Book Review: "Bobcat Fifty Years"

By Marty Padgett, Motorbooks, 2007, 216 pgs.

"Bobcat Fifty Years" is a loving tribute to the American-born machine that continues to reshape the world. The photo-rich (and gift-ready) coffee-table book retails for $35.

It's been 50 years since Cyril and Louis Keller teamed up with brothers Les, Cliff, Roger and Irv Melroe to build a prototype loader and show it off at the 1958 Minnesota State Fair. In the years since, the Melroe Manufacturing Company along with successors Clark Equipment Company, Ingersoll-Rand Company and now Doosan Infracore of South Korea have presided over the evolution of the Bobcat loader. Along the way, the compact, multi-role piece of equipment transformed the way contractors and site managers do their work.

The Melroe brothers of North Dakota took an invention designed for the barnyard and turned it into a staple of construction and landscape maintenance sites everywhere. Model Jill Duis starred in this Swinging Sixties ad.

In 1973, Bobcat started shipping every loader with an overheard roll guard. By the 1980s, significant numbers of Bobcats were heading overseas??"as seen in this view.

Bobcat: The Book

Automotive publisher Motorbooks of St. Paul Minnesota likely had no idea the Bobcat name would be moving to South Korea as the 50-year landmark approached. But faced with a slackening domestic market, the American firm that owned Bobcat accepted a $4.9 billion South Korean offer. Some observers mourned the loss of an American tradition. In another sense, though, Bobcat's move is in line with trends that affect all big international businesses today.

Automotive journalist Marty Padget's book is a loving tribute to the much-imitated Bobcat loader. Flush with color photographs, the book is a visual treasure trove of images documenting the American-born machine that has reshaped, and is reshaping, the world.