Tractor celebrates 80th birthday

The tractor which was imported into Northern Ireland by Harry Ferguson Motors Ltd., Belfast was first registered and put to work by a County Tyrone farmer on Tuesday the 15th August, 1944.

The Ford-Fergusons was the result of the famous 1938 handshake agreement between Ferguson and Ford and were manufactured by Henry Ford in the USA to a design by Harry Ferguson and his team of Ulster born engineers.

This year is special year for the Ford-Ferguson as it marks 85 years since the first one left the production line in 1939. The first two Ford-Fergusons to arrive in the British Isles were imported by Harry Ferguson in September, 1939 just as the world went to war and it had been planned by Ford and Ferguson to start production possibly in Northern Ireland but that did not happen.

Although never built in the UK it was a product of the vision and engineering knowledge from Northern Ireland and thousands would be imported during the war to help increase home grown food production.

After the war in 1946 a similar tractor to the Ford-Ferguson would commence production as the Ferguson TE20 built at Coventry by the Standard Motor Company, underneath it was really a Ford-Ferguson but with a different overhead valve engine.