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How the Lynn, A-C partnership began Many have asked about the Loretta Lynn Dude Ranch, or the LL Farms, and the relationship with the old Allis-Chalmers. (OK, actually only three people asked, but here goes anyway, ha.) The dealership in Paris, Tenn., was the servicing dealer for Lorreta Lynn Farms. Frank Coles was the store manager for Austin Equipment Sales, as was the name then in 1976. He made a sales call to O.V. Lynn, Loretta Lynn's husband, also known as Doolittle (she called him Doo) aka Moonie Lynn, at Hurricane Mills, Tenn. There, he met "Fuzzy" and the Lynns at her residence. Fuzzy was the first hire of Mooney's to attempt to get him into big-time farming. They discussed farming in general, and the question was asked if Allis would let the Lynns promote Allis- Chalmers like their friend Tennessee Ernie Ford had for "Ford" and Massey Ferguson. Frank called Jim Austin, the dealership owner, and while at a meeting in West Allis, he pushed the idea to the head of A-C Farm division, Harry Lusk. Soon after, Lusk flew to Nashville; Jim and Frank picked him up and drove the hour to the "Big House" at Hurricane Mills. This Big House is now a museum and Loretta always claimed it was haunted. Ask Dr. Google about this. But I digress. There, on a handshake and notes on a dinner napkin, the details were worked out for an "Allis-Chalmers Demonstration Farm." This was the deal: A-C would furnish the farm one of every ag product they built for field days, photo shoots, literature and whatever. Mooney was free to use the equipment for his new hobby -- farming. The Lynns' portion of the agreement was to be available at times each year to make commercials for dealers and provide a Coal Miner's Daughter concert for dealers and company folks. A personal moment here: We had over an hour on reel-to-reel tape of ad lib commercials with her -- it was hilarious and genuine. We cut several 30-second ads and I stressed to the radio station I wanted the raw tape. My luck, they mistakenly erased the tape. Grrrrr. The Lynns also had to set aside enough acreage for demo/field day use, about 65 acres. Humphries County, Tenn., almost sunk to China with the weight of orange equipment that was delivered in 1977. To say all went smoothly would not be telling the truth, but it worked. Ray May and A-C's Len Schreiber took over the farm management and A-C shows, respectively, and the road smoothed out greatly. Ray was an easygoing, competent manager. His son and grandson, Steve and Josh, still farm a lot of the land today. Ray May once showed me a package that the Allis parts department had sent to "Low Rental Land Farms," instead of Loretta Lynn Farms. This new adventure wasn't well-publicized at first. Schreiber, on the other hand was demanding, rightfully so, and many of us fell under his colorful verbiage demanding perfection when it came to dealer events, equipment preparation and product presentations. The dealership at Paris was supposed to have pre-delivered all the equipment, but as stated, in the early days there was no budget for this. When the equipment was dropped off at Hurrican Mills, well, let's just say there were a lot of warranty claims that fell on the lap of Bruce Derrington, regional service manager at the Memphis branch. He was not a happy camper at the ranch -- or anywhere in Memphis, for EDITOR'S NOTE: Tim Brannon is a "seasoned" Allis-Chalmers employee-turned-dealer. His dealership -- B&G Equipment Inc., Paris, Tenn. -- is one of the few surviving A-C turned Deutz-Allis turned AGCO/Massey Ferguson dealers in its 48-year journey. Brannon still enjoys the dealership business and writing about the "glory days" of A-C. This is his second column for Old Allis News. 26 OLD ALLIS NEWS