ITALIAN CAST IRON

CAST 435L TRACTOR

- JIM ALLEN

When you think of products from Italy, tractors probably don’t immediately come to mind, yet over the years some of the most unusual and effective tractors have come from there. The CAST vineyard tractor was a side product from Officine di Casaralta, more commonly known as Casaralta. The company started in 1919 and was best known for manufacturing railroad products; rail cars, locomotives and trams. According to most sources, they formed an offshoot company and began the design and manufacture of a small tractor around 1964. Called CAST S.p.A the tractor company name came from a combination of “CAS” from Casaralta and “T” for trattori, Italian for tractor. S.p.A. is an Italian abbreviation similar to “Inc.”

Available documentation is sparse, not helped by the fact that Casaralta changed hands several times in the ‘70s and ‘80s, was absorbed by another company in 1993 and completely shut down in 2001. It’s generally held that CAST tractors were built to around 1975 and many think the United States was it’s largest market. Again, the documentation is sparse but through the efforts of a Hoosier named Dale Mercer, a tractor collector who ran across a CAST in 2012, we know a bit more.

Mercer has turned up most of what’s known about CAST entering the U.S. market. Mercer’s theory is that CAST was having trouble selling in their own market and made a play in overseas markets. RECO Sales, a large lawn and garden power equipment retailer in Indianapolis, was approached to represent CAST here. They bought one tractor, tried it out, liked it, made suggestions for changes and when CAST agreed to make them, made a deal to buy more. The changes included a higher load rating (probably accounting for the suspension changes)., a U.S. Cat 1 rear lift system, more wheel clearance under the fenders for larger tires, swinging drawbar, hydraulic remotes, a tach and hour meter.