Making tractors look like they once did is Adam Humbarger’s specialty. He learned how to tear apart, sand and prepare tractors for painting, and how to paint properly while in Doug Walker’s ag classes at Delphi (Ind.) High School. Walker is the vo-ag teacher and FFA advisor.

Today, Humbarger — long since graduated — has his own shop, where he restores tractors when he has time. He made this Oliver 1650 shine like new, or almost new, once again. His family has a collection of several Oliver models and other makes of older tractors. If they’re not restored yet, they likely will be someday soon.

According to tractordata.com, the Oliver 1650 replaced the Oliver 1600 in 1964. It was flanked by the 1550 and 1850 and later gave way to the Oliver 1655. Produced form 1964 through 1969 at Charles City, Iowa, you could have bought a new 1650 in 1969 for the list price of $7,100.

An Oliver 1600 could pull a four-bottom plow. It was tested at just over 58 horsepower at the drawbar and nearly 67 horsepower off the PTO.

You could get a cab for it if you wanted. But you couldn’t get a toy 1650! As far as anyone I’ve talked to knows, they never produced one. You can find a 1655, but not an Oliver 1650 in ¹/₁₆ scale. If someone has one, even if it’s a custom, send a picture. I would love to see it.

Memories
I would say fond memories, but that depends on which things I remember! I spent a lot of time driving an Oliver 1650 when I worked for a neighbor with a dairy farm, starting in 1970. Most people still grew soybeans in rows back then and cultivated with rear-mount cultivators to get weed escapes. My job was sitting there, day after day, cultivating soybeans, driving the Oliver 1650.

It wasn’t a bad gig, unless his wife made barbecue chicken for lunch. Back then, lunch was like dinner for most people today, and her barbecue chicken, which she prepared in the oven, was my favorite. The only problem was about 2 p.m. on a hot, sunny afternoon, the continuous hum of the 1650’s engine would nearly put me to sleep. He probably lost a few soybeans here and there.

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