In July of 1947 an 8N model tractor was released by the Ford motor company and introduced as an up-date and amalgamation of the earlier Ford and Ferguson tractors. The resulting 8N Ford was a huge success. Not only was it so easy to use virtually anyone could, but it injected power and versatility into the mix.

Farmers were impressed at the way that they could now use the one vehicle and attach any number of accessories – hoe, plough, and fork – to it and perform multiple tasks. It would not be an over-statement to say that Ford tractors, especially the early N series transformed the way agricultural equipment was made and could be attached to tractors.

Even today, especially at the numerous fairs held, a number of the early model Ford tractors can still be seen proudly displayed by their owners working in perfect condition still to this day. This many argue was the secret to their enduring celebrity and success. However, the history of the Ford tractor and that of its creator, Henry Ford, was not one of simple found successful but rather a process of on-going experimentation and trial-and-error.

Given that Ford developed his first model of tractor back in 1907 which was not sold in any form it was another twenty years before he first released to the commercial market and forty years before the advent of the N series which established Ford tractors in the history of agriculture. Henry Ford always held that the creation of an affordable tractor which was practical and

The Ford tractors were not the first such machines, and not always the best such machines, but they were the first to be produced on a massive scale and the first farm tractors to be affordable by average farmers and rural citizens. Henry Ford believed that his tractors were the key to eliminating war and improving the human condition, and perhaps in the end he was partially correct.

The Ford tractors have provided food enough for the population of the world to grow exponentially and have improved the standards of living beyond anything that could have been imagined in 1917. In the final analysis his farm tractors did indeed change the world. Now read about their history below and see for yourself how they evolved over the course of several decades.

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