In 1923 American Farming would change forever. Enter the Farmall.

The first Farmall Tractor produced by International Harvester (IH) was released only in Texas because the people in IH were not sure the tricycle type tractor would be accepted by the farming community at large.  But amazingly the product launch was effective and the Farmall sold well.  By 1926 IH was ready for full scale production at the plant in Rock Island, Illinois.

By 1932 an updated Farmall with a powerful engine known as F-20 was introduced and more came under the F-series—F-30 in 1931, F-12 in 1932, and F-14 in 1938.  Moreover, the former battleship gray color of the units were changed into red—Farmall Red.  The F series were on until 1938 and another approach was born.

Introduced were the series A, B, BN, C, H,M, and MD.  An industrial designer named Raymond Loewy was commissioned to give the new general purpose tractors a smooth look.  IH was aiming at new American farms and they gave their owners modern machines with more features and capabilities. The innovative tricycle type however was retained because it provided quick steering and a considerable improvement in maneuverability over other brands.

IH soon was producing various models for almost every farm and industrial need such as logging, mining, fishing, and the like.  The Formall A, B, and BN offered a smaller size with greater operator visibility and finer maneuverability. Each of the models had its specialties.  C and M provided extra plowing capability and power.  The Model H proposed popular with customers. The MC Farmall offered a diesel engine—a first in IH.  The market took off and the letter-series ended in 1954 and it became not only a defining product line in IH history, but a symbol of America’s prototypical mall farm tractor. Today the H and M models still in operation in many farms today.

In 1947 the Cub Farmall Tractor was born, which had a four cylinder engine and a 69 inch wheelbase.  The Cub Farmall was made for small farms like truck farms, horse farms and other small ones that used to rely on horses for their pulling power. The tidy little Cub Farmall Tractor was produced at the newly-bought Farmall Works-Louisville plant, and sold for $545.00 in 1947. With The Cub Farmall had a tractor for every market.

The Cubwas popular and stayed in continued production for many years.  By 1952 the Letter series tractors were updated to the Super series.  Though the super series underwent improvement they followed the same design and enjoyed good sales and quality reputations.

By 1955 the Numbers (or Hundred) series appeared.  They replaced the letters with numbers to signify improvement and updating, and the new models had a different “look” in the end they looked like the letter series.

The Cub continued unchanged until 1955 when a new “low boy” was born and this featured a shortened wheelbase of 62.5 inches and a frame 8 inches lower than the regular Cub Farmall Model.

In 1955 IH introduced Model 350 which had engines using a variety of known fuels – gasoline, diesel, or LPO gas. The diesel engine version featured direct start and using only diesel fuel.  By 1957 IH added white paint to the front grille and sides and new engines were added.  But it soon became apparent that IH’s conservatism was reluctant to update their tractor line to conform with the changing tastes.

On July 1958 the IH office in Hinsdale Illinois entertained over 12,000 dealers from over 25 countries and showed off the new 60 series including the first large 6 cylinder 460 and 560 models.  Sadly though by June of the same year IH recalled units of the 460, 560, and 660 tractors due to malfunction.  IH yearned to be the number one tractor producer but failed to enlarge and re-engineer critical drive components on the new six-cylinder tractors because the tractors final drives were made up of unaltered model “M” components. IH competitors jumped in and took advantage of the recall, and IH’s customer and quality base eroded.

In the 60’s and 70’s IH attempted to introduce new models and new approaches in marketing, but unfortunately its conservative management style and in house police of promotion affected the advent of new ideas needed by the firm. Since tractor production was the main bread and butter of the company IH executives realized that they would have to modernize and reengineer their tractor line and also lower costs to stay competitive. One new change was to change from the heavy boiler frame to lighter less expensive components and the streamlined exterior of earlier units was replaced by more angular lines, updating the appearance, and requiring less complicated equipment to manufacture. Even if the new units more complex they were easier to operate.

Finally, by 1973 IH officially dropped the FARMALL name altogether from their tractor models ending the era with the first Farmall regular started in 1928.  However, the Farmall nameplate continued to be seen on the 1974 and 1975 tractors until the factories sold all the remaining inventory.

At 9 am February 1, 1974 the 5 millionth IH tractor came off the production line at the Farmall Works plant in Rock Island Illinois making IH the first tractor company to achieve this amazing feat.

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