Ferguson-Brown Type A

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Harry Ferguson was born in County Down in Ireland to farming parents in 1884 and became fascinated in all things mechanical from a young age.

By the age of 18 he had joined his brother in his general engineering and bicycle repair business. Young Harry soon became obsessed with powered flight and in 1909 was the first Irishman to take to the skies, piloting his own design of flying machine.

The business grew, Ferguson taking on a number of motor-related franchises, one of which was for the American Overtime Tractor. He rapidly became frustrated with their poor performance, its basic construction merely replacing the job normally done by a horse. Using his considerable farming experience, he developed his own tractor which he called the ‘Eros’. Based on a Model T Ford, it mounted the plough directly to the frame rather than pulling it with chains and was a moderate commercial success.

Ideas developed, Ferguson refining this mechanical connection through the use of hydraulics to control the depth of the furrow. By 1935 he had incorporated this thinking in an all-new tractor; and in conjunction with gear-makers David Brown Engineering in Meltham, West Yorkshire, launched the Ferguson-Brown Model A which went on sale a year later.

A revolution had begun, even if the buying public baulked at the £224 asking price and then needed an additional kit of basic tools and equipment to make the machine work efficiently. This cost a further £26, at a time with a new Fordson tractor could be bought for just £140 all-in, although the Ferguson-Brown was a far superior machine all round.

The first 550 or so used a 2,010cc Coventry Climax L engine, later examples using engines produced by David Brown from the original Coventry Climax patterns. These units combined a number of improvements, including a deeper sump to avoid oil starvation when working on slopes.

Never a commercial success due to its high price, stocks of the Model A began to build up and Harry Ferguson and David Brown parted company after just 1,356 had been produced.

This particular Model A is believed to date from 1937 and was purchased by the vendor in 2003 from the Toddington Manor auction. Remaining in his private collection ever since, it has clearly been restored in the past, yet retains its original features including the correct 11.25 x 24 cross-pattern rear tyres.

According to the vendor, tractor number 1,117 hasn’t been started for a few years, although he sees no reason why it wouldn’t fire-up given some fresh fuel and a swing on the handle. Rare and historically significant, no serious collection can be complete without a Ferguson-Brown Model A amongst its ranks.