Ford tractors

Sir,

Catching up on my reading, I notice that in your May issue you question Ford as being a make of tractor. Actually there were Ford tractors. Lloyd George ordered no less than 5,000 of them from America to help in the war effort in 1917.

These tractors were the forerunners (and were similar in construction) to the Fordsons which were first made at Cork.

Made at Dearborn (Michigan), the Ford tractor developed 22 h.p. at 1,000 r.p.m. It employed the so-called “flywheel magneto” but unlike the model-T there were but ten rotating magnets instead of sixteen, and a single straightforward ignition coil as compared with four trembler coils.

J.S. Bacon.
Fowey.