[Ford-ferguson] [Ford-Ferguson] 9N reverse engineering

Jack Tractor Live jacktractor at live.com
Tue May 7 08:20:56 PDT 2013


The Henry Ford Museum displays one of the Brown-Ferguson Model As next to
one of the prototype Ford-Ferguson System 9Ns. It is pretty obvious they are
father and son. The sale of Ford Tractor to Fiat leads to very little Ford
equipment newer than the experimental 9N being displayed at the Henry Ford.

One of the problems with the Brown-Ferguson was that it was expensive to
manufacture. Part of the handshake agreement was to produce a tractor that
was both very good and attractively priced. Perhaps reverse engineering is
the wrong term since it implies copying piece by piece. Maybe competitive
analysis is a better one. Clearly part of the Ford emphasis was to use parts
that Ford were already manufacturing as much as possible. Clearly there are
improvements. The 9N has a PTO, fenders, cleaner look, etc.

A man within 5 miles of me owns a 1936 experimental Ford model. It has
narrow front, a V8 engine, and an automotive looking front grill. Clearly,
Ford wasn't getting anywhere on their own on re-entering the US market. I
lost photos of it in a hard disk crash but I may see it again.
 
I actually know a man who worked in Ford Tractor spare part sales and
distribution after leaving the US Military at the end of WW2.

Having worked in the Rouge in the recent past, I am interested in exploring
the connections to the 9N and Fordson F.

In the metro Detroit area, many people will say they work or worked for
"Fords", rather than "Ford".

The Legacy Quarterly issue mentioned actually details an account of the
Massey organization borrowing a new New Holland baler from a dealer who sold
both brands so they could analyze the design as part of developing their own
baler.

Regardless of whether you are a Ford or a Ferguson supporter, and clearly I
lean towards the latter in the matter of tractors, the Ford-Ferguson
alliance took Ford from having little presence in the US tractor market to
being a world player. It did much the same for Ferguson. There seems to be
of a tendency among some to downplay Harry Fergusons' role in the
development of the modern tractor.

In the year 2013, Massey Ferguson is a tractor brand sold around the world.
You can actually buy a new Massey Ferguson that is very close in design to a
9N.

[Mike Sloane] From everything I have ever heard about the Ford N, that story
is completely untrue. The only part of the Ford N that came from Ferguson
was the three point hitch system; everything else (good or bad) came from
the Ford engineers. But I could be wrong.

[Jack Tractor] The April 2013 edition of Massey Harris Ferguson Legacy
Quarterly  contains a continuation of the Harry Ferguson's Black Tractor
article. The article mentions that one of the Brown-Ferguson Model As
brought  to the US were disassembled and reverse engineered into the N
Series  at the Rouge complex.

www.legacyquarterly.com




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