The first book to cover the full story of one of the most successful international tractor makers today.

Get the whole story behind the most popular farm implement sytem of all time, beginning with Henry Ford's and Harry Ferguson's shared dream of making the farmer's job less strenuous and more efficient. Modern color photos of restored equipment, archival photography, and period advertisements show the plows, cultivators, planters, middlebusters, mowers, rakes, rotary hoes weeders, dozers, scoops, loaders and other implements that revolutionized the agricultural industry. Covered in detail are Ferguson's creation of the ingenius three-point attachment system; the Sherman brothers, pivotal figures who brought Ferguson together with Ford's deep pockets; and the infamous handshake agreement that made Ferguson implements standard equipment on Ford tractors.

"Mr. Dahlstrom...has written a superb history of the tractor and this long-forgotten period of capitalism in U.S. agriculture. We now know the whole story of when farming, business and the free-market economy diverged, divided and conquered." —Wall Street Journal Discover the untold story of the “tractor wars,” the twenty-year period that introduced power farming—the most fundamental change in world agriculture in hundreds of years. Before John Deere, Ford, and International Harvester became icons of American business, they were competitors in a forgotten battle for the farm. From 1908-1928, against the backdrop of a world war and economic depression, these brands were engaged in a race to introduce the tractor and revolutionize farming. By the turn of the twentieth century, four million people had left rural America and moved to cities, leaving the nation’s farms shorthanded for the work of plowing, planting, cultivating, harvesting, and threshing. That’s why the introduction of the tractor is an innovation story as essential as man’s landing on the moon or the advent of the internet—after all, with the tractor, a shrinking farm population could still feed a growing world. But getting the tractor from the boardroom to the drafting table, then from factory and the farm, was a technological and competitive battle that until now, has never been fully told. A researcher, historian, and writer, Neil Dahlstrom has spent decades in the corporate archives at John Deere. In Tractor Wars, Dahlstrom offers an insider’s view of a story that entwines a myriad of brands and characters, stakes and plots: the Reverend Daniel Hartsough, a pastor turned tractor designer; Alexander Legge, the eventual president of International Harvester, a former cowboy who took on Henry Ford; William Butterworth and the oft-at-odds leadership team at John Deere that partnered with the enigmatic Ford but planned for his ultimate failure. With all the bitterness and drama of the race between Ford, Dodge, and General Motors, Tractor Wars is the untold story of industry stalwarts and disruptors, inventors, and administrators racing to invent modern agriculture—a power farming revolution that would usher in a whole new world.

The Complete Book of Classic Ford Tractors presents the evolution of the popular machines from 1917 to 1996. Model histories are accompanied by detailed specification charts and, of course, gorgeous photography of restored models.

This book covers the story of British tractors from the early years of the 20th century, through World War 2 to the present day. It was only really in the postwar years that the tractor became the universal symbol of farm equipment, and in this era that all of the famous manufacturing names in Britain could be seen in farms all over the country. Manufacturers include giants such as Ferguson and Fordson, which operated on a global scale although they did build tractors in the UK, to British manufacturers such as Morris or Massey, and other specialist companies. Some of these names still survive today and many thousands of historical vehicles are preserved and can be seen at shows, often in action or in agricultural competitions. The text is complemented with photographs of many of the tractor types built in Britain in these years, from the earliest days pre-war days to the more recent era. Although written by an expert this highly accessible and affordable title will appeal to both enthusiasts and those with a general interest in the subject.

"A showcase of vintage collectible and rare tractors, including the histories of the tractors and their respective manufacturers"--