TRACTOR AND FARMING HERITAGE MARCH 2015
Regulars
3 Welcome
18 News
All the latest news in the world of
tractors and heritage.
20 Graham’s Grumbles
Not so much a grumble as observations
on modern life as seen by an old codger,
claims Graham Hampstead.
24 Tractor Talk
Your news, views and comments about
the vintage and classic scene.
78 Make way for the BIG Allis
Crawler tractors are all the rage – but
what to do with them – especially when
they are as big as Steve Richards’ Allis-
Chalmers HD15A.
86 Next Month
Preview of the April issue of your Tractor
& Farming Heritage magazine.
88 Grand scheme of things
Graham Hampstead reveals some of the
projects he has lined up for 2015.
138 Last Word
It’s a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ now
that Farmer Brown has taken to his ‘den’.
YourTractors
6 Versatile performer
The imposing Ford Versatile 946 is more
at home on the prairies of North
America, so how rare is it to find two of
the behemoths at work over here?
Bitten by the SAME bug
Meet the collector with a passion for the
Italian brand whose SAME DA30 DT
steals the show wherever it goes.
28 Going mobile
Your first set of wheels is a landmark, but
starting your own business at the same
time with a Fordson Major…
31 Show us yours
Send in your tractor snaps – you never
know, you might win the prize we’ve got
up for grabs.
32 Tunisian tractors
What better way to brighten up these
winter days than to fish out the holiday
snaps, especially if they include tractors.
34 Cut a long story short
Farmer Fred Needham’s
Thistle Cutter caused a real
buzz at his local show last
year with many asking what
it was for, now he tells us all.
36 Bringing in a vintage harvest
Many years have passed since
the David Brown name has appeared on
any new tractors; but there are still
some working the land at this
Lancashire farm.
42 The Cub roars again
The Farmall Cub is the diminutive tractor
with the rugged efficiency, so it’s going
to take more than a considerable time in
storage to dim its spark.
46 Super Dexta lives up to its name
Australian readers Maurie and Allison
Cole tell us about their trek to join up
with the Great Snowy River Tractor
Stampede.
Heritage
48 Big yellow machines
The numbers 101, 161 and 171 can
mean only one thing to tractor
enthusiasts – Muir-Hill.
54 First World War farming
Retired farmer John Blake looks recalls
how farming was shaken up by the
demands of the First World War.
56 The reliable one
Ben Phillips opts for dependability with
his selection for the 1960s tractor of the
decade – the Fordson Major E1a.
60 Lots to be thankful for
Auctions of today can be frantic affairs,
so what was it like to run your own ‘old
fashioned’ farm sale back in 1998.
62 Mining for Prairie Gold
Stuart Gibbard explains the complicated
makeup of the Minneapolis-Moline
Power Implement Company.
67 Tractor Archives
More heritage memories from the
farming literature of yesteryear.
72 Superior engineering
Wallis Cub – a centenarian that was
making headlines back in 1915 and still
turns a few heads nowadays.
74 Home Farm Diaries
It’s 1973 and it’s March again. It can be a
cold and bleak month, but Home Farm is
buzzing and there is a lot to do.
Workshop
92 If Noddy owned a tractor...
Ben Phillips thinks these little German
tractors have a character all their own,
and this Eicher ES201 Puma certainly has
the continental charm.
98 Sealing the deal
Richard Lofting had been putting off
replacing his Nuffield’s front crankshaft
seal for some time, but now its time to
get the job done.
Marketplace
103 New Products
All the latest tractor and farming
heritage related releases.
104 Sales & Marketplace
We round off the 2014 auctions with a
trip to the Newark Showground and a
Ransomes rarity at a Hobbs Parker sale.
107 Tractor Classifieds
Hundreds of tractors for sale in our
comprehensive Tractor classified section