Now that I am retired, I have a little time to do some things that up until now time just didn’t allow. I just purchased an old 8N Ford tractor to restore. I won’t restore it piece by piece like a collector, because I will most likely put it back to work on the farm. I will make sure everything is functional. The tractor I purchased belonged to a friend of mine, so I am sure it has been well cared for.
Growing up, my family had an 8N tractor that we used to plow the garden, mow the pasture and plant a few acres of corn to feed a couple head of cattle and some hogs, mostly for our own consumption. When I was in the 4-H club I even won an award from the Georgia Sportsman Federation for some work I did planting food plots for quail. As time went on, Dad traded it in for a larger tractor. I always wished we had kept the 8N. I have a lot of memories with that machine.
We lived on Freeman Road and when we moved there the road was dirt, or should I say red clay. During the rainy season cars could not make it up the hill below our house. The 8N and I pulled a lot of cars up that hill. I didn’t charge them, but I also didn’t help them clean the mud off their car when we got to the top.
Henry Ford was one of the first to build tractors on an assembly line. He used as many automobile parts as possible and was able to mass produce them at an affordable price. The N series tractors were the most popular for their time. The 9N (1939) came first, followed by the 2N (1942) and then the 8N (1948). Harry Ferguson was hired by the Irish Board of Agriculture to solve a serious tractor problem. When pulling a plow or other type ground engaging equipment, if the plow simply drifted too deep, stopping the forward motion, traction on the rear tires was increased. This would cause the front end to come up off the ground and the tractor would rotate, flipping over backwards. Quite a few farmers were killed due to this. Ferguson developed a system with a three-point hitch whereby the top link absorbed the load, released the hydraulics, and stabilized the load, keeping the front end on the ground (a brief explanation of a complex genius invention). Ferguson demonstrated this to Henry Ford in 1933, and with a handshake agreement the system was used on the N series tractors. If you see a 9N tractor, on the front of the hood just under the Ford emblem, there is another emblem that says Ferguson system. When the 8N was introduced, it had the Ferguson system, but without the emblem or the involvement of Harry Ferguson. When the patent infringement lawsuit was settled, Ferguson received a little over nine million dollars. The Ferguson type draft control system today is common on most all tractors.
Anyway, you probably won’t see me in any parades or car shows, but I might drive it out to the mailbox or mow the pasture. By-the-way, I still have the Covington planters and cultivator from the past. I can’t wait to wake up this 70-year-old piece of equipment to plant a patch of corn.
Frank Hancock has worked as a Farm Manager, Vocational Agriculture Teacher and Vice President at Snapper. He retired as a University of Georgia Agricultural Extension Agent in Henry County. He is a also a member of the Heritage Writers Group.
