William Ewing’s Ford Tractor

By James Boblenz
Published on July 1, 2008
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Left side of the Ford showing the tractor’s short length and unusual position of the driver’s seat.
Left side of the Ford showing the tractor’s short length and unusual position of the driver’s seat.
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 It looks lightweight, but the Ford weighed in at 3,800 pounds.
 It looks lightweight, but the Ford weighed in at 3,800 pounds.
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Right view, showing the open gear inside the Ford’s drive wheel.
Right view, showing the open gear inside the Ford’s drive wheel.
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The front – yep, front! – of the Ford tractor showing the model’s immense drive wheels.
The front – yep, front! – of the Ford tractor showing the model’s immense drive wheels.
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This unusual Ford tractor is owned by Bill Pride, Marion, Ohio. He believes it to have been built in the 1920s on the graveyard shift at the Marion Steam Shovel Co. The tractor has a Model T Ford motor and transmission but the remaining components (wheels, gears, cowling, etc.) were from the factory. Bill’s not sure whether the tractor was a factory-authorized project but thinks management was at the very least aware of the undertaking.
This unusual Ford tractor is owned by Bill Pride, Marion, Ohio. He believes it to have been built in the 1920s on the graveyard shift at the Marion Steam Shovel Co. The tractor has a Model T Ford motor and transmission but the remaining components (wheels, gears, cowling, etc.) were from the factory. Bill’s not sure whether the tractor was a factory-authorized project but thinks management was at the very least aware of the undertaking.
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A 1935 prototype Ford tractor, another buy from a Henry Ford Museum auction. The tractor has a 100 hp V-8 Ford truck engine and car front wheels complete with hubcaps.
A 1935 prototype Ford tractor, another buy from a Henry Ford Museum auction. The tractor has a 100 hp V-8 Ford truck engine and car front wheels complete with hubcaps.
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An experimental pre-9N Ford built in late 1938 at Henry Ford’s Fair Lane Estate in Grosse Point, Mich. Rocky Fowler, Bascom, Ohio, bought the tractor at a 1984 Henry Ford Museum auction.
An experimental pre-9N Ford built in late 1938 at Henry Ford’s Fair Lane Estate in Grosse Point, Mich. Rocky Fowler, Bascom, Ohio, bought the tractor at a 1984 Henry Ford Museum auction.
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Rear view of the Marion tractor, showing drawbar and mechanical lift. The tractor has poured cast rear wheels with cleats. The front wheels were later filled with concrete to prevent the tractor from rearing up.
Rear view of the Marion tractor, showing drawbar and mechanical lift. The tractor has poured cast rear wheels with cleats. The front wheels were later filled with concrete to prevent the tractor from rearing up.

Ford was a big name in the automotive world in the days when Henry Ford’s Model T – the Tin Lizzie – was a huge market success. Ford wanted to do for farmers what he had done for motorists: Design an affordable replacement for the horse. He worked diligently to give American farmers a Ford tractor to go with his Ford car. But Henry Ford’s first production tractor would not bear the inventor’s name, for another Ford tractor was already on the market.

Californian William Baer Ewing marketed the first Ford tractor. He knew the Ford name would sell tractors. So, in 1916, he patented the Ford name for his tractor. A year later, when Henry Ford’s tractor was unveiled in 1917, it became known as the Fordson – in part because of Ewing’s maneuver, and in part because some Ford Motor Co. stockholders were opposed to experimentation with tractor development. The Fordson, then, was a product of Henry Ford & Son, a family-held corporation created in 1915 to launch the inventor’s newest venture independent of Ford Motor Co. stockholder opposition.

It is difficult to find advertising literature or factual information on the Ewing Ford, now commonly referred to as the Minneapolis Ford. However, Randy Leffingwell’s Ford Tractors and C.H. Wendel’s Standard Catalog of Farm Tractors 1890-1960 give data on this particular tractor and its place in the development of early gas-powered farm tractors.

In 1915, Ewing obtained the rights to a tractor designed by Maurice Hartsough. Looking for a name for the tractor, Ewing knew he had to have a moniker both easily recognized and strong enough to pull in buyers. He decided the success of the Ford car could work wonders for his new venture. As fate would have it, among his crew of shop clerks was one Paul B. Ford. That was good enough for Ewing, who quickly devised a plan to use the shop clerk’s name on his tractor. In exchange for use of his name, Paul Ford was made director of Ford Tractor Co. in South Dakota and given stock in the firm.

Ewing then hired a Minneapolis designer, Robert Kinkead, to modify Hartsough’s machine. Kinkead protested that the machine’s design was seriously flawed, but Ewing overruled those concerns and directed the designer and the shop clerk to proceed with patent applications. Ewing knew the machine needed more work but was confident that the name would sell the tractor. He rushed the tractor to the market in 1916. Kinkead, reluctant to have his name connected with the venture, left the company.

Ewing housed production in a rented Minneapolis plant. The tractor’s engine, from Gile Boat Works, Luddington, Mich., was an opposed, 2-cylinder engine with 5-by-6-inch bore and stroke. Installed in the tractor, it was rated at 8 hp on the drawbar and 16 hp on the belt pulley.

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