Heritage Iron Magazine

01/23/2025

During the late-1970s and into the '80s, the White 2-180 Field Boss was one of the top-end muscle tractors available in the tractor market. White's 2-180 picked up where the Oliver 2255 left off in the V-8 market with beefed up engineering and comfort. The big “Boss” tractor was powered by the 636-cubic-inch Cat 3208 engine and was rated at 180 PTO hp with a peak horsepower of 210.

📸100 Years of Horsepower '24. This snow and arctic weather has us looking forward to 2025 summer shows more than ever!

01/20/2025

What happened in 1965?

The St. Louis Arch was completed...
The first US combat troops arrived in Vietnam...

And, Hesston announced three new windrowers for the 1965 year. The 110 was an 8’ windrower for the small acreage farmer; for large acreage farmers, the 500 was offered in widths from 12’ to 16’. Also available was the 280, which was the latest in the 200 series and adaptable for over 30 different crops.

📸: Hesston 500
Taken from the History Vault in the Mar/Apr issue of Heritage Iron Magazine. Subscribe today for more tractor history and photos!

01/17/2025

Coming in the next issue of Heritage Iron:
Erickson Manufacturing

"Erickson tractors fueled my passion for homemade four-wheel-drive tractors and are the primary reason I began researching and documenting such machines. Erickson Manufacturing may not have grown to the size of Steiger or other manufacturers, but they left a pretty good mark on the history of early 4WD tractors. "
- Jesse Henderson, author and homemade tractor historian.

01/16/2025

Narrow front fever continues in the Mar/Apr issue.
Get it here: https://heritageiron.com/subscribe

JD 4240 Owner: Jim Ludwig - Lanark, IL
📸 Super T

01/13/2025

A look back at IH life and prices in 1969.

Oil Filter Elements, 1206: $2.00
Hy-Tran Oil, 1 quart: $.65
Hy Tran Oil, 5-gal: $12.58
Battery, Cub Cadet: $29.60
IH Radio: $79.25
Fan Belt, 1256 diesel: $5.58

Memories of visiting the dealer with dad and grandpa: Priceless

01/09/2025

A brand-spanking-new 4630 with a Sound-Gard body rollin' down the line. 📸 Deere & Company Annual Report 1974

01/08/2025

With the introduction of two new 4WD tractors in 1979, Massey Ferguson's line of large 2WD and 4WD models became fully competitive in the North American market in the 100 to 325 hp range. One of those new tractors was the MF 4880, rated at 320 hp. In 1979, the company's net sales reached $2,972,966. The look for 1980 wasn't as favorable, however. Inflation and high interest rates were predicted to present significant problems.
📸 1979 Massey-Ferguson Limited Annual Report

01/06/2025

"What's the weather like there?"
Us: SNOW. Snow as far as the eye can see... ❄️

The House of Iron will be closed today due to the winter weather. We apologize for the inconvenience but look forward to being back in the office tomorrow to take your calls!

Until then, you can subscribe or manage your subscription online at https://heritageiron.com/

Happy SN❄️WY Monday!
The 3-Point Ink, LLC office will be CLOSED today, January 6, due to Snowmageddon 2025. ⛄️We will reopen tomorrow!

You can manage your subscriptions online at:
https://heritageiron.com/
https://oliverheritage.com/

Snow days are also the ideal time to online shop for books and tractor merch to get you through the long winter days:
https://3pointink.com/collections

01/02/2025

BACK IN STOCK!
Allis-Chalmers: The Orange Age of Advertising

Step back in time and enjoy the memories of the good ol' days on the farm with this collection of advertising materials used to promote the A-C line!

LIMITED quantity!
https://3pointink.com/products/allis-chalmers-the-orange-age-of-advertising?_pos=1&_sid=485bc90c3&_ss=r

12/30/2024

"The older the violin, the sweeter the music."
Farmall 1206 | JD 8630 | Steiger Tiger KP-525

12/21/2024

On this day in history -
60 years ago, December 21, 1964:
Massey-Ferguson Buys Badger-Northland, Inc.

The sale of Badger Northland, Inc. to a new subsidiary of Massey-Ferguson Inc. (Detroit) was announced by Vincent Rohlf, president of Badger Northland, Inc. (A sales price was not disclosed at the time.) Badger had sales of $8,450,000 and net income of $280,400 in the fiscal year ending June 30, 1963, according to the Wall Street Journal.

"Because of the absence of duplication of products, the affiliation with Massey-Ferguson will provide immediate market opportunities for many Badger products," said Rohlf.

12/19/2024

Throwback Thursday:
December 1972

The Headline:
"Massey unwraps a package for all its North American dealers."

At Disney World near Orlando, FL, somewhere near 6,000 North American dealers, dealer personnel, and their families, were shown a package of new products, consisting of four row crop tractors ranging from 80 to 140 PTO horsepower.

The “FOUR BIG NEW MASSEYS" were:
The 1080 became the 1085.
The 1100 became the 1105.
The 1130 became the 1135.
And the big machine became the 1155.

Massey-Ferguson 1155
📸 Joe Trombley - Standish, MI
As pictured in the 2024 Heritage Iron Magazine calendar.

12/18/2024

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IH Hydro 100 (NEWEST issue!)
Case 1175
Oliver 2655
JD 4050
Steiger Panther CP-1325
White 195
AC 4W-220

HOW?
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12/16/2024

52 Years Ago
1972 Sperry New Holland Annual Report

📸: Shipping secures machines on the rail car before they're sent to the dealership.

"It's a pleasure to report to you that 1972 has been a year of real success and progress. We all know, of course, it's not the material things, such as buildings, tools, and equipment alone which make Sperry New Holland the successful company it is. It's the people who work here. As I write this, 1972 is drawing to a close and the New Year is about to begin. 1973 looks good with many challenges and opportunites for each of us." - Kenneth F. Thompson, President

12/13/2024

Venture down the Fox hole.

"New Fox cuts up to 80 tons of corn an hour."
Clip hours off your big harvesting jobs with a 100-hp-plus tractor hooked up to the new Fox Super-1000 forage harvester.

📸 FOX TRACTOR 1968
A Division of Koehring Company
Appleton, WI

12/12/2024

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Heritage Iron Magazine - a magazine tractor lovers read cover to cover.

12/12/2024

The "problem child" on the farm.
Every farmer has owned that "one" tractor they remember for all the wrong reasons.

And every manufacturer does, too.
For Ford... it was the 6000.

1960: Harold Brock was working at Ford as Chief Engineer. They were working on a powershift transmission known as the Select-O-Speed to come out in the new Model 6000. Still preliminary in testing (and at the time, failing), Ford wanted to get the jump on the competition and introduce this transmission before it was ready. Brock strongly opposed this decision and told the powers that be that if they proceeded without the necessary changes, they would need a new engineer. Ford proceeded with their introduction anyway, which ended badly. Brock left the company.... and went to Deere. The Ford 6000s were pulled back in for rebuilds but not without damage to the company’s reputation.

Ford wasn't the only manufacturer to produce a problem child throughout the years - Allis, Case, Deere, they all had them. Read the full story in the Jan/Feb issue of Heritage Iron Magazine. Link in the comments!