International Harvester Farmall Model A

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Founded in 1902, International Harvester Corporation (IHC) was an amalgam of a number of agricultural manufacturing companies, the largest and best known of which were McCormick and Deering.

In 1924, IHC unveiled their first ‘Farmall’, a machine designed to completely replace the horse in agriculture. Capable of driving stationary machinery via a belt pulley, it could also plough and do a host of other useful jobs around the farm and was a great success (although they never got it to drop manure).

It was one of the first so called ‘tricycle’ tractors with its close coupled, centrally mounted front wheels. These were popular in America until the 1980s as ‘row-crop’ machines, working up and down fields where crops were planted in straight lines.

In 1939 the ‘letter series’ of Farmalls was introduced, a completely new streamlined range styled by the famous industrial designer Raymond Loewy (of Coca-Cola vending machine and Studebaker Avanti fame). Available in models A – M, the A was predictably the smallest and featured a novel offset driving position allowing superb visibility which the firm marketed as ‘Culti-Vision’.

Its high clearance, quickly adjustable track, manoeuvrability, economy and low initial cost all added to its success, as did the choice of petrol or kerosene 113cu in (1,852cc) engines. Superseded in 1949 by the Super ‘A’, the smaller International Harvester tractors became less popular as time went by, mainly due to the significant increase in farm size.

The vendor has recently imported this 1947 Farmall A model from Canada. He reports that it runs well and is fitted with an electric starter. It has been restored sometime in the recent past, has fresh paint and a new set of tyres. As a nicely prepared machine to take to local shows, or as something a bit different to use for ploughing contests, there is a lot of fun to be had with this handy sized machine.