BY LAUREN HEARTSILL DOWDLE
his may be the only 1951 Schield Bantam ABM 51 mili- tary pull shovel in existence,
according to owner Mike Rohleder of Ferdinand Indiana. Rohleder acquired the machine 10 years ago and put it to work this summer at the Historical Construction Equipment Association's (HCEA) annual convention. This cable-actuated digger was built for airborne military opera- tions in the company's Waverly, Iowa, plant. The sand-filled counterweight could be drained for transportation in cargo planes during the Korean War. Rohleder repainted the ABM 51 its original olive drab and re-
A military mystery
stored it to operating condition with some welding, new cables and clutch and brake bands purchased from crane supply sources. An operator who has worked with heavy equip- ment for some 40 years, Rohleder runs a side business, Moonlight Excavating, with his sons Andy and Luke to help fund their passion for antique iron.
In addition to his ABM 51, Mike Rohleder has restored a Euclid S-7 scraper, a Cater- pillar #212 single-drive grader and a Little Giant Combo 12 hydraulic excavator.
Rohleder is not sure if Shield Bantam ever developed the ABM 51 past the prototype stage, and he's still
trying to solve this mystery. If you know anything more about the ABM 51, he'd like to hear from you. You can call him at 812-630-2544 or e- mail us at tjackson@randallreilly.com. If you're interested in learning
more about vintage machines, the HCEA will have its 25th annual convention Sept. 14-16 in Bowling Green, Ohio. To find out more, go to hcea.net. – Tom Jackson, executive editor, Equipment World magazine
July 2012 / TOTAL LANDSCAPE CARE 9
