The Storm Lake Stampede: Allis Chalmers 7080 (UPDATED 12/22/21)

See more photos of this Allis Chalmers 7080 for sale at auction!

Auction Date: November 20, 2021 – 11AM Central
Auction Location: Storm Lake, IA
Bidding Format: Online & Onsite – Online bidding open now!
Auctioneer: Green Real Estate & Auction Co.
See what else is selling at this auction here.

The 60s were a pretty good decade for Allis Chalmers. They’d had a very good run with the D-series rowcrop tractors. At the same time, they’d laid a good framework for the three-digit tractors starting with the 190 in 1964. Things were good…sort of.

However, life in the dealership wasn’t quite as peachy. The 3-digit series tractors were getting a little long in the tooth (the 190/190XT was over six years old by 1970). Even though they were good tractors, farmers saw them as old news. As a result, sales guys watched as former customers drove past the dealership to the competition. Dealers complained. They needed something new.

The 190XT was a great seller for Allis, but by the 70s, it was definitely showing its age. (It didn’t stop Allis from keeping the design alive for another ten years, but that’s a different story…)

And boy, did they get it. They had to wait until late 1972, but Allis answered.

Enter the 7000-series.

The 7000-series

The 7030 and 7050 were the first models to hit the dealerships. They were a massively different, thoroughly modern tractor. It somehow mixed a softly sloped hood (a first in the industry, actually) with lots of hard lines and angles of the cab and made it work. They’re unique, and personally, I like that.

Well, from what understand, that tractor was a little too modern for a lot of dealers. They didn’t like the styling. Fortunately, they got over it pretty quick. It didn’t take long to realize that these tractors were cut from the same cloth as the earlier models. They had an all-new powertrain based on the 426, overbuilt components, great brakes, a hydraulic clutch, and a lot more.

Allis Chalmers expanded the line quite a bit through the 70s, adding multiple models to eventually cover 117-210 horsepower. At the top of the stack was the 7080, the biggest, baddest 2WD row crop tractor to ever roll out of West Allis, WI. Furthermore, for one year (1975), it was the most powerful 2WD rowcrop tractor on the market, rated at 210 horsepower! In 1976, Massey released the 2800, which was rated at 211 from a 640 inch Perkins V8. The reign was short-lived, but they’ll never be able to take 1975 away from the big Allis!

AC’s advertising team did some neat stuff with these tractors, but I think this one takes the cake! Pulling 30 fully loaded rail cars down the tracks is quite a feat! Read about the behind-the-scenes of this commerical here!

That brings us to the Allis Chalmers 7080 for sale at the auction in Storm Lake on Saturday…

The Lois & Ralph Cole Museum

A mile or two north of the Storm Lake airport, you’ll find the Lois & Ralph Cole Museum, and that’s where this Allis Chalmers 7080 lives right now. Ralph was a sixth-generation farmer who married Lois Clausen, a young lady from nearby Schaller in 1947. Together, they farmed side by side for many years. Lois had a soft spot for raising livestock (she’d shown several National Grand Champions as a teenager in the 40s), and Ralph loved the land that his family had farmed since 1886.

They’d always dreamed of having a museum to showcase what it was like for farmers back in the day, a testament to a lifetime of hard work. Sadly, neither of them would live to realize that dream. Ralph passed away in 2007, and Lois in 2010.

When Lois passed away, her sister Mildred made it her life’s work to build that museum. She was 80 years old when she started, but she was pretty dedicated to it. Over a period of about five years, Mildred worked with a contractor to put up a few very nice Morton buildings on the property. They would house the substantial collection of farm equipment from multiple generations, vehicles, and lots more! Almost everything in the museum came from either Ralph & Lois, or Mildred and her late husband George. There’s some neat stuff on the property, too!

Mildred opened the museum in 2015, and operated it more or less independently until this year when she passed away herself. Impressive, huh? Here’s what the museum looks like. Lots of good-sized Morton buildings, and they’re all pretty much full of farm machinery!

The Storm Lake Stampede

The Allis Chalmers 7080 is actually one of two ACs that Ralph & Lois farmed with. The other is a 7060. They both wear that big horse logo proudly on the hood – Lois actually designed that. It was a staple on most of their farm equipment, from what I gather.

The 7080 is pretty original, too. It’s been repainted at some point, I believe, but overall, it’s about as you’d have found it in the early 80s. It’s a low-houred machine, too. Just over 4000 hours on it! I’m told that it runs well, and aside from a couple of fairly minor issues (I think I see a door seal that probably needs replaced), this one is ready to go back to work!

I think there’s a mixup on the year in the listing – the serial numbers on these tractors were stamped into the casting just above the PTO shaft, but the cabs have their own serial tag. Sometimes that’ll cause some confusion. If it were a 1977 model, the belly would be a maroon color. In 1978 AC changed a few things on the model lineup – among them, black paint on the belly.

Here’s the 7060 that’s also on the sale.

What’s a 7080 like this one worth?

It’s getting fairly uncommon to see an Allis Chalmers 7080 for sale these days. It does happen, but they’re definitely not as common as a garden variety 4430, y’know? Our Tractor Zoom Pro data tells me that this should sell for somewhere in the $7K range, but I think we might see this one go for just a little bit more than that.  They didn’t make a lot of black belly 7080s (1225, if you’re scoring along at home), and they are still viable farm tractors in the right application. The 426 is a strong motor so long as you don’t beat the tar out of it all day long. It’d make a heck of a good baling tractor (it’s got air conditioning); probably a pretty good planter tractor too! At the end of the day, I could see it hammering home in the $8500-9000 range. I think Ralph Cole took pretty good care of his equipment when he farmed with it, and I believe this tractor still got a little exercise after he was gone.

It’ll be interesting to see what this one sells for on Saturday, as we start to inch closer to December when auctions really start to explode. We’ve already seen some record-setting prices this week. Will we see more with this sale? It’s possible!

Here are the details one more time. Happy bidding!

Auction Date: November 20, 2021 – 11AM Central
Auction Location: Storm Lake, IA
Bidding Format: Online & Onsite – Online bidding open now!
Auctioneer: Green Real Estate & Auction Co.
See what else is selling at this auction here.

Check out all of the Allis Chalmers iron available right now!

Update: 12/22/21

Ryan’s Estimate: $8500-9000

Hammer Price: $17,000

Holy moley, did I ever miss the boat on this one – and I’ve never been happier to have been wrong! Based on what I’ve been able to find, this tractor recorded the second-highest auction price in over 20 years! Furthermore, it only missed setting a new record by a measly $101! The previous record auction price for a 7080 was set on August 22, 2016 at the Fanetti Estate sale in Menomonie, WI for $17,100. Granted, inflation has played a role in that, but on the whole, I think the market for these tractors might be creeping up a little.

It’s getting rare to find an Allis Chalmers 7080 for sale these days, but they are out there. Save this search on your Tractor Zoom account and we’ll keep you updated as to what’s out there! Don’t have a Tractor Zoom account? Hit the blue “save” button and you can set one up in 30 seconds. Tractor Zoom is a service built to help buyers find the right piece of machinery for their operation (or collection). We partner with over 500 auctioneers here in the States (and one in Canada) as well as nearly 1000 dealer locations across the country! It’s fast, easy, and free!

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