Ferguson TED20

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Before the immortal Ferguson TE20 arrived, the farm tractor had simply replaced the horse, pulling the same sort of plough that had been used for centuries.

Harry Ferguson’s brilliant development combined two principles, his use of variable hydraulic control for plough depth and his ingenious three-point linkage which effectively transferred the ‘pull’ of the plough into ‘downforce’ over the rear wheels. The combination of these two systems allowed the small TE20 to do the job of machines weighing five times as much.

During demonstrations, the salesman would pull a two-furrow plough through heavy clay soil, the farmer’s initial scepticism soon changing to wondrous disbelief. When he hooked up the three-furrow plough, the salesman's job was done.

The first TE models were fitted with a Continental Z-120 engine and were built alongside the Standard-engined TEA models until 1948, after which the Continental version was discontinued, leaving the TEA petrol as the basic model. A TVO (Tractor Vaprorising Oil) model was introduced using a lower-compression version of the Standard engine which would just about run on the penny-pinching paraffin-based mixture it was designed for. In 1951 a diesel finally joined the range in the form of the TEF, the trusty TEA 2,088cc petrol continuing to be sold in significant numbers until the TE20 was discontinued in 1956, the same year that this model left the Banner Lane factory.

This sound and usable tractor has recently been fitted with new tyres, a fresh battery and a new starter and coil. We are advised that the hydraulics are in working order and that it runs well once warm. Sold with no paperwork, it is a machine that is ready for work, with potential to improve as time goes on.

Even today no manufacturer has produced a small tractor that is as well balanced, economical, reliable or as effective as the basic Fergy, showing what an astonishing machine it was when launched exactly 70 years ago.