Yancey Bros. Co.: Why CAT Calls Them the Oldest Dealer in the Nation

Oct 7

6 min read

Seven years before Caterpillar Tractor Company even existed, two brothers in Atlanta were already selling the machine that would become its namesake. Yancey Bros. Co. is not just old by equipment-dealer standards — CAT's own corporate records name it the oldest Caterpillar dealer in the nation, with an unbroken business relationship dating to a handshake agreement signed December 19, 1918. For general contractors and mining operations across Georgia today, that century-plus of continuity is worth understanding before the next equipment financing decision.

From Picks and Shovels to a $4,750 Gamble

Brothers Goodloe H. Yancey Jr. and B. Earle Yancey founded Yancey Hardware Co. in 1914, selling hardware, picks, shovels, and striped prison uniforms to county road agencies across the Southeast. It was unglamorous work, but it put the brothers in direct contact with the people building Georgia's roads — which is how, in 1918, Goodloe first heard about a "Caterpillar" crawler tractor built by the Holt Manufacturing Company of Peoria, Illinois, rumored to do the work of 40 mules.

The brothers traveled to Peoria to ask for a Southeast distributorship. Holt turned them down flat, insisting its tractors had to be sold direct and that roadbuilding sales had failed before. Goodloe and Earle left with nothing but a photograph of the Holt 45 and a price quote of $4,750 COD. Using only that photograph and their own salesmanship, they sold every Holt 45 in the factory's inventory within twelve months — and came back to Peoria not as supplicants but as the company's first official jobber, under an agreement dated December 19, 1918.

Why CAT Calls Yancey the Nation's Oldest Dealer

Holt merged with the C.L. Best Tractor Company in 1925 to form the Caterpillar Tractor Company we know today — the same year Kentucky's Whayne Supply signed on as a CAT dealer, and the same corporate event that created roughly 89 original CAT dealerships nationwide. But because Yancey's agreement with Holt predates that 1925 merger by seven years, Caterpillar's own records identify Yancey as the dealer with the longest continuous business association of any in North America — not merely old, but the benchmark every other century-old CAT dealer gets measured against.

The territory has shifted more than once since. Holt originally granted Yancey four states — Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and South Carolina — but the new Caterpillar Tractor Co. narrowed that to Georgia alone in 1925. In 1927 the brothers split their own territory in half: Goodloe kept north Georgia as Yancey Bros. Co., while Earle moved to Albany to run the southern half as the separate Yancey Tractor Company, a pattern of family-territory splitting that would later repeat itself at other CAT dealers, including the 1965 Thompson Machinery/Thompson Tractor split in Tennessee and Alabama.

The 75-Year Gap That Finally Closed in 2002

Here is the part of the story that makes Yancey's history genuinely unusual among CAT dealers: in 1947, Earle's branch of the family sold Yancey Tractor Company, breaking the family's service to the southern half of Georgia for the first time since 1927. For the next 55 years, two different companies held the CAT franchise across one state, with only the northern half remaining in Yancey hands. That changed in December 2002, when Yancey Bros. Co. purchased the operating assets of the dealer that had taken over the southern territory, reuniting the entire state of Georgia under one CAT dealer for the first time since the 1927 split — now in the company's fourth generation of family leadership.

Today Yancey runs more than 30 sites across Georgia and employs over 2,000 people, organized into a Machine Division (CAT earthmoving, mining, quarry, and road-building equipment, plus Weiler forestry/paving gear and Gomaco paving equipment), a Power Systems division, a Cat Rental Store network launched in 1997, a Building Construction Products division for skid steers, backhoe loaders, and mini excavators launched in 1999, and an Agricultural Products division carrying AGCO's Challenger and Fendt tractor lines since CAT sold off its own agricultural business in 2002.

What a Reunified Statewide Dealer Means for Financing

A dealer that has survived a world war, the Great Depression, a 55-year territorial split, and a reunification still covering the entire state is a strong signal for anyone financing equipment through that network. Parts inventory, trained technicians, and warranty support don't fragment across competing dealers the way they did for half a century in Georgia — a single relationship now covers a mining operation in the north Georgia mountains and a roadbuilding crew near the Florida line alike.

That consolidated support matters most when you're comparing renting a dozer or excavator against buying one outright. Rental rates bake in the yard's own depreciation and margin, and none of that spend builds equity you can leverage later. For a Georgia contractor running the same CAT machine class for more than a few months a year, equipment financing turns a rental line item into a long-term asset — and backing that purchase with a dealer carrying 100-plus years of continuous parts and service history meaningfully lowers the operational risk of ownership.

Section 179 Timing for Georgia Contractors

Georgia's construction and quarry season runs nearly year-round compared to colder-climate states, which makes year-end tax planning a live decision rather than an afterthought. Section 179 depreciation treatment hinges on equipment actually being placed in service before your tax year closes — not simply ordered or financed. Confirm the specifics with your own tax professional, but if a new or used CAT machine purchase has been sitting on the fence, the calendar itself is a legitimate reason to move before December rather than after.

Speed matters here as much as terms. A statewide dealer with Yancey's inventory depth can often get a machine off the lot fast once financing clears — but only if the financing itself moves at the same pace. BFC underwrites equipment financing applications quickly for exactly this reason: a four-week bank process defeats the purpose when the equipment is sitting ready at the dealer and the tax-year clock is running.

What a 30-Site Network Actually Buys a Contractor

Thirty-plus sites across one state sounds like a corporate statistic until a hydraulic pump fails on a Friday and the part needs to be in hand by Monday morning. Yancey's statewide footprint means a parts order can draw from inventory across the whole of Georgia rather than a single regional warehouse working alone — and a company running 2,000-plus employees can cross-staff a technician from one branch to cover an emergency at another, something a smaller single-location competitor simply cannot match. For a quarry or mining operation where an idle excavator can mean tens of thousands of dollars a week in lost production, that bench depth is not a nice-to-have.

It is also worth asking directly how deep a dealer's parts and labor bench actually runs before committing to a purchase, since the answer tends to track closely with how long that dealer has survived in the business. A company that has made it through the Great Depression, two world wars, a 55-year territorial split, and a full statewide reunification has clearly solved the logistics problem in a way a five-year-old regional outfit has not yet had the chance to prove.

The 1994 Ownership Transition Contractors Rarely Hear About

Family-owned CAT dealers don't always stay in the founding bloodline forever, and Yancey's own transition is a useful case study. James E. Stephenson, son-in-law to former Yancey president Don A. Yancey, became the company's primary stockholder in 1994 and was named president and CEO in September 1995, completing his purchase of the company in February 1996. A trial lawyer with a background in construction law rather than a Yancey by birth, Stephenson nonetheless continued the family's fundamental operating principles — standing by your word, delivering what you promised — straight through the 2002 statewide reunification and beyond.

The lesson for a contractor evaluating any century-old dealer is the same one Stephenson's own tenure proves: ownership structure can change without the underlying parts-and-service relationship breaking at all. What matters for your own equipment financing decision is whether the dealer behind the machine has demonstrated it can carry institutional knowledge through a leadership transition — not just whether the name over the door has stayed exactly the same since 1914.

Who This Matters Most For

Quarry, aggregate, and mining operations running dozers and excavators across north Georgia
Road and highway subcontractors bidding multi-year DOT work anywhere in the state
General contractors and demolition crews who want one dealer relationship covering CAT iron, Weiler forestry gear, and AGCO ag equipment
Any buyer comparing a Georgia CAT purchase against a shorter-tenured regional dealer

Financing a CAT Excavator or Dozer Through Georgia's Oldest Dealer Network

BFC finances CAT excavators, dozers, backhoes, and skid steers for contractors buying new or used through Yancey Bros. and every other CAT dealer nationwide — startups and established businesses alike, approvals available for strong credit and for buyers turned down elsewhere. See our CAT excavator financing programs or our dozer financing options to find what fits your next machine, and read how a similar dealer-consolidation story played out with Caterpillar's acquisition of Fabick CAT if you want the fuller pattern.