Mortgage Lifter

Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter is an indeterminate 75-day variety that produces 1-3+pound tomatoes! Large, slightly flattened, pink-red fruits are meaty, flavorful and have few seeds. This variety was developed by M.C. Byles, known as "Radiator Charlie" in the 1930's. Charlie was the owner of a radiator repair business located at the foot of a steep hill on which trucks would often overheat. With no formal education or plant breeding experience, he created this legendary tomato by cross-breeding four of the largest tomatoes he could find, developing a stable variety after six years of pollination and selection. He sold his tomato plants for $1 each (in the 1940's) and paid off the six thousand dollar mortgage on his house in six years. Gardeners drove up to 200 miles to by Charlie's seedling tomatoes, famous for their size and good flavor.