Original engines have now been reported ranging from a pale mustard to a dark brown. However, after talking with a few owners of Rock Islands with original paint, it appears Rock Island did NOT have a uniform paint color.

There is much debate on the exact color of Rock Island engines, but Dulux 93-24590 brown seems to be a common standard. Interestingly, R&V in the 1920вЂ™s would also become associated with the Moline Plow Company, giving it ties to all three of these major local companies. I have obtained a copy of the original ad and the and cover letter from the Southern Rock Island branch house in Dallas Texas shown below. Whatever the circumstance, the partnership was brief.

It is also entirely possible, John Deere as the senior customer, did not like Rock Island sharing its product line and issued an ultimatum. John Deere also heavily increased its demand for engines as its branch houses expanded into the engine market during this time period, so R&V may simply not been able to handle two major customers. R&V also had extensive ties with John Deere, so it was certainly economical to obtain a new favorable contract with their own badging.

Rock Island also served as a distributor for the Root & van Dervoort Company of East Moline IL from 1909 -1912, These engines were sold under the R&V name and colors without Rock Island badging and RIPC had no direct role in the manufacturing or support of the R&VвЂ™s, so are only briefly included in this section. Two companies worked with Rock Island in this way, Jacob Haish of Dekalb Il and Alamo of Hillsdale MI. Instead, Rock Island would make agreements to act as vendors for manufacturers to sell other companies engines under Rock IslandвЂ™s name and colors. The Rock Island Plow Company was a major seller of gas engines from 1912 onward however, the company never manufactured their own engines.

Alamo engine company