This month's oddity is the Centaur tractor

Designs like the Centaur tractor were created to fulfill demand for horsepower by truck farms and orchards. The Greenwich, Ohio-based firm, Centaur Tractor Company, rolled out their Model 6-10 in 1932 for the modest sum of $548. For that amount you not only received a two-cylinder LeRoi engine but also got front-wheel drive and articulated steering. This last feature allowed the Centaur to turn in a 7-foot radius! True to its design for working under trees and in narrow rows, the 6-10 was just 301Ú2 inches wide and 45 inches tall weighing a mere 1,590 pounds.

Actually, Centaur Tractor started out as Central Tractor Company in the early 1920s. The companyÕs first tractor was called a Centaur, which was later adopted for the companyÕs name in 1928.

Not all of the firmÕs tractors were small like the Model 6-10. For example, one of the companyÕs last models was the KV 22, and it had the look of a traditional tractor. Those initials stood for Klear-View bearing testimony to the tractorÕs sleek styling. The KV 22 was offered with steel wheels or pneumatic tires. It employed a 22-hp., four-cylinder LeRoi engine and an automotive-type transmission, which provided a road speed of 25 mph.

It appears that Centaur Tractor Corporation ceased to build tractors during World War II and never returned to the market after that action.