Farmall A-1 Tractor

The Farmall Regular was the first tractor in the IH Farmall series in 1924 and is widely viewed as the first tractor to combine the set of features that would come to define the row-crop tractor category. Although it was not the first tractor of this type, it was one of the first to bring a winning feature combination to market. These features included (a) ‘tricycle’ configuration with a single front wheel or narrowly spaced pair, high ground clearance, quickly adjustable axle track, excellent visibility all around and under the machine, and light weight; (b) sufficient power for ploughing and harrowing, and a belt pulley for belt work; and (c) all at low cost, with an extensive distribution and service network. These features allowed for more accurate cultivation and meant the tractor could perform all the other duties a farmer could have previously achieved using a team of horses. At the time it was believed that a tractor could have lower overall operating costs than horses if it was priced right, reliable and its fuel supply and maintenance could be guaranteed. The Farmall, mass-produced with the same low-cost-and-high-value ethos as the Ford Model T was one of the first tractors to meet those requirements.

The Farmall tractor was popular for its innovative features and was incrementally updated with new model numbers like the Super A, 100, 130 and 140, but remained essentially the same machine. It featured a distinctive offset engine, displaced to the left over wide-set front wheels, to allow vision straight ahead. An IH C113 4-cylinder in-line engine was used for early models, which was increased to an IH C123 with the A-1. The most significant change was the introduction of hydraulics with the Super A.

By 1973, IH had officially dropped the Farmall name from its new tractor models, ending an era that began with the first Farmall Regular back in 1924. However, the Farmall name continued to appear on new 1974 and 1975 tractors until the factories exhausted their inventory of obsolete name badges. On February 1, 1974, at 9:00 A.M., the 5,000,000th IH tractor came off the assembly line at the Farmall Works plant in Rock Island, Illinois. IH was the first tractor manufacturer to officially accomplish this production threshold.