May/June 2026 Antique Power
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cover feature | Minneapolis-Moline UDLX
The May/June 2026 issue of Antique Power magazine is available in our gift shop and will be available in subscriber mailboxes and on newsstands soon. Freddie Neely’s Minneapolis-Moline UDLX looks stunning on the cover!
It’s a car! It’s a tractor! It’s the Comfortractor!
Freddie Neely’s Minneapolis-Moline UDLX was the “tractor of the future” in 1938.
Story by Chad Elmore, Photos by Brad Bowling
The Comfortractor, aka UDLX, was officially introduced on Sept. 23, 1938, during the Minneapolis-Moline Power Implement Co.’s first National Harvest Festival and Style Show. Three closed and two open models of the new tractor took center stage at the Minneapolis Municipal Auditorium in front of more than 12,000 attendees. Parked among dozens of other tractors and implements made by Minneapolis-Moline, the unusual new Prairie Gold tractors stole the show.
When the event’s doors opened at 7:30 p.m., it was likely the first time in years that Minneapolis-Moline President Warren C. MacFarlane could relax, for he kept the project a secret during its three-year development cycle; in fact, few employees even knew about it.
Several months before, a newspaper editorial about the future of farm tractor design nearly blew the lid off the secret. Minneapolis-Moline Advertising and Sales Promotion Manager Bon D. Grussing gave a copy of the article to MacFarlane—it included an artist’s rendering of a futuristic streamlined tractor that looked very much like the top-secret Comfortractor.
To MacFarlane, Grussing insisted the writer’s concepts were solid and that the company needed to pay attention to the direction the tractor market was heading. With Grussing sworn to secrecy, MacFarlane finally told the advertising manager what the comp-any’s engineers were working on.
To read the full story, pick up a copy of the May/June 2026 issue of Antique Power magazine!
Other articles in this issue include:
From the Editor
Letters to the Editor
Canada Connection: From Horse Power to Horsepower
The Coming of the Gasoline Tractor to Western Canada, 1870–1925Paper Farming: Tractor Conversion Makers Get Creative
Oil-Cooled Superiority
The Benson family’s 1921 Rumely OilPull Model 20-40 represents the peak of the heavyweights!
Story by Robert Gabrick, Photos by Brad BowlingIt’s a car! It’s a tractor! It’s the Comfortractor!
Freddie Neely’s Minneapolis-Moline UDLX was the “tractor of the future” in 1938.
Story by Chad Elmore, Photos by Brad BowlingFrom Steam-powered Dreadnought to Fuel-sipping Diesel
Bill Koski’s 1947 Field-Marshall Series II was Marshall’s single-cylinder answer to a changing world!
Story by Madison Nickel, Photos by Al RogersThe Missing Number
George Caywood’s 1955 John Deere 80 Diesel completed his collection!
Story by Chad Elmore, Photos by Adam RobisonClassifieds
Show Guide
Of Grease & Chaff: Mud, Muddier, and More Mud
A recounting of the Turkey Manure Triathlon as it was told to me by Kaye Saville Shannon
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