Quinn Company: From Selling Holt Tractors to Farmers in 1919 to Fourth-Generation CAT Dealer Today

Quinn Company's history starts before Caterpillar itself existed as a company. In 1919, Joseph A. Quinn and C. C. Budd founded Budd & Quinn, Inc. to supply the Killifer Disc and Holt Tractor to farmers developing California's San Joaquin Valley into what would become one of the richest agricultural regions in the world. Six years later, in 1925, Holt Manufacturing merged with C.L. Best Tractor Co. to form Caterpillar Tractor Co., and Quinn automatically became its dealer for the Fresno and Madera County area.

Joseph Quinn didn't stop at Fresno. In 1926, he opened a second dealership, Peoria Tractor and Equipment Co., in Peoria, Illinois, the same city where Caterpillar is headquartered, and ran it until selling it in 1947. Back in California, leadership passed to Bradley Quinn, the founder's son, in 1954, and the company formally became Quinn Company in 1958 as it expanded into Tulare County.

A Century of Acquisitions Across California

What makes Quinn's story stand out isn't just its age, it's how consistently the company has grown by buying up neighboring CAT territories rather than waiting for Caterpillar to hand them over. The 1963 acquisition of Pringle Tractor Co. brought in Monterey and San Benito counties. The 1983 purchase of Wallace Machinery Co. added Kings, Kern, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and Ventura counties. And the biggest jump came in 2003, when Quinn acquired Shepherd Machinery Co., the Southern California CAT dealer, instantly extending its territory into Los Angeles and Orange counties. A 2017 deal for Johnson Machinery added San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

The company celebrated its 100th year in 2019, and in 2021 the founders' great-grandson, Parker Quinn, took over as Dealer Principal, CEO and President, putting the business into its fourth generation. Today Quinn Company and its rental arm, Quinn Cat Rentals, run 24 locations across fifteen counties spanning central and southern California plus Arizona, with more than 1,400 employees. That territory overlaps, but doesn't duplicate, the footprint covered a few hundred miles north by Hawthorne Cat in San Diego, a reminder that California's CAT dealer map is carved into several large but distinct regional territories rather than one statewide franchise.

Ag Roots, Construction Present

Quinn's agricultural origins still shape its customer base today, even as construction has become a much larger part of the business. Vineyard and orchard development contractors across the Central Coast use CAT dozers and excavators for land clearing and drainage work. Site development contractors building out the Inland Empire's warehouse and logistics boom lean on CAT excavators and wheel loaders. And demolition and grading contractors working the dense Los Angeles basin depend on the parts and service network Quinn inherited through the Shepherd Machinery acquisition.

California's equipment costs, both to buy and to rent, run meaningfully higher than the national average, which changes the rent-versus-buy calculation compared to a lower-cost state. A contractor running a single seasonal harvest-support job might reasonably rent. But for the Inland Empire warehouse boom or steady LA-basin demolition work, financing a purchase through a structured equipment loan generally beats stacking up rental invoices at California rates, especially once Section 179 depreciation is factored into the comparison.

Before committing to whatever financing a dealer's in-house captive offers, it's worth comparing it against an independent quote on our excavator and dozer equipment financing page, particularly if your credit profile doesn't fit neatly into a dealer promotion's requirements.

BFC Equipment Loans finances construction equipment for startups and established businesses nationwide, including California and Arizona contractors buying through Quinn Company or any other CAT dealer, with good credit or bad. Visit our home page to learn more, head straight to our equipment financing application if you're ready to move, browse our equipment for sale marketplace to buy or list equipment, or subscribe to our blog for more coverage like this.