Fordson Tractor Club, 2160 Carrigan, Turlock, California
95380
The response to the Fordson Tractor Club has been rewarding.
There are nearly 400 active (and inactive) members in the United
States, Canada, England, Ireland, Scotland, New Zealand, Australia,
and the Netherlands.
Quite a bit of interest has been generated in the old Fordson
tractor, and now news of the Club’s services is traveling by
word-of-mouth, and that’s great!
Many members are helping (and have helped) to accumulate a
wealth of information on the various Fordson models, especially the
‘F’ manufactured in the United States from 1917-1928. The
Club is able to help the members procure parts, literature,
publications, and memorabilia which is invaluable in helping to
restore and exhibit.
To help in this, the Fordson Tractor Club members have compiled
engine serial manufacturing lists, duplication of original colors,
lists of replacement gears and bolts, schematics, pictures, Xeroxes
of items like all-available carb-manifold ‘setups’ made for
the Fordson, etc.
From this information, more and more Fordsons are now being
displayed in shows, parades and exhibits which we feel now places
the Fordson in its proper place in agricultural farm equipment
history. No longer is the ‘grand-daddy’ of all modern
tractors treated as a ‘stepchild.’
The Fordson Tractor Club mails out bi-annual Fordson newsletters
of multiple pages, and keeps a card file system on parts and items
wanted and available. Xeroxes of parts lists and other equipment
items are mailed to members. We try to ‘team together’ to
find solutions to difficult restoration problems, and have usually
been successful in this. While some parts are rare, the club is
slowly learning the whereabouts of supplies of NOS parts left, and
is starting to plan for remanufacture of non-existent or
hard-to-get parts. The Club keeps a small stock of NOS and mailable
used Fordson parts.
Since the Club’s beginning about 4 or 5 years ago, a number
of Fordson publications have been made available as well as a few
reprints. Allen Condie of Scotland first started with a
‘history’ of Fordsons, and soon progressed into booklets on
nomenclature, anatomy, conversions, unusual equipment items, and is
now publishing several excellent booklets (Fordson Album, Vol. I)
with corresponding pictures and line drawings.
In the meantime, Arthur Battelle of England started publishing
the ‘Fordson Magazine and Register’ for members of the
English Fordson Club. This magazine, with 4 issues annually,
contains excellent material on Fordsons, not only the American
‘F’, and Irish-English ‘N’, but even has articles
on Fordsons in the ‘Major Dextra’, and modern series.
Condie and Battelle publications are distributed through the Club.
Dues to the Fordson Tractor Club are minimal ($3.00 annual), which
helps defray cost of the services above, plus much correspondence,
including that overseas. The Club helps distribute items like
‘Fordson T-shirts’, watch fobs, arm patches, buttons, and
other memorabilia to help satisfy member’s needs.
Any help anyone can give us to locate sources of NOS parts,
Fordson literature, unusual equipment items, etc., is always
greatly appreciated.
We are trying to compile complete Service Bulletin, manual, and
parts lists SETS, which can then either be reprinted or Xeroxed off
for the convenience of members and others who might be
interested.
As far as we know, we are the only organized ‘Club’ for
an individual make of antique (vintage) tractor, except the newly
organized ‘Ford-Fergie-Farmer’, dedicated to the successor
of the American Fordson: the 9-N, 2-N, and 8-N tractors, with
headquarters at Millbury, MA.
