More than a century has passed since the launch of the first Farmall. During that time, and up to the 1970s, more than five million units were produced, confirming just how appreciated these machines were. Yet the story is still not over today
Summer 1923. North America. Across the vast plains, very unusual tractors could be seen at work. Three-wheeled, with high ground clearance and a minimalist appearance. They had no mudguards and featured an essential load-bearing frame structure designed to keep weight to a minimum. These were the prototypes and pre-series machines destined for field testing of a tractor that would become legendary: “Farmall”.
Designed by International Harvester engineer Bert R. Benjamin, it was conceptually the exact opposite of the design philosophy behind the market leader of the time, the Fordson “F”. The latter was low and wide, a classic tractor mainly intended for ploughing. “Farmall”, on the other hand, was tall and slender, primarily designed for row crops, a category of machines known as “row-crop tractors”.
Thanks to its significant ground clearance, it could handle mid-mounted implements that the operator could monitor without having to constantly turn around. This represented a major advantage in terms of working comfort, an aspect that until then had received little attention from agricultural machinery manufacturers. This focus on operator comfort also contributed significantly to the market eagerly awaiting the machine’s debut, which came in 1924 with the “Regular” model.
Its success was no less significant than that of the Fordson “F”, despite addressing different agricultural needs. Large-scale production also helped reduce prices dramatically, allowing the “Farmall Regular”, unlike the Fordson “F”, to avoid production interruptions in the United States while remaining almost unchanged in its original concept, even as new versions such as the “F20”, “F30”, “F12” and “F14” were introduced. These tractors remained in production until the eve of the Second World War.
The turning point came in 1939, simultaneously with the launch of the new International Harvester tractor generations. They featured an especially attractive styling created by Franco-American designer Raymond Loewy, who also designed, among other things, the Coca-Cola bottle and the Concorde. The “Farmall” tractors were in fact the first tractors in the world to benefit from an integrated design concept, and Loewy also created the new International Harvester logo — appropriately enough, a rear view of a “Farmall” with its driver.
The company’s entire range was redesigned with a common family feeling, from the smallest “Farmall” to the largest crawler tractor. The first tractor built according to this philosophy was precisely a “Farmall”, a four-wheel model identified by the letter “A” to distinguish it from its derivative known as the “B”.
The presentation took place on July 12, 1939, at the Chicago factory in the state of Illinois, while on August 9 the more powerful “Farmall H” and “Farmall M” models were also introduced. These were built at the Rock Island factory, also in Illinois.
The “M” model, the most powerful in the series, was classified as a “three-plow” tractor because on the loose American soils it could operate with a three-bottom plough. It weighed 2,204 kilograms dry, but when fuelled and ballasted it could exceed 3,000 kilograms. Power came from an original International four-cylinder petrol engine delivering 38 horsepower, paired with a gearbox featuring five forward gears and one reverse gear, allowing a top road speed slightly above 26 kilometres per hour.
It was a huge success. Produced until 1954 in 270,140 units, it also allowed the expansion of the family with the “Ms” model, equipped as standard with hydraulic lift, and in 1941 with the “Md” model, powered by a four-cylinder diesel engine intended for the European market and also produced in Doncaster, United Kingdom.
In 1952, the “Super M”, powered by a 4,330 cubic centimetre petrol engine, the diesel-powered “Super Md”, and the “Super Mta”, equipped with torque amplifier, were introduced. There were also high-clearance versions and narrow specialist versions identified as “Mv” when powered by petrol engines and “Mdv” when fitted with diesel engines.
It should also be noted that, in addition to the United States and the United Kingdom, the “Farmall M” was also produced in Australia, confirming the truly global success of the model.
Mergers and acquisitions
“IH”, short for “International Harvester”, was born from the merger of two major North American threshing machine manufacturers, Cyrus Hall McCormick and William Deering. By the end of the nineteenth century, the two companies were engaged in fierce competition, to the point that the owning families and their financiers eventually decided to merge the businesses in order to avoid risking bankruptcy through continuous price-cutting.
Thus, in 1902, the International Harvester group was created. It subsequently absorbed several other brands, becoming one of the world’s leading manufacturers of threshers and tractors. This position was maintained for decades until 1984, when the financial group Tenneco, owner of the Case and David Brown brands, expressed interest in acquiring the company.
The acquisition took place the following year, giving birth to the Case International brand, which in 1999 was itself acquired by the Italian company New Holland. This move led to the creation of today’s CNH group. Most Case International tractors, now branded “Case IH”, are currently built in Racine in the United States, Sankt Valentin in Austria, and Jesi in Italy.
Title: Farmall, story of a successful tractor
Translation with ChatGPT
