Lord Perry, aware of Henry Ford’s progress with his new
tractor design, called upon him to quit the experiments and
start production. Ford not only agreed to that (and to export
of at least 6,000 tractors to Great Britain as soon as possible),
but also agreed to establish a factory in Ireland (from which
the Ford family had emigrated). In 1917, a plant opened in
Cork, Ireland, for manufacture of the tractor, now called the
Fordson Model F. The Fordson (and others) went on to save
the British people from starvation during World War I, and
the Fordson endeared itself to the British population.
Peace time between World War I and World War II was
limited to just 21 years. Mindful of the country’s experience
during the first world war, the British War Agricultural Exec-
utive Committee stockpiled hundreds of upgraded Fordson
Model N tractors in the intervening years. When German U-
boats cut off overseas shipping, the Fordson was once again
ready to go to work, further endearing the tractor to the Brit-
ish populace.Replacing the Fordson
Meanwhile, in the U.S., Henry Ford and Harry Ferguson
(another Irishman) had made their famous “Handshake
Agreement” to manufacture the Ford-Ferguson tractor Mod-
el 9N (1939) and Model 2N (1942, a wartime version with- The E27N version of the Fordson was
built between 1945 and 1952. It used
the same basic engine that was used
in the 1917 model. Displacement had
been increased along the way from 251
cubic inches to 267 cubic inches, and
for the E27N compression was raised for
gasoline fuel. Nevertheless, the engine’s
short service life led to the adoption of
the Perkins diesel. Photo by Robert Pripps. - The Fordson Model N in blue livery.
The blue-and-orange color scheme was
discontinued in 1938, but then brought
back after the war. Photo by Robert
Pripps. - A rare narrow-front 1958 Fordson
New Major, the first all-new tractor from
British Ford. It replaced the aging E27N
Major. The New Major was rated at 45
hp. Photo by Robert Pripps. - The late Jack Garner shows off his
1962 Fordson Super Dexta that was im-
ported to the U.S. as a Ford 2000 Diesel.
Photo by Robert Pripps. - The Fordson Dexta Diesel was intro-
duced in 1957. Until late in 1960, the
headlights were mounted on the side of
the radiator shell. After that, the head-
lights were placed in the grille where
they would not interfere with front-end
loaders. The badge on this Dexta’s grille
boasts of both live PTO and hydraulics,
unusual features for small tractors in
those days. Photo by Robert Pripps. - The headlights on this 1964 Super
Dexta have been moved to the radia-
tor shell in order to use the fancy front
bumper. Photo by Daniel Simecek.
13245 624 November 2018 Farm Collector