[AT] Ford 8 N

[Cecil E Monson]

	Like Farmer and his father, my father and I farmed with both
the Ford 9N and an IHC 10-20 tractor for years. I remember the little
Ford 9N from the day the local dealer delivered it new in the fall of
1939. My father and mother had taken their first trip since the
beginning of the Great Depression and had gone to the Cattle Congress
in Waterloo, Iowa. While there, he agreed to let them use our farm for
a fall plowing demonstration and the tractor was delivered before they
got home. I think my brothers and I spent at least 10 hours sitting
in the seat of that new tractor pretending it was running. You know
how kids are.... Once my father got home, that was the end of that
stuff. FWIW, the local dealer told us that our Ford 9N was the first
Ford tractor to be delivered to a farm in Minnesota.

	We already had a 10-20 with front rubber and rear steel as
my father had traded off the Fordson a year or two earlier for the
10-20. The 10-20 was a "real" tractor with a lot of lugging power
and the ability to work all day long at full throttle without any
complaining or breakdowns. Being as I was the oldest, my father looked
to me to run one of the tractors. I think he figured the little Ford
would be easier to handle by my brothers, who were all younger, than
I so he checked me out on the 10-20 the following spring and from then
on, that is where I spent my days when there was field work to be done.

	The Ford dealer had his plowing demonstration on our farm. A
lot of farmers came but my father ended up buying the 9N. It was a nice
little tractor and came with a plow and a set of rear mounted cultivators
and a sickle bar mower. It was very handy and did most of the light jobs
on the farm - mostly dragging, planting, pulling wagons and cultivating.
It also pulled the grain binder and did all the mowing and haying chores.
But, it could not begin to keep up with the 10-20 when it came to the
heavy work which was plowing and discing. I ran rings around the Ford
with this type work by keeping the 10-20 at full throttle all day long
in 2nd gear and keeping the wheels turning.

	The 10-20 was "my tractor" for about 17 years until I left the
farm to go to work at the Oliver tractor plant in Charles City, Iowa. It
amused me to see that none of my brothers wanted to run the 10-20 after
I left and my father ended up parking it behind the machine shed where
it sat until the farm was sold many years later. It might still be there
for all I know. My brothers wanted something newer so my father bought
a Super MTA and a Ford 8N. They continued farming with these into the
1960s and when my younger brother, Ray, took over the farm, he continued
using the Super MTA until he quit farming in the 1970s. It was interesting
that even after they got the new tractors, the International did all the
heavy work and the little Ford was kept for the light stuff.

Cecil
-- 
The nicest thing about telling the truth is you never have to wonder
what you said.

Cecil E Monson
Lucille Hand-Monson
Mountainville, New York   Just a little east of the North Pole

Allis Chalmers tractors and equipment

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