Production figures for the 13A D8 are interesting, Cat only built 312 of them in 1953 (first year of production), then in 1954, production soared to 2816 units, and the final year of production saw only 573 of them built.
I'm thinking that the big push to build the Interstate Highway system in this period was the major reason for the big increase in D8 production.
Plus, I guess, development all over the world was demanding bigger and bigger tractors in that era, and the D8 was the biggest Cat available until the D9 appeared in 1955.