BIG FERGIE

By 1950, the bloom of the post-war tractor boom was fading. With the Korean conflict came material restrictions that favored the larger implement producers. Harry Ferguson was desperate to keep his operations afloat, what with Henry Ford II backing out of the famed “handshake agreement” and struggling to get his new Detroit factory into production.

At the same time, Massey-Harris of Canada was also struggling with its Scottish tractor factory. The company’s Model 744 row-crop tractor was generating little enthusiasm in the British market.

Harry Ferguson and M-H had made overtures toward some kind of cooperation. Ferguson wanted to add a combine to his product line and thought Massey-Harris could help, but misunderstandings and misinterpretations of the other’s intentions