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