In 1960 my grandfathers best friend, a farmer called george Hill or Chummy as he was known, purchased a new Massey Ferguson 35, reg number 307 5RF, serial number SNF 187716. My grandfather allowed him use of the tractors on our farm and he allowed my grandfather use of his little 35 aswell. Sadly Chummy passed away over 10 years ago and the 35 was left to his nephew, who had no interest in tractors. Despite many offers from different people wanting to buy it, he wouldnt sell. Now the tractor had stood for over ten years in a barn, and in 2008 i approached him and asked to buy it, now weather it was because his uncle was my grandads best friend, or the fact he knew i wanted to keep it and work it, and not just sell it on and make a quick buck, but he sold it to me. Me and my dad went to collect it, we checked for oil and water and some form of brakes, we towed it out onto the lane with one of our Fergie 20’s and jump started it. Bird poo,cowmuck and dust flew everywhere and despite not running for over 10 years she roared into life and started to run well !!

We have had the tractor for over 18 months now, and she has been fantastic. We have replaced a few bits when needed to include control box,waterpump,brakes,injectors serviced. She is in constant use and does many things including powering a haybob,carting timber, powering a sawbench,chain harrowing and carting some of our other tractors to shows and rallies.

I have toyed with the idea of overhauling the engine and painting her for some time, and at the start of this week i have taken the plunge and split the tractor in two. I am currently waiting for the engine overhaul kit from Massey and will attempt to paint it when all the mechanical parts have been done.

I am very much looking forward to getting it restored and up and running again. I am the second owner on the log book and the tractor is still kept only 400 yards from its original home in 1960.

More info and pictures on my website:

Mark Johnson

Mark,

Thanks for sending in the photos and story about your tractor.  It is really nice to know that the tractor is just next door to where it has worked all its life.

Mark’s website is a really good read, so follow the link above and have a look at his other tractors and how he uses them.

Steve (VTE)

photo by permission of Alf Werner, Sweden

Hi Steve!
This is my County 1124, or mabe 1126!!!  It was purchased to be used to plough snow in the winter ( hence the front end loader) and to pull my drainage machine in the summmer. But whith the third axel the turningradius went from bad to worse.

Reversing with towed equipment is not fun when you hardly can get forward, if you are a farmer you will know what I mean! 
So when I was told about a scrapped Ukko-Mara drainer I got an idea. The Ukko-Mara is a Finnish built drainer mounted on a Ford 5000, I took the rear to a local workshop with a stack of drawings, and out came this.  The trainer itself (the red parts) was earlier built in GB under the name of Bruff BT 2. After the remake there is no problems in reversing in boggy fields, or crossing or go astride an open ditch. The tractor has of corse a reduction-box from Howard.
The cab and orbitrol steering comes from varous scrapyards but gives me a plane floor.
 
Greetings
 
Alf Werner, Sweden

Alf also adds that

“Barth once produced a trencher based on a rubber-weeled county. The track-type was labelled K-140.”

Ed.

Now for some more pictures.  The front loader comes in useful to carry 2 extra coils of drainage pipe.  We can also see from the photos how the pipe carrier lowers down between the rear axles so that a new coil can be loaded.  The arm then raises back into the working position.

This County conversion by Alf looks perfectly suited to the trenching application.  The 6 wheel drive will give traction and low ground pressure when working on wet soils, yet when Alf has completed a field he can just raise the trencher and drive off down the road to the next job – no need for low loaders that you would need with a tracked machine.

If you look at track laying trenchers such as the Mastenbroek, you will notice that they have long tracks.  This keeps the machine level and evens out any undulations or bumps in the ground.  Alf’s 3 axle tractor will help to even out the bumps and keep the bottom of the trench as even as possible.

Well done Alf!  What an achievement to undertake your own conversion and customise it to the application.  Great photos and thanks for sharing the story of your tractor.

Got your own tractor story?  Send us details and we can add it to the website for everyone to read.

by permission of Alf Werner, Sweden

photo by permission of Alf Werner, Swedenphoto by permission of Alf Werner, Sweden

photo by permission of Alf Werner, Sweden

photo by permission of Alf Werner, Sweden

photo by permission of Alf Werner, Sweden

photo by permission of Alf Werner, Sweden

photo by permission of Alf Werner, Sweden

photo by permission of Alf Werner, Sweden

Ferretman's Dexta

Hello,

My interest started many years ago when I was a little boy in yorkshire, my mum used to work on a farm helping with weeding hoing and potatoe picking and sorting it was hard work for her and her friend who I used to call auntie Margret. I have fond memories of running round the farm and playing in the hay loft but most of all when I used to drive the tractor up and down the field. I was only about 8 Peter would put it into the furrow and set the throttle and I would proudly drive it down the long fields while they all worked behind it was a little grey fergie, not sure which model but the sights and sounds of that time period have stayed with me.

Mum worked at the farm cos she needed to make ends meet as did my auntie Margret; it seemed fun to me but was a means to an end in those early days of the 60s. As I got older I used to work on the fields myself spud picking behind the old fergies and pea picking – kids dont know there born these days but it was a great time.

The nostalgea has stayed with me, I recently went camping in the snowdonia national park as I live in wales now, and the chap that runs the camp had guess what? an old grey fergie to help lug stuff around. We got talking about old times and how things have changed not for the better I think, anyway when I got home i just happened to ask our local farmer if he had an old tractor tucked away and he did. He had an old ford dexta one thing led to another and I got it for restoration the engines in bits front ends all over the yard and I’m hoping to put it together this summer. Its not a fergie but it is old and nostalgic just like me and I’m loving it having a piece of history, I’M COLLECTING LOTS OF IMPLEMENTS FOR IT and I’m gonna use it in my woods – the grandkids are gonna love it.

Anthony working on his Dexta

If you have enjoyed reading this and you have a super dexta give us an email.

Thanks Antony

ferretman1000[at]talktalk[dot]net

And YES, Anthony originates from Yorkshire and he keeps ferrets!

Vintage Tractor Engineer says….

Many thanks Ferretman for sending in this story of your childhood tractor momories. It made good reading and took me back to my younger days loading bales with a Fergie, spinning and hand picking potatoes with a Ransomes spinner, leading bales and mucking out. All using a Ferguson.

The little tractor was bad to start on a cold morning, even with heater plugs.

The over-riding memory seems to be the cold.

Ploughing started in November, then, because it was all spring cropping. An army trench coat – karki with brass buttons – kept out the cold and the wet. It was so thick that it absorbed the rain. A scarf wound round the neck, sealed the gaps from drips of rain or gusts of wind. A hat was made from a railway sack, with one corner pushed into another, so that you looked like a monk. Because the bag was so long, it was possible to drape it over the shoulders and right down the back, where it was held with a bit of Massey which was tied round the waist. This prevented the pointy bit over the head from blowing off in the wind. The bag was thick and heavy, but precious, because British Rail charged for them. This one must have escaped the system!

Cold hands and hot ache lasted all day. The Fergy was obliging – gloves were regularly slotted over the exhaust pipe so that they filled with warm fumes from the engine. This warmed the gloves, but the hands became fumey and smelt when eating dinner! Polythene fertiliser bags were put along the side of the engine, like an extension to the bonnet, so the fan blew the engine heat back round your legs.

The lunch bag was made of tough, heavy karki material with a thick strap which was wrapped round the air cleaner pipe and hung down on the side of the bonnet – wearing the paint off. It held a thermos flask and sandwich tin, which swung along in the bag. But they are happy memories, going up and down the field all day, and every day, with the little Fergy and the Ferguson plough on the back. The three furrow plough had 12″ furrows and general purpose bodies.

Decades later these tractors are still doing good service in Africa, allbeit with bonnets missing. Or, if the bonnet is on, the paintwork is worn off with so many people riding on it. Maybe my husband passed his tractor on his recent visit to Kenya. There are many Fergusons there. They are fantastic, well-made tractors.

Yesteryear memories from TopVeg

This information came from Vintage Tractor Engineer’s farming neighbour. The neighbour was looking to buy some dairy cows and a whole herd was advertised on the Isle of White. It turned out that the seller of the cows was none other than the grandson of Harry Ferguson, who runs a Ferguson museum on the island as well as Harry Ferguson Farms LTD at Kings Manor, Freshwater.

VTE’s neighbour was told the story of a Ferguson tractor that never went into production. Clearly the Massey Ferguson 35 was a successful tractor and Harry wanted to capitalise and improve on the machine by introducing a 60Hp version for the larger farms. The story goes that 6 of these prototype tractors were manufactured and sent out onto farms. This happened at the time after Ferguson had sold out to Massey Harris and all tractors were now been sold under the Massey Ferguson brand (2007 is 50 years of Massey Ferguson). Harry was delighted with the new 60Hp version and expected the model to outsell all other competition and propell Massey Ferguson into a league above all the other tractor manufacturers. At this time though, Harry was now only an employee of the Massey Ferguson Corporation and did not have the final say any more over tractor production decisions. The company chiefs decided to shelve the 60Hp Ferguson designed tractor in favour of their own Massey Harris designed tractor.

Sadly, of the 6 prototype tractors, 5 were recalled to the factory where they were broken up. The 6th one remained out on farm and was forgotten about. The farmer had bought the tractor and it was so reliable that it ran for many years without needing any repairs or new parts. One day the tractor had a fault and so the owner sent it in to the local MF dealers to be repaired. They had seen nothing like it before and did not know that the model had ever existed. When the dealer enquired to the factory the factory offered to take back the prototype and supply the farmer with a brand new Massey Ferguson tractor and of course the farmer was highly delighted that he had been able to swap his old tractor for a brand new one.

Now for the sad part of this story. That 6th tractor was also broken up by the factory and any traces of the model’s existence were destroyed. One wanders what would have happened had Massey Ferguson gone with the Ferguson design in favour of the Massey Harris designed 65. Harry Ferguson was a man who not only understood the tractor market, but also knew his design would be a huge success. Apparently Harry was of the opinion that Massey Ferguson would have killed off most of the competition from other tractor manufacturers if the company had brought the 60Hp Ferguson into production.

This is the story that Vintage Tractor Engineer has been told. If you have any more info then leave a comment. Maybee you helped design the tractor, maybee you have driven one, or possibly you have a photograph? Let us know.

Comments…..
1
John Deere says:

February 11th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Dunno about Massey Ferguson ! More of a John deere Man myself

2
Haukur Júlíusson says:

February 16th, 2008 at 11:10 am
It is very surprising and interesting story.
I agree that the old MF 65 from 1958 is very unlike his little brother MF 35 from that time, especially
in styling and the steering method.
best regards.
Haukur J.
Hvanneyri
Iceland

3
kevin hall says:

June 1st, 2008 at 4:34 pm
hello I had heard this story before but didnt know it came from harry fergusons grandson . very intresting. My fathers owns a small collection of massey, one of which is the first te20 diesel 200001 s/n i am trying to find any history on this tractor any help would be greatfully recieved

4
The Vintage Tractor Engineer says:

June 4th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Hi Kevin,

What a piece of history to own. Maybee we should write a report on the tractor and see if anyone knows anything about it.

Steve.

5
kevin hall says:

June 9th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
that sounds like a great idea thanks ill get some pics on my computer and email you thanks kevin

6
Pink Miss America Depression Glass says:

June 24th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Cool article, I fell in love with vintage tractors when I decided to restore my Grandpa’s old Super B. Its been great fun and hopefully I’ll have it finished soon

7
Penny says:

August 21st, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Hi All, Please can anybody help me, Im very confused, I have a 1947 Massey Harry Ferguson and it is a diesel, I thought the diesel didnt come out till 1951, can anybody help me. Thanks Penny…..

8
Colin Taylor says:

September 2nd, 2008 at 3:34 pm
just to follow up on pennys query about the 47 diesel model, it might well be a 3 cylinder perkins p3 conversion????

9
garry says:

October 29th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
thanks never knew tht and i was wondering if anybody knew where to get more info on a perkins p3 conversin engine and its wiring to the engine mainly ?