The Farmall H Tractor
The Magnificent Farmall H Tractor was built by International Harvester Corporation as part of the “letter series” for 14 years from 1939 until 1953 encompassing the end of the Depression, Great dust Bowl and the trials of World War Two. Representing a dramatic evolution in farming it was truly an all-purpose farm tractor. It made the essential food production for a nation at war highly efficient. Indeed much of the food produced that sustained the war effort from the great breadbasket of America was sown, tended and reaped by the iconic farmer atop a Farmall H.
Here’s a fun restoration video I thought you’d enjoy amidst all these facts! 
Originally the Farmall H Tractor had all-steel wheels both because it was customary, but also because the war effort in 1941 consumed all available rubber. But that actually helped the farmer immensely since the price for steel wheels was $765 as opposed to the $962 for rubber.
Over 390,000 Farmall H Tractors sold in North America making the H model of the series the top selling individual tractor in the history of the United States.
In 1952 the H was replaced by the “Super H” which was available in several versions
- tricycle
- adjustable wide-front
- fixed wide-front high-crop
- But it came standard with disc brakes as an innovation.
The Farmall H was tailor made for farms up to 160 acres and supremely well designed for tall row crops like corn, sugar beets and potatoes.
A well maintained Farmall H Model could cultivate up to 35 acres of row crops a day. And as
Farmall H’s were general farm tractors ( in addition to being specifically suited for farmers raising row crops) they were excellent all around: plowing, seeding, towing, disking, planting, cultivating, and harvesting, mowing, baling hay. If it needed muscle, the Farmall was at hand where the horse had been a decade or more earlier.
There was also a Farmall HV (V for Vegetable) that is much taller due to the increased ground clearance.
A great site for this is Farmall H Tractor
February 15th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Hello, I’m the guy who did the restore project. I would like to thank you for posting this on your site. My grandfather will be proud to know his beloved tractor is out there for all to see. He and his brother bought this tractor in 1959, it was thirteen years old at the time.
The H was used every day up until Grandpa retired(1991), it is now used during the summer to mow around fence lines. The old H always starts and doesn’t miss a beat. Grandpa and this tractor have been working together for 50 years. It is something to see, an 84 year old farmer atop his 63 year old FarmAll H mowing on a summer day.
Thanks again
February 17th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
You are most welcome! I enjoyed it and am glad to help.