Online Catalogue last updated 17th of September 2023
From 1952 to 1964 Ford's Dagenham plant was producing one of the world's most remarkable tractors, the Fordson Diesel Major. Economical to run, powerful and functional, this was one of the machines at the heart of farm mechanisation.
The Diesel Major was a milestone in the history of Ford's involvement with tractors. Henry Ford's production began with the 1917 model F at Dearborn, Michigan, the world's first mass-produced tractor. The Standard Fordson Model N followed from Cork, and then in 1932 manufacture was moved to Dagenham.
Henry Ford's dream to bring affordable machine power to agriculture involved painstaking development work leading to a wide range of tractor prototypes.
For enthusiasts it is these prototypes, many described and shown for the first time, which will make this book special.
There is also a section devoted to the American tractor line, re-established in 1939 with the 9N built in collaboration with Harry Ferguson. The book concludes in 1964, just before the introduction of the 'world-wide' 6X range and the transfer of production from Dagenham to Basildon and Antwerp
The Ford Tractor Story - Part One is based on detailed original research and contains a wealth of photographs, many previously unseen.
A successful author and journalist specialising in tractors and machinery, Stuart Gibbard divides his time between writing and editing Old Tractor Magazine and lives near Spalding in Lincolnshire.
Stuart received the Tractor & Machinery Magazine Book of the Year award for this book in 1998.
Code No. 008601, 192 pages, ISBN 0953373703, $80.00