Posted by Carl (NH) on August 10, 2007 at 19:13:30 [URL] [DELETE] :
I received a copy of Randy Leffingwell's "Ford Farm Tractors" for my birthday and having been reading the sections on pre 9N farm tractors & Harry Ferguson's dealings with Henry Ford in developing the 9N. It is very interesting.
One very interesting thing I learned was that once the famous handshake deal between Ford & Ferguson was made, Ford was in a big hurry to get what would become the 9N into production. Because of the rush the stamping dies (?) to make the hood, grill & front wheel hubs were not ready, so they were made of aluminum instead, because of one the Ford big wig's son owned an aluminum casting factory. Once the steel hood & grill stampings were available, production switched over to them. That's why the early 39 N's had aluminum hoods & grills!
If I run into any other interesting facts I will post them. This book has some great pictures of the early farm tractors.
Carl
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