MOUNT PULASKI, Ill. – Frank Gisler has an amazing Oliver antique tractor collection on his rural Mount Pulaski farm.  This antique tractor enthusiast shared, “I am a farmer, father, and grandpa. I have Oliver tractors that my father and grandfather had.”

The collection began with an Oliver Super 88 that his dad bought new from Frank Reiman and Son in New Jersey. While most of his collection is Oliver, Gisler said, “When dad bought the Super 88, he said it was too big to cultivate with, so he bought a Case 300. I’ve got one like it now.

“I’m originally from New Jersey. I moved to my wife’s farm; her dad had died when she was 14. We had up to 300 cows, then in 1986, they had a dairy buyout. I wanted a place in the country with no traffic,” Gisler said, “So, I bought this farm in 1985. I milked until 1986 and built our house in 1987.”

The farm has several full sheds and some housing his family Super 88, Oliver 77, and Super Oliver 66. Today, he said, “I have all the Supers, I have the whole set and the diesels.  The LP is the only one not diesel.”

When he thought his collection was complete, his late wife Marjorie, who was also deep into the collecting, disagreed. She told him, “You don’t have them in gas.”

He soon rectified that and said, “Now I have the whole set of Supers in gas.”

Gisler has Oliver Supers in wide and narrow front, and most of them were built in Canada. He mentioned that of the Super 99’s 50 were built as gas tractors, and 50 as diesel tractors. Gisler added, “I have both.”

Marjorie was instrumental in his collecting hobby. She even had her own extensive Coca Cola collection that fills a room in their basement. Frank shared that she loved to entertain, and they had many gatherings there together.

Marjorie’s memories remain in the collection she helped build. “I lost my wife, but now have a wonderful girlfriend, Gloria, that also lost her husband.”

He mentioned how blessed he has been to meet two wonderful women. Gloria had a learning curve when it came to the antique tractor hobby. “Gloria had never been to an antique tractor show or auction,” he said before they got together, adding, “I miss live auctions.”

After Gisler completed his Oliver Super series, he said, “Then I started into the four-digit tractors. When I was 66, I quit farming and rented my ground to Dave and Jo Brown. Dave did the farm reports for years.”

Retiring allowed him to spend more time focusing on his collection and traveling to find them. “I bought them from all over the country,” Gisler said.

Many of those trips were with the late Ollie Schaefer, who was the driving force behind the American Farm Heritage Museum located just outside Greenville, Ill. Schaefer’s daughter Sherry is the owner and publisher of both the Oliver Heritage, and Heritage Iron magazines. She shared, “Franklin and Dad traveled the country together hunting their Oliver treasures. As long as I knew Franklin was going, I knew I didn’t have to worry about Dad. They were the male version of Thelma and Louise. Dad didn’t have many restored tractors, but he enjoyed helping Franklin build up his extraordinary collection.

“I have the Oliver 2150 I bought from Ollie’s estate.  He bought it for his wife for their anniversary.”

Sherry said, “They (Ollie and Frank) were together on Dad’s last trip before he passed. It seemed natural for Franklin to drive him to his final resting place too, so on March 3, 2020, Franklin hauled Dad’s casket to the Smith Grove Baptist Cemetery.”

The 2150 purchased from Ollie’s collection sits in a place of honor next to a miniature G1000 Minneapolis Moline built by a dairy farmer from Wisconsin.  A perfectionist, Gisler said, “I took this home and repainted it the right color. It (the G1000) was made from a 455 John Deere. These two miniatures the G1000, and Ollie’s 2150 matched so well.”

Repainting the G1000 to meet his high standards was not an issue, because Gisler does his own restorations. His shop was immaculate, and his latest project is an 1850 Oliver FWA. “I think it’s been in the shop for about a week,” he said. “I do my own restorations. I enjoy doing it.”

One cool addition to Gisler’s collection is an Oliver 1960 660 Road Roller. He also has an unusual Oliver roll over plow as well. He said about the roll over plow, “I have never seen another one.”

His sheds have the appearance of a museum with signs and memorabilia throughout. One of his signs is a John Deere that once sat in the largest John Deere dealership on the east coast. His Case sign has some history – it came from the dealership where his father bought a case tractor and plow. “It was in his dealership when the dealership was started in 1928.”

Another cool piece of history is a newspaper covering a plow match, the New Jersey State Championship that Gisler won when he was only 18. “I beat two John Deere 4010’s with an Oliver 1900 from the dealership of Frank Rymon and Sons. I was in the Herald Review on the front cover.”

All of Frank’s tractors are arranged by model, the year and all are in working condition. “I run through them once or twice a year.”

In his collection he also has a 1959 Ford with the sales sticker still on it. While Gisler has his father’s Oliver 88, he also has his grandpa’s Oliver 77.  “It was sold when I was in high school. Then about 10 years ago a cousin called (dad had 15 brothers and sisters). She asked if I wanted to buy it. It originally went to an uncle’s horse farm. The Oliver 77 was out in the woods. Ollie went with me to get it. It turned over after I put gas in it.”

Frank has a whole set of garden tractors along with a Farmall H that belonged to his wife’s dad. It had been sold, and when her brothers went searching for it, one recognized it because it had a gunrack on it. He shot ground hogs from it! The sentimental 1969 Oliver 1555 was the first new tractor he bought.

On one of his buying trips, he bought an Oliver 1655 with FWA, in Maine. The cool 1655 was also made by Cockshutt, Moline, and Oliver when the companies changed hands, and Gisler has one of each. His collection also includes an Oliver 1975 1755 original, one of 33 built with FWA. He also has an Oliver 2150, 550, 2050, 1968 1950-T that came out of a junk yard in California. “There was only 17 Oliver 1750’s with over/under hydraulic shifts. Sherry found one in Cincinnati, Ohio, the tractor was in pieces.”

Today he said he has seven of the 17 made.

Inside, Gisler collection continues with a vast array of beautiful farm toys, mostly of the Oliver brand. He has a few toys from when he was a kid. Over the years, he has added to his toy collection. Gisler is a consummate collector with everything arranged, detailed and placed in museum-style precision.