An antique is an antique. They hadn't learnt to do any better. Main problem is you have to be a he-man to crank them. The
true experts can tune them so they will start with one pull, once
the cylinders have some gas. In cold weather, that's a really stiff
setup. Some industrial models came with self-starters, but I've never
seen one. They have such a low speed worm drive rear end, you can't
pull them to start without risking expensive damage. Try with a flat
belt on the pulley with another tractor. Even when new, people put outside magnetos and governors on them.
Many variations. There are after-market rubber tired rims so you can
drive them on the street. Either F&H or Electric Wheel.

The Fordson tractor factory was moved to Ireland and then England and the
same basic tractor was built in large numbers until 1945. They were a favorite
tractor for the Russians.

Looking at your picture, I would almost bet your gas tank is rusted out. You can
replace it, or you can open it up and put a smaller tank inside that won't be visible.

They are made to run on either battery power or flywheel magneto, which by now is probably too weak. They say you should never run an old Fordson before replacing the
magnets. Over time, they get cracks due to the magnetic field, and tend to fly off and really jam things up. I found that out from my old Model T.

The other thing about the antique tractors is the noise. Might be worth putting a muffler
on it.