Radiator Charlie's Mortgage Lifter!

“Where I grew up in West Virginia, old timers called them ‘Mortgage Lifters.’ They’re tasty without being acidic, and the flattened, pinkish fruits get big. Really big—I’m talkin’ a pound or two apiece. The best of them carried a longer name: ‘Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter Tomato.”

— Source Living on Earth, interview with Jeff McCormack

“Radiator Charlie (M.C. Byles) photographed with his Mortgage Lifter tomatoes in the Commercial Appeal, August 3, 1964. His legendary heirloom variety became famous for paying off his mortgage.”

Commercial Appeal (Danville, VA), Aug 3, 1964. Photo courtesy of Jeff McCormack.

Truth be told, the story behind the creation of this ludicrous tomato is more impressive than the tomato itself. Marshall Cletis Byles preferred to go by MC or just Charlie.

It's the 1930s. The Depression looms large. The Wall Street crash of 1929 is still raw in everyone's memory.

Now, Charlie is just a regular mechanic with his workshop based at the bottom of a large mountain. He earns the nickname Radiator Charlie due to the number of trucks that overheat and end up returning to his workshop for radiator repairs.

And here's the kicker: Charlie knows nothing about breeding tomatoes — just like Jon Snow knows nothing.

But that doesn't stop him.

For several years, he planted Italian and English varieties of beefsteaks in a circle — German Johnson in the centre. Armed with nothing but a baby syringe and a stubborn streak, Charlie hand-pollinates German Johnson flowers with the surrounding varieties. He saves the seeds. Plants again. Crosses again. Year after year.

Eventually, a star is born.

Charlie begins selling the plants for $1.00 each, so if we take inflation into account, Charlie is selling one plant for the equivalent of $15.00 today.

People come from miles to purchase the plants as news spreads of their excellence, and wham, Mr. MC Byles of Logan, West Virginia, (Marshall Cletis Byles preferred to go by MC or just Charlie) has paid off his $6,000 mortgage in the heart of one of the worst economic downturns in history.

There’s something timeless about holding a Mortgage Lifter tomato in the sun — its weight in your hand, its soft pink glow, and the story it carries from Radiator Charlie’s garden in the 1940s to yours today. Every seed we send is locally grown, hand-packed, and ready to carry that tradition forward.

“Radiator Charlie’s Mortgage Lifter isn’t just a tomato—it’s a story of grit, perseverance, and a can-do spirit. With nothing but determination, he turned seedlings into a way to pay off his mortgage and left a legacy still growing strong today. Every seed is a reminder that persistence can yield extraordinary harvests.”

Plant one, and you’re not just growing a tomato — you’re growing a piece of history.

“He manako te kura i kore ai.”

— Wishing for the crayfish won't bring it. Hard work is required; perseverance must follow desire.