Tractor & Farming Heritage November 2014

32 A

UNIQUE PEA HARVESTING SURVIVOR P Tractor NOVEMBER 2014

NOVEMBER 2014 www.tractormagazine.co.uk

GES

OF TR A FOR SCTORS ALE

■ FORD 6X ■ FAIRBANKS-MORSE ■ CASE MAGNUM ■ STEYR ■ COUNTY SUPER 4 ■ MF 35X ■ FORDSON

AND FARMING HERITAGE MAGAZINE

50 yEARS Of

fORD 6X Newark preview

MAKE MINE A

MAGNUM future industry classic HAVE PORSCHE WILL tRAVEL...

... Germany to Wales trek

HIStORy Of

MARSHALL COMBINES

BAGGING A BARGAIN Ford 5000 with Rotapeds and Howard Drainer

WORKSHOP

Discover the wonders of

WORKING A LAtHE ◆ STEYR ◆

COUNTY SUPER 4 ◆ FAIRBANKS-MORSE ◆ MF 35X RESTO

CONTENTS

TRACTOR AND FARMING HERITAGE NOVEMBER 2014

Regulars 3

Welcome

18

News

20

24 76

All the latest news in the world of tractors and heritage.

Graham’s Grumbles

Graham wouldn’t want readers to get the impression that his life is just one endless bundle of grumpiness, so now he would like to share his bucket list with you.

32 COVER STORY

38

40

Have Porsche will travel....

We follow the amazing trip from Germany to North Wales that Arthur Niesser took on his Porsche tractor.

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Next Month

Preview of the December issue of your Tractor & Farming Heritage magazine.

Up and running

Graham Hampstead finds there is no such word as retirement, as he reflects on a busy month buying and selling sheep and sorting the Dexta.

YourTractors 6

Agent Red

A Massey Ferguson 2135 Industrial operating under a cloak of MF red – now reveals its true colours to the world.

12

Michael Fahey’s Fordsons

We talk to the man who will spearhead the Irish world attempt at the greatest number of tractors collected together in 2015, and take a look around his collection.

28 COVER STORY

4

Something completely different!

Dave Taylor got a whole lot more than he bargained for at a recent sale including a rare Ford 5000 fitted with Howard Chain Drainer and Rotaped tracks.

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Last of the line

Last of the line

With early pea harvesting machinery quickly disappearing into oblivion, Jonathan Whitlam discovers a rare piece of machinery.

County business

82

Back on the farm

The busman’s holiday is a well-worn phrase, but Donald Bowler always seems to find tractors in the most unlikely of places... such as this County Super 4.

Readers Tractors

Last year Jeff Weldon told us all about his American dream machine, a 1947 Co-op E3 tractor. Now he tells us all about going to his first show.

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32-PAGE TRACTOR CLASSIFIED SECTION

Heritage 42

Make mine a Magnum

COVER STORY

We investigate the origins of the Case Magnum and why early versions may one day become recognised as an industry classic.

48

Steyr stamp of quality

146 Last Word

Women in the tractor scene are few and far between, but those that are a part of this rather male-dominated world are often real characters.

Caught in the act

Vintage and classic tractors – we spot them everywhere.

Tractor Talk

Your news, views and comments about the vintage and classic scene.

COVER STORY

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30

54

Sound engineering and innovation were the hallmarks of the first Steyr tractors to be produced in 1947 and this is still true their modern tractors.

The Ford 6X legacy

COVER STORY

We preview the Newark Vintage Tractor Show in November which will have a special feature dedicated to the worldwide 6X range.

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Combine benefits

COVER STORY

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in the first of a special two-part feature we track the development of Marshall Combine Harvesters and how they tried to reap the benefits of progress.

Home Farm Diaries

Do you remember the Sixties? Our correspondent HR was there and shares some of the memorable moments back in November 1964.

Morse Code

Stuart Gibbard explains the Canadian connection that led to Fairbanks-Morse tractors being built in Toronto.

Tractor Archive

More heritage memories from the farming literature of yesteryear.

Workshop 90 COVER STORY

96

An X Farm Tractor

The distinctive sound of a Massey Ferguson 35X Perkins engine resounds in Ben Phillips’ workshop for the first time in a year.

Using a lathe

Richard Lofting gives an overview of working with a lathe – one of the most useful tools in any engineer’s workshop.

Marketplace 103 What’s on

Your guide to heritage days out throughout the season in our comprehensive event guide.

108 Products

A round up of new releases to help you maintain, repair and restore your classic and vintage machines.

110 Sales & Marketplace

From tractor shopping H J Pugh style to back in time Sussex style with South East Marts Jo Roberts give a roundup of the general auctions.

Having trouble finding a copy of this magazine?

Why not Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month? tractormagazine.co.uk

48

The Steyr stamp of quality

TRACTORS FEATURED THIS ISSUE Case IH Magnum......................................42 Co-op E3.......................................................40 County 754 .................................................12 County Super 4.........................................38 Fairbanks-Morse.......................................70 Ford 5000 ....................................................28 Ford 6X series ............................................54 Fordson Major...........................................12 Fordson Model F......................................12 Fordson Model N .....................................12 Fowler Challenger 22.............................66 Marshall Combines .................................60 Massey Ferguson 35X 35X............................94 Porsche.........................................................76 Porsche Reco Hume Pea Cutter Cutter..........................32 Steyr...............................................................48 Steyr Super Dexta................................................86 Dexta

54

The Ford 6X legacy

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12

Michael Fahey’s Fordsons

96

Using a lathe

76

Have Porsche will travel...

66

The Home Farm Diaries

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Tractor shopping tractormagazine.co.uk

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YourTractors

Adding the side mower has given that extra bit of appeal to this well-presented tractor, of which the owner deserves to be justiďŹ ably proud.

The sleeper

awakes Farmer Keith Mitchell’s Massey Ferguson 2135 Industrial has long been an undercover agent operating under a cloak of MF red – now at last it has revealed its true colours to the world.

WORDS & PICTURES Dave Bowers

W

hen Keith Mitchell bought an industrial version of MasseyFerguson’s MF 135, the only thing he didn’t like was the original highway yellow colour. So this was promptly replaced with applications of the familiar Massey Ferguson Red, as would befit a regular MF 135 used for farm work.

Keith explains the story of his tractor, a Massey Ferguson 2135 to give its proper name, which has spent many years under his ownership under the false identity of an MF 135: “First registered on the last day of 1966, the tractor had done only 600 hours when I bought it. is tractor had been worked in a mill yard, John Bright’s mill in Rochdale. It came with a Massey Ferguson 100 loader used for shiing ashes from the mill’s Lancashire boiler.

“I sold the loader, much to my dismay later on, as times were not as good as they are now and I needed the money. At one time it was the only tractor on our farm until I bought a new Ford 4610 in 1985, and it was worked from when I bought it in 1975 through to 2009.

“It did all the work such as muck spreading, haytiming, chain harrowing and working implements which included a medium sized MF20 baler, and also a hay bob. A brilliant little tractor and it never misfired when you started up the threecylinder engine.”

slippery slope

Keith’s farm is on the side of an escarpment which drops away steeply into a valley, so steep I wondered whether my car would make it – although it did finally manage to get to the top without overheating. is was a journey that the Massey Ferguson 2135 would oen do in the winter months, as Keith set up a dairy at the bottom of the hill and from his fleet of milk floats would sally forth at the crack of dawn to deliver pints of milk on everyone’s doorsteps. ➤ November2014Tractor

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YourTractors

Michael Fahey’s

Fordsons

We talk to the man who will spearhead the Irish world record attempt at the greatest number of tractors collected together in 2015, and take a look around his collection.

Michael Fahey’s collection of Fordsons spanning four generations of the marque from a 1918 Model F through to a 1953 Fordson Major.

WORDS & PICTURES Justin Roberts

H

ow do you measure the success of an event? By the money raised, by the number of visitors, the popularity with exhibitors or simply whether everybody involved agrees that it was indeed a great success and eagerly looks forward to the next occasion?

If it is the latter then the recent attempt to break the world record for the greatest number of tractors collected together certainly counts as being an occasion that

was well worth attending and returning to next year. e record had been held by the Canadians at 1232 and they still cling to it but only by a margin of 104, a gap that will be easily filled according to the man behind the event this year and who will be spearheading the attempt in 2015.

Michael Fahey is the gentleman concerned, a tall fit fellow, he runs his own forestry contracting business based a few miles south of urles and it is here at his yard that he keeps much of his own collection of vintage tractors as well as restoring and repairing those of friends in

addition to working on his own. If that sounds like he is a busy man, that he most certainly is with several machines in various states of undress in the workshop as well as a selection of projects awaiting attention parked up behind the buildings. e Fahey philosophy toward collecting is best illustrated by his collection of Fordsons which range from a 1918 Model F to a 1953 Fordson Major and this small group is perhaps worth a closer look, for out of all the tractors in his collection they are perhaps closest to his heart. ➤

YourTractors

Last of the line With early pea harvesting machinery quickly disappearing into oblivion, Jonathan Whitlam discovers a rare piece of machinery which begs the question – is this the last Hume self-propelled pea cutter in existence?

WORDS & PICTURES Jonathan Whitlam

T

he pea cutter was for many years the primary piece of equipment for the pea harvest, and despite changing methods of handling the crop in the field, the pea cutter remained supreme until the arrival of the self-propelled pea viners in the mid-1970s. e pea cutter itself has its origins in simple knife-operated implements that cut and slightly lied the pea crop to leave it in a broad swath behind and were mounted to the rear of the tractor, the tractor’s front wheels having to be fitted with shields to prevent damage to the crop as it passed through.

Soon manufacturers such as Levertons, Hume, McBain and others in smaller numbers, developed a more efficient machine that was still mounted on the rear of the tractor but with a reciprocating knife and sails similar to that found on a combine harvester. e tractor was driven backwards so that all its wheels were running on cleared ground and the crop was le in a tighter swath behind. To make the operation easier the tractor on which the cutter was mounted would oen have an extra seat mounted so that it could be driven backwards in more comfort, but it was still not the best position to spend a long working day in.

Some effort was put into mounting the cutter on the front of a tractor instead of the back, but this necessitated a lot of complicated gearing and drive belts making the finished machine too expensive for many growers who preferred the cheaper rear-mounted implements.

Changing harvest

e way the crop was picked up aer cutting also changed dramatically during the 1940s and 50s. Originally the cut crop, peas, haulm and all would be loaded on to trailers by hand before the use of a green crop loader became more common. ➤

This Model 270 RECO Hume pea cutter is in amazing condition for its 43 years and is still in full working condition.

FarmingHeritage

Marshalls:

Reaping the benefits of progress

Peter Anderson, author and founding member of the Marshall Club, raids his archives to tell us of the development of Marshall combine harvesters in the first of a special two-part feature.

WORDS & PICTURES Peter Anderson

M

arshall, Sons & Co Ltd from Gainsborough in Lincolnshire was renowned worldwide for its vast engineering skills that incorporated a wide range of products from fine steam traction engines to threshing machines and notably in postwar years, production of the famous Field Marshall single-cylinder diesel tractor.

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e company’s success began with the production of wooden-framed threshing machines, the first of which was manufactured in 1849; only one year aer the company was founded. e machine was exhibited at the Royal Agricultural Show held in Norwich, where company founder William Marshall received an award and prize of £25 from the RASE. As demand began to flourish for threshing machines during the 1800s, Marshalls

responded by building efficient machines from high quality materials. is rapidly earned the company a reputation as being one of the world’s finest producers of threshing equipment. Eventually this led to Marshalls branching out into the production of steam engines to power the threshing equipment, along with wagons, living vans and straw elevators.

Demand for a lightweight threshing machine more commonly used in the vast tractormagazine.co.uk

The extensive threshing machine assembly bay at the Britannia Works circa early 1900s. grain belts of North America, a field vastly dominated by American products, was catered for in 1918 when Marshalls introduced its own lightweight steel framed unit.

Competition

Prototype Marshall E7 self-propelled combine harvester on demonstration trials in 1943.

Although a very well-engineered piece of machinery, Marshalls struggled to ward off competition and were unable to establish a strong foothold in the market. Nevertheless demand for wooden machines remained fairly buoyant especially in the home market, despite disruption by the outbreak of the 1914-18 war that curtailed exports and greatly hindered material supplies.

In 1930 Marshalls took a controlling interest in the rival Lincolnshire-based firm Clayton & Shuttleworth which was also renowned for producing threshing machinery and equipment. Clayton & Shuttleworth in many respects were also a step ahead of the game as they had

successfully began to venture into producing large trailed combine harvesters, referred to oen at the time as thresher gatherers.

Marshalls attempt at taking a large percentage of control of the threshing machinery market by acquiring Clayton & Shuttleworth had proved very costly. e takeover was conducted at a time when the world economy was weak and therefore failed to encourage further growth within the company.

It was also a time when the realisation dawned for Marshalls that the steam era was in serious decline, an area where the company had excelled and which it relied upon for its income. Marshalls also relied heavily upon the export market, with over 70% of its products leaving the works, destined for use overseas and it was this area that impacted the initial drop in sales, due to the growing presence of the more efficient motor tractor. ➤

An early Marshall threshing set including steam portable engine, threshing machine and elevator, circa 1880s. tractormagazine.co.uk

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Workshop

An X farm tractor It’s a case of absence makes the heart grow fonder as tractor restorer Ben Phillips welcomes the distinctive sound of a Massey Ferguson 35X three-cylinder Perkins engine back into the workshop for the ďŹ rst time in a year.

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tractormagazine.co.uk

WORDS & PICTURES Ben Phillips

T

here was a time when nearly every month I seemed to be restoring a Massey Ferguson 35 or 35X, but a year had passed by without a single one before John Preece arrived at my workshop in May 2014 with his off-farm, ex-yard scraper tractor.

John had done all the mechanical work himself and had been pretty thorough with no expense spared. A new engine kit had been fitted and every seal had been replaced.

Oil had been pouring from everywhere it could find a way out so John had paid particular attention to get it running dry – he had done a great job as there were no leaks anywhere. And he also brought a box of parts for me to be going on with!

Over the coming weekend the place was quiet, my parents were in Devon and Amy was at work so I really cracked on and soon had the lot in red oxide primer. e speed of this restoration was aided by the fact that John had undone most of the nuts and bolts so there was nothing seized up.

Etch priming

e front axle was taken back to three sections and painted in primer, undercoat and final colour and then reassembled. I had given the aluminium steering box and front timing cover a coat of etch primer as it adheres to this metal better than red oxide.

Grey undercoat is always applied as it makes a great colour to spray the final coat onto, so once it was at this stage the final Stoneleigh grey could be applied in all the areas that would be difficult to get to when it was rebuilt.

Normally I fit the tank and the radiator and make sure the tractor runs okay first before I apply the final coats of paint but considering the engine was running fine and hadn’t been apart long I decided to paint it before I started it up. In May the weather is normally great (even on a bad day) to spray a tractor indoors so I didn’t have to wait for the conditions, three coats of Stoneleigh grey paint was soon drying on the skid unit. e tank and dash were the first items to be treated to the bright MF red. I presume the tank was considered part of the tinwork in the factory as these are always red on MF 35s from 1960 onwards. ➤ tractormagazine.co.uk

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Sales&Marketplace £1650

£3650 This stunning Allis-Chalmers WF was a ‘styled’ model. It sold with fully working electrics and was described as ‘a good runner’.

Another extremely tidy tractor was this Allis WF (unstyled), fitted with an electric start system and also described as a good runner.

Tractor Shopping

HJ PugH Style

Dispersal sale, Hazel’s View, Shawbury, Shropshire, HJ Pugh, August 28.

T

his sale of vintage tractors was by direction of Mr D Fildes and others, and featured a well-cared for and clearly much-loved collection. e seller clearly had a fondness for Allis-Chalmers tractors as more than 10 examples went under the hammer.

A large array of tractor spares started the sale off, with AllisChalmers spares featuring heavily. is was heaven for anyone searching for those hardto-find parts for their favourite American tractors. Allis mudguards sold for £15, magnetos fetched between £22 and £32, front wheels sold for £50, radiators for between £20 and £50, a bonnet and radiator sold together for just £15 and an Allis gearbox sold for £10. ere were also several lots of Dexta spares, and a large collection of books and manuals. e tractor spares were followed by plough parts including a number of discs, boards and points, sold over several lots. en we moved on to the implements and ploughs. e first of the ploughs was the horse-drawn turnover plough that made £270; the Ransomes Motrac No 3 two-furrow trailed plough made £280; a second

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Ransomes Motrac made £430; the Ransomes Robin two-furrow made £580; we then had a Ferguson nine-tine spring cultivator making £290; Ferguson two-row potato planter which made £130; a David Brown semi-digger plough that fetched £160 and a Ransome Scuffler which made £140. e tractors all made good prices – a collection of six AllisChalmers’ Model B tractors were sold separately and fetched between £650 and £1500 – with the latter sum being for a very tidily restored example. An Allis B with a wishbone axle sold for £1000 and an Allis D272, which was also restored and running well, sold for a snip at £900.

AROUND THE AUCTION S WITH JO ROBERTS

£4300

Star lot of the day was this Allis-Chalmers’ model ED40 with ‘Depthomatic’ control.

The tractor had PAVT wheels, hydraulics, lights, a pto, and was seriously tidy.

£4200

£2750 This Fordson Super Dexta tractor, presented a truly excellent restoration, this little favourite was supplied by George Oakley & Co.

This Nuffield 3/42 fitted with working lights was neat, solid, a good runner and would have made a perfect ploughing tractor, workhorse, or road run machine. tractormagazine.co.uk

Back in time Sussex style with South East Marts

Stonelands Farm, near East Grinstead, South East Marts, July 12.

S

ussex-based auctioneers South East Marts went back in time for its recent collective sale at Stonelands Farm, near East Grinstead. e sale featured all manner of agri-treasures belonging to the Buckley family, most of which were purchased by the family’s late father Tom. It is thought that most of these items were bought at auctions during the 1950s and 60s when outdated farm implements were of little value. Luckily Tom had the foresight to preserve these bygones for future generations, and present at the sale were plenty of keen enthusiasts hoping to take over custodianship of these artefacts.

Many of the lots were horsedrawn items, but on the whole it was the smaller lots, the more collectable ones, that were most popular with the bidders. e auctioneers reported considerable interest in the sale, proving that our love of agricultural heritage is continuing to blossom.

Of particular interest to Tractor readers was a 1966 BMC Nuffield mini-tractor sold for £800 as a runner, and a McCormick International 674, up and running and with a loader, which sold for a very reasonable £1400.

A Ford Force 5000 tractor belonging to Countryfile’s Adam Henson’s father sold for £8500. is tractor had a complete cab, with all glass and doors intact and working, the tinwork was all straight and in good order, and with a paint job this tractor could make an excellent collector’s item.

Future classic collector’s item; this Ford Force 5000 belonging to TVs Adam Henson’s dad made a tidy £8500.

£70 £2000 This 1941 petrol/TVO McCormick Farmall Model A was said to start first swing, and previously restored by Popplewell Tractors of Lincoln.

This Fordson Standard fetched £820 and was a non-runner in need of restoration.

This single-furrow horse-drawn potato lifter, marked ‘Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies Ltd’ came with miscellaneous attachments.

Super Major stars at Kivells

Retirement sale, Bradworthy, Devon, Kivells Auctioneers, July 19.

Devonshire-based Kivells Auctioneers saw a superb line-up of more than 500 lots for the genuine retirement sale on behalf of both Messrs Guard and Messrs Vanstone of Bradworthy, Devon.

Many of the lots consisted of trucks and machinery but several vintage and classic tractors also featured.

The most fascinating lot came in

the form of a very tidy Fordson Super Major that sold for an eyebrow-raising £4000, which just goes to show that these hugely successful tractors are just as popular as ever.

It has often been the case in the past that only the ‘rarities’ of the tractor world have commanded high prices, but in this auction the

This French Ferguson T20 was eventually sold via a phone bid for £2250. tractormagazine.co.uk

Super Major attracted a huge amount of interest, whereas an Oliver 90 and a 1937 Minneapolis Moline Rowcrop tractor failed to sell on the day. The Super Major went to a new home with a West Country collector. Next up was the French Ferguson T20, which saw considerable interest, both in the field and on the phone, being

This 1944 Standard Fordson saw plenty of interest and fetched £1600.

eventually sold to Mr Roger Ball of Chasty for £2250.

A Massey Ferguson 35X reached £2600 and went away to its new home near Parkham. Leonard Vanstone of Bradworthy saw plenty of interest for his 1944 Fordson tractor, which reached £1600, and his Merchant threshing machine sold for £300.

The star lot of the day; this Fordson Super Major was knocked down for £4000.

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