[AT] Why was the MH 555 dropped

James Peck jamesgpeck at hotmail.com
Sat Jan 12 08:34:11 PST 2019


7500 pounds is a lot of tractor. $4200 was a lot of money in 1958.

http://www.tractordata.com/farm-tractors/000/8/1/811-massey-harris-555.html

 [james] This article also questions dropping MH 555 production. But, there was a significant economic downturn in 1958 that encouraged MHF to shut down the Racine facility. Long term, Racine was a better location than Detroit.

https://livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe50s/machines_05.html

 [james] Massey Harris may have been a secondary victim of WW2. The skills sets necessary to produce tanks are not the same skill sets necessary to continuously improve farm tractor designs and their manufacturing process. A similar thing happened to Murray Body company. They had plenty of WW2 defense business but lost the skill sharpness to be competitive at their core businesses post WW2.

http://usautoindustryworldwartwo.com/massey-harris.htm

[james]  Issue 39 of Legacy Quarterly has an article (Massey Harris Triples 333, 444, 555 The Last Massey Harris Tractors(.  The article contains a photo of the Ferguson LTX 60.    It may be that the same set of personalities who quashed the LTX 60 also did not want to update the triples.  The 555 sold poorly in 1955 58. 

Clearly the setting for the eventual bankruptcy was set in this merger.



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