Dealership now in 8th decade

URBANA, Ill. — Ford is one of the featured brands at this year’s Historic Farm Days July 7-10 and an east-central Illinois was a dealership for the brand.

For over 80 years, Shaff Implement has been located along County Road 2000 northeast of Urbana.

The family-owned farm equipment dealership has remained at its same location since 1940 when the business was founded by Laurence Shaff.

Shaff started the business after working for the Case Co., Goodyear and Minneapolis-Moline as a sales representative and founded Shaff Implement on the farm where he resided.

In 1956, Norman Duitsman started at Shaff Implement as a high school on-the-job trainee putting equipment together.

After high school, college and serving in the Reserves, Duitsman joined Shaff Implement full time and worked there until his death in 2012.

During his career, Duitsman worked his way up the ladder to the top as general manager and president of the corporation.

Shaff Implement became incorporated in 1969.

Randy Osterbur started in the Parts Department in 1972 and soon after was asked by Shaff to join Duitsman on the sales side.

Osterbur and Duitsman worked side by side for roughly 40 years running Shaff Implement.

In 1979, Duitsman’s son, Paul, joined the business as a top-notch mechanic and later became service manager and had a role in sales.

Upon the death of his father, Paul Duitsman stepped in as the assistant manager working with Osterbur.

Osterbur retired in 2020 and Duitsman was named general manager, became owner of Shaff Implement and built a new dealership at the original site.

Brands

Shaff Implement has offered a variety of equipment brands since 1940. During the early years, Shaff’s Minneapolis Moline was the main line of equipment the business handled. New Holland was added, as well as New Idea.

New Holland balers and hay equipment were big sellers for a while until New Holland pushed Shaff to take on the New Holland combine.

He declined, saying Shaff Implement already had the Minneapolis-Moline combine line. So, New Holland pulled the contract.

New Idea was big with pickers in the 1960s and it transformed into a larger Uni-Systems market in the mid-1960s through the early 1980s.

Later in the 1960s a local dealership closed and that allowed Shaff to sell and handle Oliver equipment.

Oliver, Minneapolis-Moline and Cockshutt merged in 1969 to form White Farm Equipment and later became AGCO when combined with Allis Chalmers and White. Shaff Implement was an AGCO dealer until 2012.

In 1977, Shaff Implement became a Versatile dealer and 10 years later Ford tractor purchased Versatile Manufacturing Company and Sperry New Holland, creating Ford New Holland.

After the buy-out in the late 1980s, the local Ford dealer was looking to sell. With the purchase of Versatile by Ford, Shaff Implement was concerned it may lose the Versatile brand.

So, Shaff Implement purchased the Ford dealership and created Shaff Ford Machinery, located about five miles west of the Shaff Implement headquarters.

With these changes, Shaff Implement once again became a New Holland dealer. Shaff Machinery operated until 2020 when it was moved to the new dealership at one location.

Today, Shaff Implement continues at its original location and carries some of the original brands that built the way for the business — Versatile, New Holland, Kuhn-Krause, Salford, Bush Hog, Westfield AGI, J & M, Unverferth, Walker mowers and several other short line opportunities.