All the stuff that everyone has mentioned certainly helped in regards to financing, marketing etc. but it was NOT the biggest reason for the success of Ferguson's 3 point hitch....
In 1939 which is when the Ford 9N with the Ferguson system debuted in America; the US was on the verg of getting into "lend-lease" where the US was sending steel and other raw materials to Britain as they were already in WWII fighting German aggression basically alone. At that point we were trying to help yet stay out of the war. The US would not enter officially enter WWII until 1942when Pearl harbor was attacked.
During "lend lease" and all during WWII steel, rubber, copper and all other raw materials were rationed to the general public so there would be enough for the war effort and to send to our allies.
The brilliance of the Ferguson system is that it let a tractor that weighed 2500 lbs pull a 2 bottom plow where all other tractors of that time that were pulling a 2 bottom tow type plow had to weigh 5000-6000 lbs or more to do it.
At a time when steel was rationed heavily 2 tractors could be made in the Ford design compared to only 1 tractor in other mfg's traditional design - even the US government loved this as the US farmers still had to feed the homeland as well as other parts of the world too.
Add in all the other perks of great financing, dealers everywhere, and it being significantly cheaper and without a doubt had a proven track record behind it out of necessity it cont'd to succeed well after the war too. No other system ever got the proven track record behind it that the 3 point system did out of necessity and it was obvious that the system was universal where any other copycat system was not going to be universal at all. Regardless, Many farmers took what they could get during WWII in the way of a tractor. Often it was not necessarily the brand the farmer wanted and a big credit to them all is that got er done anyway. (Reason why I believe that this was and will forever be our greatest generation of Americans and no I was not around back then but I admire and respect those who were).
This post was edited by rankrank1 at 08:24:21 04/18/15 3 times.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Third Brush Generators - by Chris Pratt. While I love straightening sheet metal, cleaning, and painting old tractors, I use every excuse to avoid working on the on the electrics. I find the whole process sheer mystery. I have picked up and attempted to read every auto and farm electrics book with no improvement in the situation. They all seem to start with a chapter entitled "Theory of Electricity". After a few paragraphs I usually close the book and go back to banging out dents. A good friend and I were recently discussing our tractor electrical systems when he stated "I figure it all comes back to applying Ohms Law". At this point
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
Oliver 550 Diesel runs like a watch three point hitch pto engine gone threw about two hundred hours ago nice clean tractor
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
