N History Forum - Expanded Thread Page

Subject: ferguson/dearborn

[Back] [Return to Top of Forum]

curtis    Posted 03-25-2011 at 11:24:41 [URL] [DELETE]        [Reply] [Email]  
  • ferguson/dearborn
  • I have an implement with the original plate tagged Ferguson/Dearborn (or Ferguson-Dearborn) and model number serial number etc.
    I am planning on repainting it from its current JD green/Rust.
    What color should it be to be correct? I have seen that Ferguson implements were Gray, and Dearborn were Red.
    Im not sure if the Dearborn refers to a Ferguson/Dearborn or not.
    Can someone set me straight? Not a big deal to me, but might as well do it right. Thanks.

    Ed Gooding (VA)    Posted 04-04-2011 at 19:39:43 [URL] [DELETE]        [Reply] [Email]  
  • Re: ferguson/dearborn
  • Is this what you have, Curtis?

    curtis    Posted 04-04-2011 at 21:34:17 [URL] [DELETE]        [Reply] [Email]  
  • Re: ferguson/dearborn
  • That's it! Different sweeps, of course. Also, no DO-91 disc accessory.
    I've seen several around here--apparently they were pretty popular at one time.
    Still are, I guess, since I use mine several times a year. I use it to throw up rows for gardening. I have used it in the past year as a single middle buster (you can mount one shank in the middle) to plow up some shallow trenches to lay drip irrigation lines to different areas for shrubs. It sure beats doing it by hand!
    Only drawback really is the fact that the shanks only can be slightly adjusted, which gives the more modern tool bar a big advantage. But it is still handy to have and the price was right! Thanks for the parts blowup---even if they aren't available anymore.

    Tim Daley(MI)    Posted 04-01-2011 at 19:42:01 [URL] [DELETE]        [Reply] [No Email]  
  • Re: ferguson/dearborn
  • Hi Curtis-
    Like I said before, no need to feel embarassed about posting ANY question you might have- that's why we're here. Anyway, I received your pictures and what you have is a Ferguson-Sherman D-21 Middlebuster. As I suspected, there was never an implement with BOTH a Ferguson AND a DEARBORN tag. Your tag says "Dearborn Mich" -where Ferguson was headquartered in the Rouge Complex. There are many eras of Ferguson and often confusion arises. When Henry Ford and Harry Ferguson agreed with a handshake to partner up and produce the 9N tractor, it was also agreed that Ford would manufacture the tractor and Ferguson would be the sales/distribution dept. The Sherman Bros. had been partners with Ferguson going back to the Fordson Trcator and the duplex hitch plow so the Ferguson-Sherman team remained until about 1941 then they split and it was just Ferguson. That lasted until 1947 when Henry Ford II took over and outed Ferguson altogether and thus created Dearborn Motors. Dearborn Motors was now the distributor of the new 8N Tractor and all the implements to go with it and they were all painted 8N Vermillion (Red). Ferguson was no longer a Ford employee and filed a lawsuit that lasted years. Ferguson took a set of 9N Blueprints and added his own changes to have his tractor made. He ended up in Coventry, England and first made a TE20, for Tractor England, 20 HP, then later released a TO20 -Tractor Overseas, 20HP for distribution mostly in North America. This was later to be referred to as the 'little gray Fergie". He and Dearborn used many of the same vendors for implements. Conflicts arose over proprietary rights, but many suppliers recognized that FORD was a world reknowned name and would be stronger to do business with so stuck with Ford. In the beginning, Ford produced the 9N tractor at the Rouge Plant in Dearborn MI. FORD also made plows at the Rouge, but all other implements were supplied by outside vendors under contract and Ferguson, being the distributor, would slap a tag on them. All 9N, 2N, TE20, TO20 and later the TE30 and TO30, and ALL Ferguson implements were painted dark gray with maybe a shade of difference between Ford and Ferguson. Ferguson had implements made in England too when he started his TE20 production with English suppliers. So, I like to categorize the Ferguson era as being Part I -with Ford from 1938 until 1947, and then Part II, after 1947 when he produced his TE20 to compete with Ford. I hope this helps answer some of your questions.

    Tim Daley(MI)

    Tim Daley(MI)    Posted 03-31-2011 at 06:03:19 [URL] [DELETE]        [Reply] [Email]  
  • Re: ferguson/dearborn
  • Curtis-
    I re-read your post and am curious to see an implement with a tag that has both Ferguson and Dearborn on it. Can you post a picture(s) so we can see what you talking about? I have never heard of such a thing and if so, you may have a rare animal and therefore worthy of remaining here on the HISTORY forum. If you need help with posting pictures, we have a tutorial in our How-Tos' on posting. Or you can email them to me and I will post them. You got my curiosity up now...and please don't feel embarrassed about posting tidbits like this- no need to feel like that. This is how we learn and we all have gone through our learning period about these old tractors and implements.

    Tim Daley(MI)

    scott turner    Posted 08-08-2012 at 09:44:07 [URL] [DELETE]        [Reply] [Email]  
  • Re: ferguson/dearborn
  • is this still an active forum? i have a similar issue of an impliment that i still use. they really made them back then to last, Mr Ford and Mr Ferguson would be proud of us that really have made them last through test of time.
    please let me know if this is still valid?
    thank you.
    Scott

    Paladin (Bob In PA)    Posted 03-27-2011 at 19:14:45 [URL] [DELETE]        [Reply] [Email]  
  • Re: ferguson/dearborn
  • Check the manuals section of the website and see if you can find some original literature. When Ford split from Ferguson in 1948 and announced the 8N, a new tractor on which they had no intent of paying royalties, they stopped sourcing the implements from Ferguson and began painting them red. My guess is that an implement marked Ferguson-Dearborn was made just before the split. They had to put the Ferguson name on it to comply with the agreement, but Ford manufactured the implement in one of their own facilities (Dearborn). That would mean it was painted Ford dark gray, the 9N/2N color.

    Curtis    Posted 03-27-2011 at 20:27:04 [URL] [DELETE]        [Reply] [No Email]  
  • Re: ferguson/dearborn
  • Thanks, Paladin. Actually I tried to cancel this post to avoid embarrassment, but I guess its still up.
    The tag is NOT Ferguson-Dearborn, it is Ferguson-Sherman. I was out looking around about an hour after posting this originally, and happened to glance at the tag and saw it was Ferguson-Sherman! Made in Dearborn. Shows what bad memory can do! Im guessing this means the 9N/2N gray?

    Tim Daley(MI)    Posted 03-28-2011 at 14:51:46 [URL] [DELETE]        [Reply] [No Email]  
  • Re: ferguson/dearborn
  • Welcome aboard, Curtis-
    Ferguson-Sherman up until 1941/42 then it wa sjust Ferguosn, and in '47 it became Dearborn Motors Corporation. Dearborn implements, rhen later in 55 or so just FORD, were painted 8N Vermillion (RED)and the Ferguosn line were 9N gray as Paladin said. Thi sis reall a question for the regular forum so I will move ot there for youand besides getting more exposure, you'll get more replies. We lik eto keep this HISTORY forum strictly for facts related to the tractor/implement production. Thanks.

    Tim Daley(MI)

    [Back] [Return to Top of Forum]


    Top