Fordson Forced to Change

By Sam Moore
Published on November 19, 2008
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A Model F Fordson with the optional fenders, which became available in 1924, and the trembler coil (in the black box on the engine’s left side) ignition identical to that used on Model T Ford cars. The gray, box-like affair behind the coil box was the water washer air cleaner Fordson used until 1937.
A Model F Fordson with the optional fenders, which became available in 1924, and the trembler coil (in the black box on the engine’s left side) ignition identical to that used on Model T Ford cars. The gray, box-like affair behind the coil box was the water washer air cleaner Fordson used until 1937.
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An early Model F Fordson tractor hard at work. From a 1921 Fordson sales booklet. 
An early Model F Fordson tractor hard at work. From a 1921 Fordson sales booklet. 
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A late Model E27N Fordson Major at a Canadian show in 2003. The round blue object on the right headlight bracket is a horn; the smaller round gadget behind the radiator cap is a “Moto-Meter” used to indicate radiator water temperature.
A late Model E27N Fordson Major at a Canadian show in 2003. The round blue object on the right headlight bracket is a horn; the smaller round gadget behind the radiator cap is a “Moto-Meter” used to indicate radiator water temperature.
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A 1936 Model N Fordson built in Dagenham, England. By then, Fordsons were equipped with high-tension magneto ignition and a flyball governor.
A 1936 Model N Fordson built in Dagenham, England. By then, Fordsons were equipped with high-tension magneto ignition and a flyball governor.
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An artist’s rendition of a 3-plow Model E27N Fordson Major doing an absolutely perfect job of plowing. From a late 1940s Fordson Major sales brochure. 
An artist’s rendition of a 3-plow Model E27N Fordson Major doing an absolutely perfect job of plowing. From a late 1940s Fordson Major sales brochure. 

The first of Henry Ford’s long anticipated farm tractors rolled off the Dearborn, Mich., assembly line more than 90 years ago, on Oct. 8, 1917.

The first year’s production was sent to England to help with the war effort. By April 4, 1919, Fordson tractors were being built in a new plant in Cork, Ireland, as well as at Dearborn.

By 1921, Fordson tractors represented about half of the tractors sold in the U.S. Henry Ford, however, adamantly refused to improve his tractor. Although he made more than 100,000 Fordsons during 1923 and again in 1925, the glory days of the crude little Fordson, with its iffy ignition and lack of a governor, were coming to an end in this country, signaled by the 1924 introduction of the all new Farmall row crop tractor manufactured by International Harvester Co.

In February 1928, the relentless competition offered by International Harvester and other manufacturers who jumped on the row crop bandwagon, as well as assembly line preparations for the new Model A Ford car, forced the end of Fordson production after 739,977 Model F tractors had been built in the U.S.

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