# Ford Tractor & Equipment Reunion 2010



## Greyfordy9 (Jul 30, 2010)

Hello fellow Ford and Fordson tractor fanciers, 

As it is nearly 25 years since the Ford Motor Company purchase New Holland I am trying to contact people who worked for the tractor and equipment company prior to that time. 

Although I am in Australia and quite remote from your forums, I thought that letting people know what is going on down here may be of interest along with the fact that ther may be some Aussies overseas who would be interested in our project.

I would like to put up regular posts and I invite you to private message me for more information.

Cheers for now,

Terry Probert
Australia


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## Hoodoo Valley (Nov 14, 2006)

Welcome to the forum Grayfordy9! Sounds like a great project and I hope you keep us informed over here!


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## Greyfordy9 (Jul 30, 2010)

G'day from downunder,

Since the last post we have been gradually building our database of Ford T&E people. I will try to post some old photos and 8mm film of Aussie Fords in the field when I work out hou to upload the photos into this forum.

Photo of the last meeting attached.

More to come soon.


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## Greyfordy9 (Jul 30, 2010)

Time for an update, we have a date locked in for 19th of November 2010, and it will be held at the Quality Hotel Melbourne Airport.

This has been an incredible task finding old coleagues and friends who have scattered to the four winds over 25 years.

The number of people on my list continues to grow and is only matched by the enthusiasm of Ford Tractor fans all over Australia.

Talk to you later,

Terry


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## Greyfordy9 (Jul 30, 2010)

Month End Report

Over 200 names on our database who are able to receive mail via post or internet.

Venue is booked

Discount accomodation available for those who are staying in Melbourne

Sixtty informal acceptances to date.

All in all a good month 

We will develop a newsletter during the next month to be forwarded by e-mail to all who are interested, please forward a private message with your contact details to receive a copy.

Cheers for now,

Terry


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## Greyfordy9 (Jul 30, 2010)

*Invites are out*

Invites went out via e-mail and post last week, venue is booked people are coming all is now set for a big catch-up.


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## Greyfordy9 (Jul 30, 2010)

*The Big Day*

G'day from Downunder,

Just a quick update with some facts and figures, we found over 170 people from accross Australia who were either Company Management personnel or Dealer Principals.

Of these 60 will attend on Friday and 61 have asked to be acknowledged with an apology. That leaves another 50 who we have not received a response from.

About thirty of the company people are now to frail to attend and so will follow the event via a newsletter.

I am hoping that from this meeting we will be able to have the Tractor Operations represented in the FORD DISCOVERY CENTRE in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

Our Ford 8401 Tractor was a breakthrough unit for us in Australia and primarily led our high horsepower models into Market Leadership. For broadacre cereal farmers it offers a sophisticated 108 hp 6 cylinder tractor at a very competitive price.

This tractor is probably quite rare by intrenational terms but to the Ford Tractor Dealer during the early 80's it was a godsend.

Cheers for now and I will let you know how it all turned out next week.

Terry


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## Greyfordy9 (Jul 30, 2010)

Hi Guys and Girls,

Wow loking at the age of this post it has been a wile since I have been back to the site. Since my last post I have had quite a few different projects on the go and anm pleased to say most have been successful.

First the Ford tractor reunion turned out to be a huge success with Dealers and staff attending from accross Australia. If I wanted to boast some of these guys and girls have served overseas so I guess you could say we had a worldwide attendance. 

From the meeting I was able to convince a few of them to share their stories on my website: http://machinerymen.blogspot.com.au/ This is a difficult task for most as they were out of the industry before computers made electronic communication possible. Therefore the editing and proofing are a bit time consuming.

Australia is a tiny tractor and machinery market and yet we have some of the most progressive farming practices in the world. During the eighties there was an explosion in technology over here and all of it driven by our dry and sandy coditions. at that time big American tractors started to make a presence in our cereal regions and local equipment manufacturers were making air seeders and wide tillage machines to cope with our broadacre needs. 

Happening at the same time was the smaller cereal farmers desire to become more efficient and the Ford Motor Company in Australia produced the FORD 8401 tractor as a product unique to our market. This allowed dealers to compete directly with Chamberlain John Deere and we took market leadership in the early 80's. It was a very strong period for Australia's Ford Tractor Operations.

During this period Ford struck a deal with Waltana to build a line of Four Wheel Drive units ranging from 160 HP to 400hp. Alfarm Australia was producing a tillage range with a computer controlled air seeding unit, this range had both drawbar mounted and tow along seed and fertiliser tanks. It was a positve time in our history.

As for me I have written a novel set in my home region of South Australia. The book is called Kundela and will be released on Kindle and in paperback just before Christmas. The story follows the plight of Joe Gillespie and his family as they battle drought bikies and ghost from his past as a Special Forces Operative in Vietnam during the conflict.

To learn More about Ford's 8401 drop over to my blog and check out Ian O'Rourke's account of his time as Service Manager Ford Tractor Operations. I am also interested in hearing form anyone who would be prepared to let me know there story. A set of interview questions are available on the blogsite.

Picture 1. Noel Howard, General Manager with the first run of 8401 tractors at Gason's factory at Araratt in Victoria.

Cheers from Aus,

Terry L Probert


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## Greyfordy9 (Jul 30, 2010)

*Old Fieldday footage from South Australia*

Hello again,

I have been looking back through some old super8 film and came across a short film from the Cleve (Eyre Peninsular) Field Days in 1978.

This event runs in conjunction with the York Peninsular Field Days biannually.

My main interest was the Ford Motor Company stand and wanted to check out new products from Steiger and Versatile to add to our dealership. Ford T&E were releasing new tillage products under their Blueline banner so I needed to check that out too.

You can find the film on my website at: www.machinerymen.blogspot.com.au

Cheers, 

Terry


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