Stories about vintage construction equipment and their collectors continued to be popular in 2024 for Equipment World audiences.
Among the stories was a 1962 “Sugar Baby,” a Cat D6 converted from tracks to wheels for hauling sugar cane in Florida.
A collector helped track down and acquire a 1954 Allis-Chalmers HD-15 dozer that his grandfather used to start an excavation business in 1960 and hadn’t seen in over 50 years. We also found a man who has the largest collection of Struck mini dozers.
We’re glad to see readers enjoy these stories as much as we do in telling them. Many of the stories have companion videos showing the machines in action.
We’ve listed the top five vintage-equipment stories of 2024 below, along with links on how you can access them if you want to read – and watch – more. You can also check out our Vintage Equipment section on equipmentworld.com to see our full collection.
On the left, a rare 1930s prototype of the Trackson Traxcavator on an International I-30 tractor, called the TracTracTor. On the right, a late-1940s T4 Traxcavator on a Cat D4.Bill Deutsch1. His Rare Traxcavators are for Show – His Vintage Cats are for Work
Bill Deutsch has a rare collection of crawler tractors equipped with the Trackson Traxcavator, an invention that led to Caterpillar developing the modern-day track loader.
He even has what could be the only one of its kind left, a 1930s prototype of the Trackson Traxcavator attachment on an International I-30 tractor, called the International TracTracTor.
Another unusual aspect to Deutsch’s vintage-equipment collection is that he uses a lot of the machines in his operations as the owner of Deutsch Excavating in Northfield, Minnesota. That includes 1950s-era Cat cable dozers, scrapers and motor grader.
“We had always talked about it, and he had an old picture of it,” Jeff Engstrom says of his grandpa’s 1954 Allis-Chalmers HD-15, as seen above in 1963.Jeff Engstrom2. Finding Grandpa’s Dozer: The Long-Lost 1954 Allis-Chalmers HD-15
Partner Insights
Information to advance your business from industry suppliers
John Engstrom bought a 1954 Allis-Chalmers HD-15 dozer in 1960 to start an excavation business. He ran the HD-15 for five years and sold it, but he often thought about the old dozer that helped him launch a successful company and become an important fixture in Hastings, Minnesota.
Fast forward to 2019 when his grandson Jeff Engstrom was at an antique tractor show. A man approached saying he knew the whereabouts of an old Allis-Chalmers dozer with his grandfather’s company name on it.
The old, rusted dozer left to die in the woods turned out to be John Engstrom’s long-lost HD-15.
Jeff Malmberg has the largest pre-1990s collection of Struck mini dozers and equipment.Jeff Malmberg
3. Stuck on Struck Mini Dozers – Big Collection Focuses on Small Machines
Since 1967,