75 th Anniversary of Type A Ferguson Brown Tractor
Massey Ferguson celebrates the
75th Anniversary of the Type A - Ferguson Brown Tractor and
the introduction to commercial manufacture of the Three - Point Linkage System in June 1936.
MF Press Release-June 2011
Massey Ferguson is celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the introduction of the legendary Type A - Ferguson Brown - tractor, which went into production in June 1936. The first ever series production tractor to feature the Ferguson three-point linkage system, it’s the tractor that began the power farming revolution.
“Massey Ferguson is immensely proud of our heritage, which encompasses virtually every major innovation in tractor technology from the three-point linkage, which went into production on the Ferguson Brown, right through to the launch of the first ever Selective Catalytic Reduction system to be used in agriculture on the MF 8600 Series,” says Campbell Scott, Massey Ferguson Manager, Brand Development and
Sales Engineering.
“We feel it is important to acknowledge the enormous and significant contribution our founding fathers – Daniel Massey, Alanson Harris and Harry Ferguson – have made to mechanize and change the face of farming across the globe. We continue to honour these pioneers every day by striving to develop further innovative ideas for the up to date, high quality farm machinery that still proudly bears their names,” he adds.
To commemorate this important anniversary a display area has been created in the Massey Ferguson Technology Centre at AGCO’s Beauvais Manufacturing Facility in France. Star of the show is the first production model, the Type A, No 1 which was sold to Thomas McGregor Greer for use on his farm at the Tullylagan Estate, near Cookstown, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.
Although its official name is the Ferguson Type A, it is now more affectionally known as the Ferguson Brown. Harry Ferguson is purported to have always referred to it as the ‘Irish Tractor’, maybe because the first Type A tractor made its public debut in April 1936 at Ballyclare, County Antrim, in Harry Ferguson’s home country of Northern Ireland.
The tractor, however, was first produced at David Brown’s Park Gear Works in Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England. About 500 of the tractors were built there, all powered by 20hp, Coventry Climax Type E engines. Later on production shifted to David Brown’s Meltham Mills tractor factory, also in the English county of Yorkshire. About 1,350 Type A or Ferguson Browns were built here and in about 1937 these began to be fitted with a David Brown-built engine, which was based very closely on the original.
As well as being the tractor that introduced the first ever three-point linkage system, the Type A also presented many of Harry Ferguson’s other ingenious manufacturing and marketing ideas. On the engineering front he insisted on using high tensile bolts with specially hardened heads of only two sizes, so the single ‘Ferguson Spanner’ would fit all nuts and bolts. The tractor was also offered with four different implements. It also began Ferguson’s promotion of a light and agile tractor that was easy use and, as he said, “not merely a tractor but mechanisation which entirely supersedes horses!” 
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....The winning stand under the title "Hedgerow Harry" 
......Show winners left to right Gary Pepper TED-20 (Best Masey Harris/Ferguson FOFH award) Gary Downes (Best Club stand) Peter Rash FE-35(3rd place 1900-57 Veteran to Vintage )Austin Carroll TEF-20 +2 Furrow Plough (Tractor with Implement attached 1st) Geoff Dunn MF-135(Post vintage to Classic 1st and Best Massey Ferguson FOFH award) Kneeling down are Wendy Downes and John Reece (Best Club Stand) 
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Brent Thomas TE-20 Continental (Unrestored Veteran to Vintage 1st)This tractor is No 69 ! 
