11212_CompleteBookofClassicFordTractors

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

INTRODUCTION

Andrew Morland and I wish to express appreciation and thanks to the many people who washed,

“I want to lift the burden of farming from flesh

gassed, and moved tractors for us; fixed us lunches; invited friends to come over; or took us to

and blood and place it on steel and motors,”

their friends’ places for the pictures of tractors on the following pages. We traveled the states

said Henry Ford when he launched his famous

of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and found Ford enthusiasts every-

Fordson tractor in 1917. Ford was already 53

where to be helpful and friendly.

years old by then and his assembly line–pro-

A special thanks is in order for the help of former Ford tractor dealers who gave us the names

duced Model T car had made him the world’s

of customers with the tractors to photograph:

foremost auto magnate. It certainly had not

Polacek Implement in Phillips, Wisconsin

been an easy ride for Ford, who started out

Cherokee Garage in Colby, Wisconsin

on his father’s Michigan farm. Quotes from his

H. B. Walder in Cissna Park, Illinois

early-day “jot-books” include, “There is just

Peabudy Implement in Pecatonica, Illinois

too much work around the place,” and “I have

Also, a special thanks to Jim Ferguson of the Ford/Fordson Collectors Association. Jim helped

walked many a weary mile behind a plow, and

me place an ad in the club’s magazine for persons who owned certain Fords we needed to photograph. Apologies to all who called that were outside our travel area.

I know the drudgery of it!”

The timeframe that took Ford from humble

Thanks to Andrea B. Pripps, my daughter-in-law and research assistant.

beginnings of building his first auto buggy,

Andrew Morland came to the United States from Somerset, England, to take these pictures.

engine and all, to the worldwide empire

Andrew and I have collaborated on about twenty books, and I wish to offer a special word of

bearing his name was a little over 50 years.

thanks for his dedication to quality, his professionalism, and his artistic ability.

Although Ford took his earliest opportunity

Finally, Michael Dregni was our editor and friend for almost all of the books Andrew and I created together.

—Robert N. Pripps

to get himself off the farm, he never forgot his agricultural roots or the struggles of the farmer.

Some say that Harry Ferguson had as much to do with the success of Ford’s ultimate tractor accomplishment as Ford himself. While the impact of the plucky Irishman’s contribution cannot be discounted, those charged with the day-to-day tasks in engineering and development are the ones to which most credit belongs. Ferguson’s team included Willie Sands, John Chambers, and Archie Greer. Ford’s team included the production genius Charlie Sorensen, chief engineer Larry Sheldrick, and tractor project leader and principal designer Harold Brock, who has graciously contributed his remembrances to this book. Mr. Brock, who worked at Ford for more than 30 years, personally knew Henry Ford, his son Edsel, and his grandson Henry II. He also knew the Ferguson team including Harry Ferguson. Harold Brock left Ford in 1959 to help develop John Deere’s New Generation tractor line.

Henry Ford poses on one of his “Automobile Plows.” The contraption was based on Ford’s Model B car powered by a 24-horsepower, fourcylinder vertical engine. Although the tractor lacked pulling power and had inadequate cooling and traction, 12 variations on the basic theme were built and tested in 1907, when this photo was made.

BETTMAN/GETTY IMAGES

Ford began with a single model, the Fordson. With British Ford producing the Fordson and the United States producing the 9N in 1939, there were two models. In 1955, the U.S. side had models 600 and 800, and the Brits added the Dexta in 1958. From then on, model numbers increased dramatically. By 1995, after which the Ford name was rarely applied to the hoods of tractors, 43 distinct models were offered, most with sub-variations.

Hood detail of a 1938 Fordson N owned

by Richard Vogt of Enid, Oklahoma.

RALPH W. SANDERS PHOTO/ MOTORBOOKS ARCHIVE

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THE CO MPL E TE BO OK OF CL A SSIC FORD TR AC TORS

5

Chapter 1

Origins and the Early Years

The 1906 version of Ford’s Automobile Plow used the four-cylinder engine and transmission from the Model B car.

LEFT:

THE HENRY FORD

This is the road engine that Henry Ford saw as a 12-year-old boy.

He was on his way to Detroit with his father at the time. Later, when he had become a successful automobile magnate, Ford said he remembered the event as if it had been yesterday.

BELOW:

FORD MOTOR COMPANY

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“Vision without execution is just hallucination.”

—HENRY FORD

H

enry Ford had more of an impact on the lives of modern man than any politician, industrialist, or military leader. This American farm boy, the son of an immigrant father, did more than anyone in the twentieth century to change the world and the way people

the new house she had designed.

Henry Ford was still often called upon to make service calls for various engines and machines.

At one point he was called into Detroit to repair an Otto engine. Although this was the first four-cycle gasoline engine he had ever seen, he soon figured out the principles and had it

everyone, opened the horizons of rural people. Then his inexpensive Fordson tractor made the

running. The experience left him smitten by the gas engine bug that motivated him for the rest

transition to power farming possible for small-acreage farmers, freeing them from a subsistence

of his life. When he returned home he explained its principles of operation to Clara and made

level existence. Finally, his association with Irishman Harry Ferguson brought the world the

sketches on the back of the sheet music she had been playing on her piano. Henry was sure he

significant benefits of the three-point hitch that effectively made the tractor and implement a

could make such an engine and use it to propel a buggy. The problem was the electric ignition

unified mechanism.

required to set off the gasoline. In his experience with steam he had not learned enough about electricity. On his next trip into Detroit, Henry found a job at the Edison Illuminating Company as a steam power engineer.

several hundred acres, mostly land he had wrested from the Michigan forest by sheer determina-

During the next four years, Henry Ford had his power station running so smoothly that his

tion and hard work. As Henry and his three brothers and two sisters grew up, they were pressed

employers gave him a promotion, a raise in pay, and considerable freedom to set up a tinkering

into the work around the farm. Schooling often took a back seat to farm work, but the children

shop on the premises. When everything was operating properly, which was most of the time,

were given a basic education in a neighborhood one-room schoolhouse.

Henry consulted with the electrical people and experimented with coils and spark plugs.

William Ford hired several German immigrants who were refugees of the Franco-Prussian War

Ford brought home his ignition device on Christmas Eve 1893. He had already constructed a

of 1870. These men had an influence on young Henry. Their native inclination for mechanical

two-cylinder, four-cycle engine by using pieces of pipe for the cylinders and machining out the

things inspired the boy’s curiosity for tools and machinery. Henry had an innate interest in time-

pistons from bar stock. Then, with the engine clamped to the kitchen sink, the ignition receiving

pieces. He claimed to have fixed his first clock at age 13 and also that he made the tools he used

power from the home’s electric system, and Clara dribbling gasoline into the intake while Henry

in the repair.

spun the flywheel, the little engine belched into life, spouting flames, exhaust, noise, and nearly

Two other momentous events occurred in Henry Ford’s life when he was 13. The first was the

shed behind his rented house on Bagley Avenue. When it was ready for its first trial, Ford realized

Experimental motor cultivator design from the early 1920s. Model T and Fordson parts are visible. Several manufacturers proposed motor cultivators in that time period, though none saw very much production.

However, International Harvester’s efforts led to the highly successful Farmall design.

the door was too narrow for the machine to pass through. This was soon remedied with blows

THE HENRY FORD

shaking the sink from its moorings.

death of his mother, Mary. Henry was very close to his mother and her death left him with a great

Henry’s later comments on the event indicated that more than being excited about the run-

void. The second was encountering a steam traction engine on the road to Detroit while making

ning of his first engine, he was amazed at his good fortune of having a wife, who on Christmas

the 8-mile trip in a buggy with his father. Henry recounted the incident in his autobiography

Eve with her parents expected for a visit the next day, would drop everything at his request to

47 years later:

manage the engine’s gasoline ingestion. Not to mention the fact that their six-week-old baby,

“I was off the wagon and talking to the engineer before my father knew what I was up to,” Ford wrote. “It was that engine which took me into automotive transportation. I made a model of it that ran very well.”

When Henry was 16 years old, he left the farm for machine

Ford immediately set about making a vehicle for the engine. It was constructed in the brick

from a pole ax. The frame splintered and several courses of

neighbor to take a look at a Westinghouse steam engine. The

bricks were also sent flying. The machine made its debut on the

neighbor had hired a threshing outfit, but the engineer had

streets of Detroit on June 4, 1896. It was called the Quadracycle

quit because he was afraid of the engine. Henry got the engine

because it resembled a four-wheeled bicycle. Henry Ford, now

going and spent the rest of the summer as its engineer. Later

33 years old, used it for several years and then sold it for $200.

By 1899, Henry Ford had gained enough recognition with his

for the most part he continued his employment in the machine

Quadracycle and engine experiments that he was at last ready

shops of Detroit.

to enter the automobile business. The Detroit Automobile

In 1886, William Ford, Henry’s father, handed Henry the

Company was organized and chartered on July 24, and the

deed for a wooded 80-acre parcel of the original farm. William,

papers were formally filed on August 5. Ten days later Henry

deviously scheming ways to get Henry back from Detroit and

quit his post at the Edison Illuminating Company.

interested in the farm, thought that by the time the land was

THE CO MPL E TE BO OK OF CL A SSIC FORD TR AC TORS

Edsel, was sleeping in the next room!

shop work in Detroit. In 1882, Henry, then 19, was asked by a

Henry became a traveling serviceman for Westinghouse, but

8

During the next five years, Henry, with some hired help, cleared the forest, set up a steam saw-

live, especially farmers. His venerable Model T car, mass-produced and affordable to most

born to William and Mary Ford in Wayne County, Dearborn, Michigan. William’s farm comprised

THE HENRY FORD

were married. mill, and reduced the logs to lumber. He also grew vegetables, raised livestock, and built Clara

The story of Ford-built tractors begins with the birth of Henry Ford on July 30, 1863. He was

This 1916 version of the Farkas Ford tractor has the steering wheel on the right for better plowing visibility. It has the same type of seat that was used on the Galamb Model T–derived experimental tractor. The worm drive is above the differential, as it was on the 1915 version. Heat from this inefficient unit gave the driver an uncomfortably hot seat.

sisters helped him clean and decorate for Henry’s bride. In 1888, Clara Bryant and Henry Ford

The company, with backing from several of Detroit’s wealthy

cleared of timber, Henry would be committed to the bucolic

Irish immigrants, got off to a good start. By February 1900,

life. There was a small house on the property that Henry’s

the manufacturing of several car models and a delivery van

O rigins and the E arly Y ears

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1965 Ford Commander 6000 LPG. The LPG version of the Commander used a 223-ci version of the six-cylinder engine, along with the 10-speed Select-O-Speed transmission. The compression ratio for this version was 8.8:1. Dwight Emstrom of Galesburg, Illinois, owns this tractor.

ANDREW MORLAND PHOTOS

1963 Ford Commander 6000. Rebuilt from the original Ford 6000 into the Commander configuration by Ford following the recall, this diesel row-crop version has the 1965 nose and grille, a black (rather than white) steering wheel, Commander muffler and PTO box, as well as other changes from the original 6000. Greg Leonard of Belvidere, Illinois, is the owner.

ANDREW MORLAND PHOTO

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THE CO MPL E TE BO OK OF CL A SSIC FORD TR AC TORS

E xponential E xpansion —the W orld T ractor C oncept

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