Fordson Model F Tractor

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Henry Ford & Son

c. 1925

Overview

This tractor is one of the 750,000 Fordson Model F tractors that were designed by Henry Ford and manufactured in the USA and UK between 1917 and 1928. It is affectionately known as the “first tractor in Busselton” and was purchased in 1926 for £190 by Andrew Torrent who used it for many years on his Yoongarillup farm.

• 4 cylinders
• Patent numbers listed but indistinguishable
• Iron/not rubber wheels – the tractor never had tyres
• Petrol/kerosene
• Wet clutch
• The attached cultivator is a semi-permanent fixture and is joined to the tractor by a shaft. The cultivator operated as a rotary hoe with a disc that rotated from the engine of the tractor

The earliest Fordson tractor had a three-speed transmission, heavy-duty worm-drive rear axle, with the engine and drive train bolted together to create a single rigid unit without the need for an external frame. This design went on to become a standard for tractors going forward.

Historical information

The young Henry Ford grew up on a farm and became committed to tractor design at young age after seeing the “inefficiency and drudgery” of farm work first hand. As the shareholders of his company, the Ford Motor Company, had no interest in tractor production Ford started an independent company for building tractors, named Henry Ford & Son in 1917. The brand name Fordson (a contraction of Ford & Son) was adopted for his range of mass-produced general-purpose tractors as the "Ford Tractor" name was already being used by a company in Minneapolis. Between 1917 and 1920 Fordson tractors were manufactured by Henry Ford & Son in the USA after which production was shared between the USA and UK arms of the Ford Motor Company Ltd. In 1928 all production was moved to the UK where it continued until 1964 when the Fordson name was dropped and all Ford tractors were simply badged as Fords in both the UK and the USA.

The Fordson was, for tractors, somewhat like the Ford Model T was for cars. It had a reliable design, an affordable price, a widespread dealership and production could be scaled to satisfy demand. Just as the Model T helped people realize the dream of car ownership the Fordson helped farmers imagine how tractors could replace draft animals in farming. Whilst Ford was not the only producer of tractors, the Fordson dominated the tractor market between 1917 to 1925 and again between 1946 to 1953.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-124-2023.67

Item type

Machinery

Material

Iron

Steel

Inscriptions and markings

Above the front grill "Fordson"
Near the steering wheel there is a "PATENT LISTING" that list all 18 relevant patents from AUG 20 1912 to AUG 28 1923
On the tractor seat "Fordson"

Contextual Information

Miguel Torrent emigrated to Western Australian from Spain in July 1905. After spending a short time in the Swan Valley working on the grapevines, he travelled to Yalyalup and worked for Bill Rielly in the vineyards and in the paddocks farming the potato crops. In late 1905 Miguel purchased a homestead block of 65 hectares on the banks of the Sabina River at Yoongarillup. His eldest son, Andrew born 21 September 1903 in Spain, travelled at the age of four with his mother Aurora and grandfather to Western Australia to join his father on the block. In all, a total of eight families arrived from Spain between 1906 and 1909 and collectively formed ‘the Spanish Settlement’ near the Sabina River at Yoongarillup. The Spanish settlers as a group reflected the value of the land settlement scheme with their innovative approach to farming the land , strong work ethics and are credited with some of the earliest wine growing ventures in the region.

Originally Andrew Torrent had run horse teams and operated the first two-disc stump-jump plough in the district, which he had purchased from Haywards in Bunbury as local agents for Sunshine Machinery prior to purchasing the tractor. Considered to be the first of its kind in the district the Fordson was acquired from a new T-Model Ford agency that had started operating in Busselton. The tractor was purchased on a recommendation made by Mr Fred Norman who had advised Andrew ‘to buy the tractor because it would work longer and not get tired, like horses would’.

In his book, ‘The Spanish Settlers of Yoongarillup’ (1993:34) Andrew discusses with interest details on the workings of the tractor that had been passed on to him by Norman:
"This small tank is for petrol to start it, this big one is for kerosene to switch to when hot, and this big hole is for water. "

Norman also gave Andrew some hints on ploughing using a tractor when he advised him to:
"Keep the front wheel in the furrow, work in second gear, and don’t get caught in a tree, or you will pull it straight."

After many years of working in the area, Andrew Torrent finally retired to Wyalkatchem and the Fordson along with cultivator and ploughs were subsequently donated to BHS.

Keywords

Busselton

Fordson Tractor

Farm Machinery

Place made

Cork
County Cork
Ireland

Year

c. 1925

Primary significance criteria

Historic significance

Comparative significance criteria

Object’s condition or completeness