Fiat will pay Ford an undisclosed amount of cash, which analysts said is needed as the No. Last week, Ford agreed to sell its aerospace business to Loral Corp. Farm equipment certainly can be labeled cyclical.

Ford New Holland has 3, dealers around the world and employs about 18, people in the U. As the majority shareholder in the new company, Fiat said it plans to provide comparable pay and benefit packages to Ford New Holland employees and to honor existing collective bargaining agreements.

The latter plant produces haying equipment in Hesston, Kan. The dealer network numbers 2, The was essentially the same tractor as the NAA, the featured a new five speed transmission, and the had a five speed transmission and a live PTO, a feature which had been optional on the Jubilee.

The series featured an improved cubic inch version of the NAA engine, and came standard with the new five speed transmission. Ford was now interested in pursuing all the various tractor markets with their redesigned lines, and this meant having tricycle-style tractors.

If their competitors offered something, they would match it. Still working with the NAA as their basic design, Ford launched the and series to parallel the and in features, but with a three wheel design.

The biggest change was the addition of a cross section of bars across the front grille. All existing models were kept the same in terms of specifications, but the 1 suffix was added in place of the 0 at the end of each model. Also, the differences between the engine size of the and Series, now the and Series, was augmented by the addition of Workmaster, designating the smaller cubic inch engine, and Powermaster, which was used for the larger cubic inch design.

Liquid petroleum gas was now also an option on all Ford tractors. As development in America was marching forward with the series and the revived line, England was moving ahead with revisions of their own.

The Fordson New Major had been very successful, but that tractor was rather large, and the lack of a small tractor for those with lesser needs was hurting Ford's position in Europe. To address this weakness in the product line, Ford developed the Dexta in , which featured a Perkins three cylinder diesel engine.

The next year, the New Major was replaced with the Power Major. The Power Major, as the name difference may suggest, featured a more powerful version of the engine that had revolutionized the tractor industry in Europe by introducing diesel at a competitive price.

Fordson Power Major Featured a more powerful engine Diesel, gas, and distillate versions available Produced from at Dagenham Ford would roll out upgraded versions of each of these tractors. These two models would be the last of the Dagenham designs, as production was shifted from there to nearby Basildon for U. They would also be the last separate British designs, as soon the Tractor Division would become unified.

In , Ford introduced the Select-O-Speed transmission system. It was supposed to provide a system with ten forward speeds, two in reverse. The system was designed to allow farmers greater control for use of machinery over rough terrain. The project became something of a disaster at first, however, and needed much repair and redesign on the earliest models.

The project dragged out, and after a long period of redevelopment, later models of Select-O-Speed were successful. In late , Ford introduced the series to replace the , the line to replace the series, and the as the top of the line, with a powerful six cylinder engine. The Ford was a failure, however, and Ford was forced to replace all of them due to technical problems. In , a plant was opened at Antwerp, in Belgium, to provide for European tractor production.

The world tractor line that Henry Ford had always favored was now a reality, with the same single set of tractors sold across the world. In , the entire range from the to the was revamped, with a new three cylinder diesel engine. The was equipped with a four cylinder diesel, and the was renamed the Commander and was redesigned to fix the earlier technical problems with the same specifications.

This line would continue, receiving expansions until it ranged from to , until The Ford Motor Company was one of the largest and most successful companies in the tractor industry. Ford was one of the early leaders in mass production and the assembly line, and they took these strengths with them in their production of tractors. This allowed them to offer these machines, in the early days, at prices no one could touch, and this made Ford one of the keys towards the mechanization of agriculture.

It is a testament to the quality and durability of the machines they produced that many of them are still running and being actively used throughout the world, five decades or more past their production dates. Their beauty is recognized by those that collect and restore these symbols of American pride and progress. Though the Ford Motor Company may have sold their tractor division to Fiat Agri in , their legacy and heritage live on throughout the American heartland.

Allis Chalmers. Rear View Backup Camera. Engines Misc. The first experimental tractor produced by Henry Ford and his company, featured in the Henry Ford museum. This tractor was completed in under the direction of chief engineer Joseph Galamb. It's interesting to note that the name "tractor" was never applied to this machine, as the term was not widely used at this time.

It was instead referred to as an "automobile plow," and, in fact, used many parts from the Ford line of cars in order to cut development and production costs. It would be nearly a decade later before production would start on the first viable commercial model, the Fordson Model F. Fordson Model F 20 H.

Fordson Model N Fordson All-Around a. Fordson Row Crop in U. Modest revision of the Fordson N with tricycle style wheel arrangement Produced beginning in at Dagenham. Ford 9N a. Ford-Ferguson 9N 28 H. To make the Tractor division more desirable, Ford set about to make itself a full-line manufacturer. In , it bought out New Holland from the Sperry Corporation. The company was then renamed Ford-New Holland.

The company then stopped expanding. In the years that followed, the Ford blue and Fiat terracotta were merged, and the tractors were re-named New Holland. In , Fiat also bought Case IH , thereby becoming the world's second largest tractor producer. Henry Ford decided that his mass production techniques could be applied to tractor building to meet the needs of feeding the population using small light tractors rather than the early Prairie Heavyweight tractors designs derived from steam tractors.

But the board of directors did not agree and so he set up his own operation under the Fordson brand. After that, production was moved to Cork, Ireland and in the s, to Dagenham, England.

After , all tractors made by the company worldwide carried the Ford name. Production was started in new factory in on a acre site at Basildon in Essex, to coincide with the introduction of the new range tractors.

They took a backend and fitted an industrial Ford E engine of hp to it, but being an industrial engine they had to incorporate a frame as these engines are not of a stress block load bearing design usually used in the tractor line. The machines were built by County as they were a low volume model. Launched in as the Ford , for the European market. The model was soon replaced due to poor balance by the Ford , another machine made from the parts bin.

The Ford Tractos brand is no longer in use as part of the sale of the division to CNH , Ford withdrew the right to the "Ford" name on any production after , so by the Ford Tractor line was all rebranded as New Holland still in a Blue colour scheme, but with a black engine and transmission. Early Ford tractors had their own petrol and TVO engines fitted, but when the market started switching to Diesel engines in the UK ford fitted some models with Perkins engines.

But when they opened the Basildon factory they had capacity to build their own and the new series was built with Fords own engines. They also sold a lot of Skid units to other OEM manufacturers in most cases fitted with a Ford engine. Due to design commonality some manufacturers fitted other models or industrial version to suit their application. Ford also had firms like County build low volume models to fill gaps in the line up and meet certain markets needs.

Concourse restoration of a Ford Ford TW20 in excellent condition for a working tractor, just off silage duty, seen at Newby Hall Vintage show in Ford at Newby Hall Vintage show. Ford at Cromford Steam Rally. Ford first began manufacturing implements for the Fordson tractors under the Dearborn brand.

Later implements all carried the Ford name. The principle firms being A number of events have featured major gatherings of Ford tractors.

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