Caterpillar displayed the Twenty dozer for the first time in 1927 and this year the machine was featured again at its Conexpo stand to demonstrate the evolution in construction machinery. ompared to the modern construction machinery equipment on display at this year's Conexpo exhibition in Las Vegas, US in March, Caterpillar's Expo Twenty dozer looked very small. But its size belied the significance of the design within the company's innovation history.
Caterpillar displayed the Twenty dozer for the first time in 1927 and this year the machine was featured again at its Conexpo stand to demonstrate the evolution in construction machinery
ompared to the modern construction machinery equipment on display at this year’s ConExpo exhibition in Las Vegas, US in March, Caterpillar’s Expo Twenty dozer looked very small. But its size belied the significance of the design within the company’s innovation history.
When the tractor was launched in 1927 it was the first machine to be wholly designed and build by Cat and not based on the assets and designs of its two predecessor companies – C.L. Best Tractor Co. and The Holt Manufacturing Company.
The machine on display at Conexpo was the very first of this new generation and has the serial number EXP 0000-L, which not only marks it out as the first but also that it was a demonstration machine. According to Cat, the designation as an “EXP” or “expo” machine suggests it was either built for a special occasion or used by Cat dealers as a marketing tool at county and state fairs or other local events. The “L” in the serial number indicates it was manufactured in San Leandro, California.
Once EXP 0000-L had finished doing the rounds as a demonstration model, it was painted yellow and put to work on a ranch in California owned by the Traynham family who are direct descendants of C L Best, one of the founders and the first chairman of Cat.
Restoration to its current condition began in 2007 after the machine was sold to the Veerkamp family, who collect antique tractors. During the restoration, the family started to research the machine’s history and uncovered its past as the inaugural machine off the production line. As a result, the machine was not painted in the grey and red colours that were standard to Cat in the 1920s but in the original white and black with brass and nickel trim. .
With the machine restored to concours condition, the Veerkamp family also restored the machine to its original purpose as a show machine and it is on display at historic machine shows across the US every year.
“Exhibiting a special machine like the Expo Twenty helps people understand and appreciate the historic role Caterpillar equipment played in shaping our world,” said Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club (ACMOC) executive director Tricia Pott. Founded in the early 1990s and based in Peoria, Illinois close to the Cat production facility, ACMOC promotes the collection, preservation, restoration, display and study of products and memorabilia of Cat and its related predecessors.
The EXP 0000-L is one of more than 8000 units that were built to the same design at San Leandro and Peoria between 1927 and 1933. Although most were sold into the agricultural sector, they were also popular for road building, hauling airplanes to and from runways, and performing other tough jobs.
The production version of the Model Twenty, with an operating weight of 3.4tonnes, delivered 15KW of power at the drawbar and cost US$2375 from the California facility or US$2502 if it was shipped from Illinois.
