Answer to an old question

rrlund · May 8, 2016

Not too long ago in a reply to another post,somebody wondered what the order of sales were for different companies in the 50s. In Larry Gay's Historical Highlights column in the new Hart Parr Oliver Collector magazine,he lists the top five for 1955.
IH,Deere,Massey Harris (That one was the shocker to me),Ford,then Oliver. That was as far as he went since it's an Oliver magazine and it got to Oliver at number five. It'd be anybody's guess where MM,AC,Case and Ferguson came in after that.
He did mention in that same year that MM was seeking a merger with Case and Oliver,both of which declined.

Dick2 · May 8, 2016

We were told in the 1960's that Massey Harris was the number 2 manufacturer of tractors at that time. They were gaining sales through exports and captured a strong market share in many countries their export sales were much larger than their domestic sales. JD & IH woke up later to export sales but MF already had their networks established.

When Massey Ferguson was failing in the mid 1980's, I had a call from a guy inquiring where he could buy parts for all the Massey equipment that his wife's family owned in Columbia (South America). They were especially in need of parts for their MF rice combines. Agco purchased the remnants of MF to get the export market share and dealer network that MF had built up.

JOCCO · May 8, 2016

RR Not to surprised as many years ago IH was the 2-3 largest company in the world. At one time they were the largest truck maker PERIOD. THEY WERE TO BIG TO FAIL BUT YOU MUST REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED ABOUT 1980??? There was also a saying that ford made more 8n than Moline did tractors period!!! 8n was only 1948-52.

rrlund · May 8, 2016

They were a two line company until 1958 though. That was when they merged in to one line. I took it to mean that the Massey Harris line of tractors was number three in 1955 without adding in the Ferguson worldwide sales. Maybe I'm taking it wrong.
When I think about it though,there are a LOT of old Massey Harris tractors around. Not a lot restored,but just a tremendous number of them,period.

JOCCO · May 8, 2016

RR one thing to add is some of these in my area sold in "pockets" A good dealer sold a lot of MM in one region and an MH dealer sold a lot in potato country. Outside of that area they could be rare it was back to farmall or ford etc.

Ultradog MN · May 8, 2016

I'm not too surprised by that.
Except for MH.
Different parts of the country saw different brands being popular of course.
Around here not many MHs and quite a few ACs.

rrlund · May 8, 2016

I remember right here locally,there was a dealer that sold Massey Harris and Nash. They must have sold the heck out of those tractors for a while. Seems like everybody either had a 33 or 44 as their "big tractor" or had another brand as their big one but had a 22 or 101jr as their small tractor.
Dad used to do a lot of dickering. I only remember him having two. A 22 and a Pony. He traded a John Deere A that came from Archbold for the Pony with a whole shed full of mounted implements.
One of the first tractors I bought as a teenager and tried to make money on was a 101jr. I bought it thinking the clutch was out,but it had transmission problems. I didn't make anything on that one.

Answer to an old question

rrlund

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Dick2

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JOCCO

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rrlund

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JOCCO

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Ultradog MN

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rrlund

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