How cheap was Henry Ford?

8NHENRY

Member
Was on a ride last week with my 8n and followed a H FarmAll and a B John Deere and it got me thinking. If Henry was so tight why did he spend money on fenders when other major brands didn't? Don't get me wrong I can't imagine the tractor with out them. Our Oliver's all had fenders as well.
 
Ford was really just a plow tractor no need to remove fenders and they came standard. Farmall and JD I'd say most had no fenders from the factory, and a good percentage of those that did, came off
shortly thereafter.
Seems I've read that most attachable implements on the H and M (same fenders, by the way) required you to
remove the fenders and add an extension plate to get them away from whatever you were attaching. The
instruction book for my HM150 disk plow shows an optional bracket you had to buy special if you wanted to
keep your fenders on. A lot of them ended up in the barn and never put back on. Here in the south, seeing
an H or M in it's work clothes is very rare. Only restored-up purdy tractors have fenders around here.
Those tend to be the ones that ride up the red carpet onto and off of the trailer. I think that the
midwest saw more tractors with fenders. Fenders were a slight upcharge, one most small farmers didn't want
to pay for.
I will one day put a set on my '49 H, but just because I like the clamshells. But, every fall when I put
the 3 disc on to turn under the sorghum patch, they'll have to come off.
Kevin
 
Many of those Farmalls, JDs, Molines, etc
were much taller and had a platform for the
operator. They were wider than the little
Fords too. So the operator didn't sit so
close to the tires where having the
protective enclosure of fenders was as
important. As an example, I spent many an
hour standing on the axle of my cousin's
John Deere 520 hanging onto the cultivator
handles. There was plenty of room for my
cousin in the seat and me and my brother
riding along - one on each axle.
 
I was raised on Fords but also ran Grandpa's H a lot. After mowing all one day w/the 8N I was on the H pulling the crimper hay conditioner when I hit a gopher mound on a side hill & bounced off the seat. I grabbed for the fender for support by instinct, but all I grabbed was a tire lug. Fortunately the next thing I grabbed was the headlight mount as I fell past it & pulled myself back into the seat. Otherwise I would only be about 1/4" thick now!
 
It was a different time. There was no nanny state.

The operator sits down between the tires on an N series Ford. Operators on most row crop type tractors sit much higher due to tractor design and also to allow a much better vantage point for cultivating row crops. Hence, fenders were optional (at least eventually, if not initially).

Interesting story: In 1953 (54?), my Father bought a used Allis Chalmers WC. He was 50 or 51 years old, had just bought our little farm, had three pre grammar school children, and could not justify buying a used Ford 8N or Ferguson TO30, either of which he recognized to be much better tractors, especially for use on our steep ground, and either of which is what he wanted.

One of my earliest memories was going with my Father to the local Ferguson dealer to look at a new TO30 (could have been an early TO-35, but my memory is vague and I cannot remember, even the color). He was a GM engineer and could have bought it but, thinking ahead, he knew that he would be retiring in 1969 with two kids in college and another still in high school, so he settled for the late model (1942?) styled WC, handbrakes and all. He was not a farmer but, at the time, the farm still had adequate fencing and he ran a few head of cattle each year.

In, 1954/55, he took the WC up onto the steep ground above the house to mend fences. He had hitched his 2 wheel trailer to the drawbar. His fence mending tools and materials were in the trailer. So was my older brother. The old horse drawn wagon road crossed a ravine near the crest of the hill on a slide slope. While nearing the ravine, the downhill tire slipped on a moss covered rock, the tractor slid downhill into the ravine and overturned. My Father jumped off uphill and, aside from bumps and bruises for a 50+ year-old man, was unhurt. He grabbed onto the fender to leverage himself above the tire as the tractor was overturning. Fortunately, as the tractor overturned, the ball hitch connecting the trailer to the tractor simply pivoted out of its socket and unhitched. The trailer tongue dropped to the ground and the trailer did not move. My older brother was unhurt and thought it great fun.

Later, my Father rounded up his brothers and a couple of older nephews to retrieve the WC from the ravine. Using a chain hoist connected to a nearby tree and muscle power, they righted the tractor, added some oil and gasoline, cranked it up and drove it home. Forever thereafter, the WC, though mechanically sound, had bent fenders, hood, and steering wheel.

Morale: Though very small, I remember my Father remarking to his older brother (and others) that, if he had bought the tractor that he really wanted, an 8N or early 1950s vintage Ferguson, rather than the obsolete WC, he would not have been able to jump off uphill from a seating position down between the fenders and would likely have been killed.

Caveat: Who knows whether an 8N with a much lower CG would have overturned in this situation, but my Father believed that it would have, and viewing the scene of the accident, I concur.

Dean
 

interesting. i've got a '51 WD. it's got fenders, which i always assumed was standard.

i am so happy to mow with my 2N now instead. there are a couple of places on my lawn that scared me with the WD. the 2N is like a go-kart by comparison. the WD feels like it's up on stilts. the N is nowhere near tipping when i mow.
 
Yes. Fenders were standard equipment on AC WC/WD, etc., but optional equipment on Farmall, JD and other row crop tractors of the era.

Dean
 

thanks, dean - looks like i misread your post and kind of merged a couple others into it. i blame the lack of air conditioning, mine went out around noon :(
 

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