Bolens Built Montgomery Wards Tractor

[HeadExam 1,783]

Really rare birds, The four wheel Bolens built tractors were only built 3 years and I doubt there were very many made. The Rustoleum Hammered finish gold is a good match to the Wards color

[C-101plowerpower 548]

Is that hamertone? If so how does it look out of a rattle can?

[Triumph66 1,256]

Alain, great advert. Be interesting to know how many are still around.

[HeadExam 1,783]

Is that hamertone? If so how does it look out of a rattle can?

With hammertone or metallic paints, whether in the rattle can or used from a container, one must be very careful not to over apply as the finish looks different when it is puddled

[HeadExam 1,783]

Alain, great advert. Be interesting to know how many are still around.

I would venture to say a very small handful. I have only seen pictures of one or two. BTW, Simplicity and Bolens were not the only manufacturers to make tractors for Wards around this time, Moto-Mower also made a 10hp vertical shaft riding mower for them as well. The difference between a riding mower and garden tractor is usually defined by horizontal shaft and bolt on rear tires, versus vertical shaft and rear tires attached via key way or holder.

[Triumph66 1,256]

Alain, I am going to post a post on GTTalk to ask for photos of Bolens produced MW to see 'actual' survivors. hopefully someone somewhere might have one to share photos with everyone.

[HeadExam 1,783]

Alain, I am going to post a post on GTTalk to ask for photos of Bolens produced MW to see 'actual' survivors. hopefully someone somewhere might have one to share photos with everyone.

Good luck, I only found the one picture I posted, but you might find some. Bolens made a lot of the Wards tillers and Choremaster walk behinds for many years, but I really don't think they produced many of the Squire 6 machines or the like. After 1962 Simplicity took over and produced this Squire  71/4 hp

[Triumph66 1,256]

Alain,I think you could very well be right.

[HeadExam 1,783]

Alain,I think you could very well be right.

Still Andrew, if we can't find the actual tractors it would be great to find original ads and brochures about them just for posterity.

[HeadExam 1,783]

Good Post over in GTTalk, hopefully there will be some pictures come forward. I believe WilberJ is wrong in saying "The only one bolens made was based off the 600" (GTTalk.com, 2015). Because according to Montgomery Wards, Bolens built tractors for Montgomery Wards from 1959-1961, Those dates are problematic, because most companies started production 3-6 months before the model year just like cars, so it was possible to buy a 1962 model in late 1961. If you see a Bolens built Montgomery Wards tractor from late of 1958 to early 1961 you will notice that they do not have a tube frame, but rather have a buckboard frame as all Ride-A-Matics did, which is what I believe Montgomery Wards tractors were in 1959-1961, In late 1961 for the 1962 model year Bolens built the last tractor for Montgomery Wards, the Squire 6 and it was a Tube Frame and based off the 1962 Bolens 600 that debut in late of 1961 as a 1962 model. Along with the Bolens built Squire 6 a larger tractor was also available, one built by Simplicity the 7.25 or 7-1/4, and I believe was also called a Squire, as picture in my previous posting. If you look closely at the bottom of the first ad there is a notation that the optional trailer would not be available until after January 1 of 1963, that means that both the Bolens built Squire 6 and the Simplicity 7-1/4 were being offered in the same model year, however the Bolens built Tube Frame Squire 6 was not the same as the earlier tractors Bolens built for Montgomery Wards; not a tube frame. Also in his restoration of a 1962 Squire 6, Brian, AKA, Texas Deere and Horse uses his 1963 Montgomery Wards catalog to suppose that the Bolens built Squire 6 (Bolens 600) is a 1963. I believe that the Montgomery Wards 1963 catalog came out in the late summer/fall of 1962, that being said, there were obvious differences between the 1962 and 1963 Bolens 600's, and this might be a clue, but even then not definitive that the Bolens and Simplicity tractors were or were not not offered in the same year, and none of this brings up the 1959 and 1960 Montgomery Wards Tractors that Bolens built. There are some out there that believe them be Tube Frames, but that seems incredulous that Bolens would build Tube Frames for Montgomery Wards, but not themselves. this is from Brian(AKA Texas Deere and Horse's own mouth and from a page he posted on GTTalk:

The first fully engineered with the engine and steering axle in the front 4 wheel Garden Tractor was the 7 horsepower “Squire 7", introduced in 1959 and stayed the same for 1960-61. In 1962 a slightly more powerful engine was installed and it became the 7.25 horsepower “Squire 7 ¼â€(GTTalk.com, 2013

This statement is somewhat problematic as Brian appears to lose fact that the first Bolens Tube Frame, according to Bolens History, was built late in 1961 for the 1962 model year and the Simplicity built Squire 725 was built late in 1962 for the 1963 model year. There is a hint in his statement that points to Bolens built RAMs being used prior to 1962 by stating, "The first fully engineered and steering axle in the front 4 wheel Garden Tractor was 7 horsepower "Squire 7", introduced in 1959, that was the same year that Bolens increased the RAM's to 7 hp as well and none of the Bolens built tube frames were 7 hp during this time and the RAMS were made up to a 1961 model year.