[Farmall] insider info.

[Al Jones]

John have you ever seen the "Operation Takeover" literature from the 444/656/756/856 timeframe?  They compare and contrast every tractor in their respective size range, mainly Deere, MF, AC, Ford, and Oliver with the comparable IH tractor.  Pretty intersting stuff and I will admit in some cases it looked like IH was 'grasping at straws' a little bit!

According to the data though, JD added over 5,000 lbs of extra weight to their 4020 tested at Nebraska.  This was the only way their numbers are anywhere close to the 856.  A 4020 and a 756 is almost a more fair comparison, weight wise.

Al

-----Original Message-----
>From: john hall <jtchall at nc.rr.com>
>Sent: Mar 13, 2011 3:36 PM
>To: Farmall/IHC mailing list <farmall at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>Subject: [Farmall] insider info.
>
>I imagine every major manufacturer is always spying to see what the competition is up to. Last night I found out to what extreme IH went to against John Deere. While sorting through a bunch of literature left over from the IH dealer dad retired from, we found a "training" manual for salesmen. I briefly looked at it and found some memos IH had sent to dealers in the mid/late 70's. The first was about a price increase Deere was having on combines and corn headers. Included in the memo was Deere's dealer pricing. I found another for tractors that showed pricing, but with it broken down into $ per hp. Also there was a note about Deere increasing rear axle size. I couldn't help but laugh at this one. IH pointed out that their axles were still bigger---a gigantic 1/16 of an inch. 
>
>John Hall
>_______________________________________________
>Farmall mailing list
>http://www.antique-tractor.com/mailman/listinfo/farmall