsh physical conditions, they were hobbled by a lack of sheer machinery power. “My grandfather had a lot of conventional Case tractors in the 1950s, which were great for that day, but they needed extra muscle,” Alan says. “In simple terms, they needed more traction and the only way to get it was four-wheel drive.”
The four-wheel DIY puzzle was spearheaded by Glen Taggart—a mechanical genius whose prowess was known only to his own farming operation, the same modest and understated status of countless farmers even into the modern age. `Prior to four-wheel drive work, Glen had crafted a litany of equipment innovations, including a reverse on a combine header that he attempted to patent.
In roughly 1955, Glen began connecting the four-wheel drive dots, brainstorming on how to connect the rear ends of two conventional tractors with one motor, but more horsepower. “It was always Case rear ends, and I think the first was a DC,” Alan describes. “They took the plate that connects to the rear end and connected to the other rear end, so that the front rear end ran backwards. Then they went in and made new shafts and turned the gears around to where there were six forward gears inside one and six forward gears inside the other.”
Translated, the hybrid tractors contained two individual transmissions. “Just hooking up or going down the road, you could run one transmission,” Alan notes. “But otherwise you had to match both transmissions and it didn’t matter if you were in fourth or reverse, they had to be the same. I can’t even describe how bad the tires got ate up when people didn’t know what they were doing and didn’t match the gears.”
And the heart of the hybrid? An ear-rattling Detroit 453, which was a boss in the field, according to Alan: “The four-wheel drive difference was incredible,” Alan says. “In the fields, we suddenly had a tractor that could do twice the work by pulling a 28’ disc and a 28’ tumbling harrow behind it. No problem.”
With successful completion of their first DIY four-wheel drive tractor, Glen started on a second, assisted by the phenomenally adept hand of Bill Kinsey, a self-educated, DIY machinery mastermind, notorious for taking his daughter’s college algebra book and using several formulas to design and build multiple granaries in Woodruff County. “Bill was unreal,” Alan says. “No real schooling, and he came from a family of White River fishermen, but he was constantly making things of incredible farm value. Self-propelled grain carts a three-wheel spreader right after the very first one hit the market, he even designed an 80’-plus tall derrick-type crane that was used to set tanks.”
All the while, Glen and Bill Kinsey, along with Charles, continued churning out four-wheel drive tractors—eight in total, with the final two built in 1971. “Most all after the first had Detroit 671s. There was a 10” v-belt pulley off the motor, with a Rockford clutch, and it ran down to the parts they built. Then you had the drive shaft that went straight through, with u-joints for the rear end. There was one steering cylinder, and they made it work.”
“They were all Case rear ends. Maybe the third was an LA, then some 500s, and then the last four-wheel drive ended up with a 930.”
Every finished four-wheel drive creation was covered in caterpillar-yellow paint, apart from a few black spots and strips. Numbers, rather than names, identified each machine, with a corresponding numeral painted on the side, according to its birth order. However, the first tractor in the family order, built in 1955 and housing the Detroit 453, was marked with “53” rather than a “1.” The rest of the machines carried their logical designation—ranging from 2 through 8. (The last three tractors also had finishing dates welded on the sides.)
Bowling Balls and Cement Mixers
Born in 1964, Alan’s childhood was immersed in the labor of four-wheel drive construction—years he deeply cherishes. “I was just a little fella and I’d walk down from the house to watch them work, and climb onto the forklift and beep the horn until somebody got up to unplug it. Then I’d wait around and go fishing with my papaw later. Never, never forget those days.”
Alongside Charles, pulling a grain cart, Alan drove one of the four-wheel drives for his first run at age four. “It had a hand-clutch, so I’d put my feet on the clutch to push it in, and put my feet on the dash to pull it out. I was driving solo in the summer by eight years old.”
He still hears the rumble of the Detroits, clanging like bowling balls in a cement mixer. “So loud, so loud, and we never had ear plugs. We had a Donaldson muffler on them and they blared with that full sound of a Detroit. Actually, we pulled a muffler off a Case trackhoe and it reduced the noise. We thought about padding the cab and putting in an air conditioner, but never went through with the plans,” Alan says, while wearing a wide grin. “I guess we almost went uptown with sweet air.”
The Grand Survivor
In 1980, the Taggarts purchased their first off-the-shelf 4WD—a John Deere 7520, but their eight DIY 4WD tractors ran into the late 1980s. Presently, the shells of No.’s 5 and 7 sit on sentry duty around Alan’s farm shop as steel carrion. (One of the tractors was sold to a family member and is now on display at the Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie.) Over the decades, the tractors were picked for parts and the Detroits removed and put on rice wells.
However, No. 8 is the grand exception—its engine and vitals intact. “I’m gonna get 8 going again and put it at the front of my shop. We never robbed its parts and I’m gonna revive it. Most definitely.”
In a sense, No. 8 is a lifeline to Alan’s past, and serves as plain testament to the bootstrap ingenuity displayed over decades by a handful of ultra-resourceful Arkansas farmers: Necessity breeds invention. “Part of it is the unique nature of a farm,” Alan says. “You walk up on a farm anyplace, anywhere, and you truly don’t know what self-made machinery you’re about to encounter or the level of imagination of the people you’re about to meet.”
“Farmers had to build according to need and those days may be gone in many ways, but I never stop forgetting because I can close my eyes and still hear the Detroits running,” Alan adds. “The sound is just part of me and stays in my ears.”
Truly. May it never leave.
To read more stories from Chris Bennett (cbennett@farmjournal.com), see:
Tractorcade: How an Epic Convoy and Legendary Farmer Army Shook Washington, D.C.
Bagging the Tomato King: The Insane Hunt for Agriculture’s Wildest Con Man
How a Texas Farmer Killed Agriculture’s Debt Dragon
While America Slept, China Stole the Farm
Bizarre Mystery of Mummified Coon Dog Solved After 40 Years
The Arrowhead whisperer: Stunning Indian Artifact Collection Found on Farmland
Where’s the Beef: Con Artist Turns Texas Cattle Industry Into $100M Playground
Fleecing the Farm: How a Fake Crop Fueled a Bizarre $25 Million Ag Scam
Skeleton In the Walls: Mysterious Arkansas Farmhouse Hides Civil War History
US Farming Loses the King of Combines
Ghost in the House: A Forgotten American Farming Tragedy
Rat Hunting with the Dogs of War, Farming’s Greatest Show on Legs
Misfit Tractors a Money Saver for Arkansas Farmer
Government Cameras Hidden on Private Property? Welcome to Open Fields
Farmland Detective Finds Youngest Civil War Soldier’s Grave?
Descent Into Hell: Farmer Escapes Corn Tomb Death
Evil Grain: The Wild Tale of History’s Biggest Crop Insurance Scam
Grizzly Hell: USDA Worker Survives Epic Bear Attack
Farmer Refuses to Roll, Rips Lid Off IRS Behavior
Killing Hogzilla: Hunting a Monster Wild Pig
Shattered Taboo: Death of a Farm and Resurrection of a Farmer
Frozen Dinosaur: Farmer Finds Huge Alligator Snapping Turtle Under Ice
Breaking Bad: Chasing the Wildest Con Artist in Farming History
In the Blood: Hunting Deer Antlers with a Legendary Shed Whisperer
Corn Maverick: Cracking the Mystery of 60-Inch Rows
