A Chasha's Car: Top 5 Tractors of All Time

A lot of readers complain about way too many car lists; so we thought why not head over to something different? It had to be a list, but what? Top 5 Polyester curtains? Nah. The Best 5 Carpet Slippers? Too comfy. It had to be something more practical for our country; you just cannot have Italian supercars stuck in traffic jams here, can you? Hence, with all due respect to our Deshi Pharmers, we dedicate this piece to tractors. Sure, these models would probably never be seen in our villages, but hey, we can hope.

John Deere Model D
In 2008, Deere and Company (known as John Deere) is listed as the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery in the world. The longest production span of the two-cylinder John Deere tractors was the Model D. The Model D was the longest produced tractor from the years 1923- 1953. The first model D rode on steel wheels with a 6.5x7.0 inch (later 6.75 x 7.0 inch) two-cylinder hand-cranked engine. It was not however the first tractor to bear the John Deere name - as a number of Deere experimental tractors, and the John Deere Dain "All Wheel Drive" tractor (of which approximately 100 were produced during 1918 through 1919) had all carried the Deere name before the D.

However, as the “D” began to lose popularity, the new generation came along when John Deere switched to four and six-cylinder tractors. That model was called the 8010 and only one-hundred tractors of this brand was made. A few years later the 8020 was developed and became the standard all other farm tractors are measured by. "Nothing runs like a Deere."

Massey Ferguson 399
The Massey Ferguson 399's brilliant red appearance stood out when the state of the art "Hi-line" silver cab was introduced in 1988. The engine was uprated to a 104 hp (78 kW) Perkins 1006 series engine and the cab updated in 1991. The company never had such bumper sales with a series of tractor since it first started decades previously. The years 199496 were good for Massey Ferguson when the Republic of Ireland and the UK had record sales of this series. The main reasons for this was its reliability, excellent cab, strong features and powerful engine the latter sometimes receiving dealer fitted turbocharger kits to boost the 399's power to the 125/130 horsepower mark, giving the farmer a lightweight, yet powerful tractor for field work where a larger tractor might damage the crop.

New Holland 5 HP Tractor
In the 1900's the first New Holland "freeze proof" tractor engine was produced. After that there were five different horsepower models mass produced by the New Holland Company. It all started with the small 1-1/2 HP engine which ranged up to 16 HP. The most popular (and important) tractor model offered by the New Holland Company was the 5 HP tractor in 1911. Later Ford bought New Holland and this brand was offered by Ford. Eventually, five different horsepower (hp.) models of the New Holland stationary engine were mass produced by the New Holland Company. The most popular seller among the line of stationary engines offered by New Holland was the 5 hp. model. By 1911, sales of the 5 hp. model New Holland stationary engine were up more than 253% over sales of the same engine in 1904.

Case IH Farmall
Case IH (J.I. Case and International Harvester) tractors are one of the worlds largest name brands of agriculture equipment. The Farmall tractor was produced in 1926 and by 1930 they sold 100,000 tractors. In 1932 IH introduced an updated Farmall with a more powerful engine, which received the designation F-20. The F-20 replaced the original Farmall, which became known by the retronym Regular (after the introduction of the F-20). IH also added other new tractors to the brand, which became known as the F-series. These included the F-30 (1931), the F-12 (1932), and the F-14 (1938). All Farmall tractors were painted a deep blue grey (not battle ship grey) until middle 1936 around July through September, when a decision was made to change to a new color, 'Farmall Red'.

Fordson Model F:
The first lightweight tractor that was built was a Ford brand name. The Fordson Model F was finished in 1916 and because it was mass produced and lightweight it made it affordable for the average farmer to own one. This tractor had 20 HP with a four-cylinder vaporising oil engine. It used a 20 horsepower, four-cylinder vaporising oil engine, a three-speed spur gear transmission (the three forward speeds ranged from approximately 21/4 to 61/4 mph From 1917-1928 the Model F sold three quarters of a million units, which is more than any tractor sold then and now.

By Wahid Khan

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