[AT] [Ford-Ferguson] LTX and big Ford

[James Peck]

I took the first Severstal test on a cold day in late January 2011.

I was told that Severstal had continued use of the Ramsay Electrician B paper test after acquiring the site from Ford. I was also told that Ford had since abandoned use of the test because the pass rate was too low.

https://www.ramsaycorp.com/catalog/view/?productid=114

The question I have is whether that test was being used during the period when the 9N was in production at the Rouge complex.

[James Peck] Ford was working on a secret big tractor also before the Ford Ferguson split.  One of the Ferguson design team defected to Ford at some point of time. It is possible the LTX progress was leaked to Ford or the other way around. 

The Rouge complex is huge. When I was there I typically went in a Ford gate and took a van to the building where I worked.  For my hiring tests I went in through a Severstal gate. At that point in time the rouge  had card readers and turnstiles. I used the card again to get into the building and again to clock in.  It could be that 9N production was moved to Highland park because none of the Ferguson team could get in there.

[John Maddock] Now this is interesting... I was intending to be a smartxxx and broaden the discussion by posting about the Ferguson LTX, assuming Google would turn up numerous links. Wrong! Like the "tractor which never was", I found only two references:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ferguson-LTX-jack-tractor/

and

https://www.bookdepository.com/Lengendary-Ferguson-LTX-Tractor-Erik-Fredriksen/9781907511110

Somewhere I have a hard copy of a fuller version of the LTX story, and that shows a tractor which looked like the TE20, but larger.