no.6095

Sink Hole Ploughing Demonstration An Early Tractor

1920s

The first Fordson Tractor introduced in 1917 pulling a plough across a field. Front view with driver in three-piece suit and trilby hat. Metal wheels clogged with mud, starting handle at the front. During the First World War the shortage of manpower and horses led to concern over how to produce enough food to feed the nation. In the USA Henry Ford applied production line disciplines to create the Fordson Model F. Recognising the crisis across the Atlantic, Henry Ford sent all the early production of the new tractor – 5,000 Model Fs – to Britain starting work on British farms a year before American farmers could buy Fordsons themselves.