7 Welcome
As Tractor reaches its 50th issue, the editor looks back over four-and-a-half hectic years.
8 Sussex Doe makes £52,000
Peter Love reports from the busy Cheffins Vintage Collective Sale in October that saw around 200 veteran, vintage and classic tractors changing hands.
14 News
Ex-Dockery Junior makes sparkling Beds debut and more
24 Ashley shows his mettle
After the hard-fought British National Ploughing Championships at Crockey Hill, near York, Lincolnshires Ashley Boyles and old hand Peter Alderslade from Tyne & Wear will represent England at next years world finals in Austria.
30 Classics star at Fingal
The Fingal Vintage Societys Annual Show near Lusk, Republic of Ireland, at the end of September, featured one of the best tractor displays yet.
34 Picking the best
Each year Kim Parks goes fruit picking on several farms where the ultra-narrow orchard tractors come into their own. He describes this years apple harvest and contrasts it with the days when his mother did the same job in the 1950s.
38 Dont skimp on engine kits!
Ben Phillips continues the rebuilding of a friends Massey-Ferguson 135 by fitting an MF 10+ Parts engine kit to the three-cylinder Perkins AD3 152.
42 Rhapsody in blue
Pete Henshaw gets close to a beautifully restored Zetor 2023 vineyard tractor, and learns more about the Czech factory that made it when he meets its owner, Alan Barlow.
48 Roadless revisited
With the recent purchase of the Roadless tractor spares business by John Bownes, an exciting chapter in the Roadless story has begun, writes Peter Love.
52 Tangerine dream
Bob Chamberlain had a dream - to build a tractor suited entirely to the needs of Australian farmers - but it was in Cornwall that Pete Henshaw came across Bernard Lobbs immaculate Detroit Diesel-powered Super 70.
56 Fergies to Antarctica!
Jane Brooks looks back on the events of almost exactly 40 years ago when, on 4 January 1958, Everest hero Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole on a modified Ferguson TE20.
62 Mangled - by a Ferguson Brown
Jo Roberts brings the second part of Huw (Teilia) Williams memories of farming on Anglesey.
65 Letters
67 MF 2640 dilemma
The French-built Massey-Ferguson 2000 series tractors are now becoming collectors pieces. Jerry Thurston finds a remarkable example, still in farm condition, with less than 3000 hours on the clock.
70 Here comes Christmas!
Tractor reviews this years outstanding Christmas card designs by top countryside artists for rural charity benefactor Society Cards, and we look at more gift ideas for the festive season.
78 Them thar hills!
Graham Hampstead goes tractor hunting in the Cumbrain mountains
80 Raw muscle, Atlas-style
Peter Thomas demonstrates the seemingly unstoppable force of his Atlas diesel-engined Caterpillar 60 to our technical editor, Jerry Thurston.
84 Subscribe to Tractor...
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86 Model World
Colin Bloors Tractor Model Show at Spalding, Lincs, on 7 October kicked off the autumn indoor show season in style, and Peter Love reports on some outstanding exhibits.
91 Does at Diseworth
The unmistakable roar of double-engined tractors rang out across the Leicestershire countryside when a special Does at Diseworth event took place. Noel Bridgeman was there to record the action.
94 Hedge condition - poor!
Its hard to believe that the humble hedgehog, one of Britains oldest native mammals, has now been added officially to our list of endangered species. Not for the first time, Polly Pullar asks: What is happening to our countryside?
99 Sales & Marketplace News
The best of the action from tractor and machinery auctions far and wide.
NEW !!! 106 Tractor Price Guide
In this brand new regular section, Peter Love assesses the value of every veteran, vintage and classic tractor from A to Z in a number of typical conditions.
116 Two of a kind - but which one for you?
We compare two rare American tractors that were supplied by the same dealer and worked in Sussex all their lives.
121 Diary Dates
122 A tight decision!
When Keith Vickers started looking for a real tractor small enough to squeeze into the back of his Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
125 Seconds from disaster
Graham Hampstead tells of a lucky escape for his daughter, Lucy, who walked out of a chicken shed after feeding her pullets just five seconds before a falling ash tree demolished it!
127 Tractor Marketplace
The place to buy tractors and everything associated with them.
138 Rare Breeds Factfile
Longhorn cattle are the subject of Marianne Thomass popular end-of-magazine series.