Lot details
Registration No: Un-Reg
Chassis No: 8537
Mot Expiry: N/A

The TE range of Ferguson tractors dates back to 1946, following thirty years of continuous development of what is known as the 'Ferguson System'. This was the ingenious three-point linkage the company created so that a tractor and its plough could work as one unit - it was patented and became the standard design for the industry. The most famous, and indeed successful, of all the Ferguson tractors was the TE20 - the name is an abbreviation of Tractor England 20 (horsepower). Endearingly nicknamed the Little Grey Fergie, the TE20 was manufactured for Ferguson by the Standard Motor Company, and a form of the wet liner engine they developed for it was adopted for the Vanguard and other Standard cars. The engine could be tuned to run on either petrol or what was known as tractor vapourising oil, or petrol/paraffin. Some 517,651 examples of the TE20 are said to have been produced by Standard's factory in Banner Lane, Coventry, some 66 percent of which were exported. In addition, an overseas model known as the TO20 was manufactured in Detroit. By the time the model was superseded by the Ferguson 35 in 1956, Harry Ferguson had merged his global agricultural business with that of the Toronto based Massey-Harris concern, as a result the serial plates for the last of the line read 'Massey-Harris-Ferguson'.

This Little Grey Fergie was manufactured in 1952 and was apparently treated to a restoration to original specification just a few years ago, and has only been used for exhibition purposes since. It is finished in the archetypal shade of Grey that will be so familiar to those who watched the farms of Britain being tended to during the '40s, '50s and even '60s. The vendor considers the bodywork to be "excellent", while he rates the paintwork, four-cylinder engine and four-speed manual transmission as "very good". The collection of these delightful machines extends way beyond the farming community, and they are as likely to be found towing boats from the water or manoeuvring light aircraft as they are being displayed at agricultural shows up and down the country. Who wouldn't have one if they had the room to keep it?!