ploughmaster

There is a 32nd scale US version 8320RT due for release in the Spring in the US Ertl 'Prestige' Collection. There may well be a European version later as well, we shall have to wait and see

Ditto (too cold for taking ones hands out of ones pockets to fiddle around with a camera ). For those who may be interested in toys/models, Martyn Reeve has a stand in the small building near the Cedric Ford Pavilion.

I'd agree with all of you, waaay too much for that version. In that box it's the last version made in Macau or China and was only deleted 4 years ago. The vast majority of eBay 'Buy It Now' prices for Britains (of all ages) seem to me to be very optomistic, and rarely sell - I keep seeing the same items being continually relisted again and again.

I think you will find that is a potato harvester (clue in the name: Unitate) I've never come across a self propelled one though. Rear wheel steer too by the look of it - I bet that was interesting to keep in the row! Whitsed used to be one of the most common potato harvesters in the UK, before Grimme came in and took over in the '70s. I'm not sure what became of them - did they simply close down or were they taken over by another firm?

Very few were built after the move to Scunthorpe (after ownership was taken over by Theakstons, and later Bentall-Simplex). They were mainly assembled from parts they acquired with the Marshall business and had come from the previous (long standing) Marshall plant in Gainsborough. I would regard Scunthorpe as wholly insignificant as far as British tractor production is concerned.

I had missed this thread first time around. Certainly a variety of tastes among forum members. For anyone who enjoys sampling a variety of whiskies, and is either in or visiting the Lincolnshire area, the George Hotel at Leadenham is well worth a visit (it is on the A607 between Lincoln and Grantham). They have a collection of approaching 700 different malts, some of which are very rare. The rarest and most expensive is a 1937 Pride of Strathspey which is believed to be one of only two bottles left in existence (assuming it hasn't all been drunk now! - probably not as a tot will set you back well into £three figures).

You can add to that list: JCB 718 Dumper John Deere 4020 AFWD

I would be surprised if they are going to revamp the 7400 series in the very near future, having only just launched two new models at the top of the range at Agritechnica last month - 7497 and 7499 (7499 will be at LAMMA apparently).

Not sure about Scunthorpe? I think I can count the tractors built in Scunthorpe on my fingers

They did so towards the end of 2008 for a US dealer issue (as a CR9060). I would think they may well release an updated version over here too, but they possibly don't want to release two New Holland combines at the same time. Perhaps later in the year or next year?

Thank you both for that. I do my best to help

That farmyard set was only in the catalogue in 2002 and 2003. I don't think it was much of a seller and was quickly dropped in favour of the re-introduction of the Atcost sheds in 2004. Probably not all that common.

The pale blue cab is one I'm still looking for too , which is why I haven't put much about it in the previous post - I am not sure whether the flatbed was the same colour as the cab or whether it was red. I don't know to be honest. I have only seen ones with the double arrow decal on, but it is possible that some 'got out' without it, but I haven't seen one. As to the source of the information, most has come from personal experience, word of mouth and variations in my and others collections. Very little has been put into print on the subject of the Britains Iveco, but there was an informative magazine article devoted to them written by Phil Newman and published in the September 1995 issue of 'Model Collector'.

The early version of 9580 had the blue cab and flatbed, and usually had red wheels, although a small number of very early ones had white wheels. The doors carried a yellow paper decal with a white cow on it, and the grille badge was Magirus-Deutz-Iveco. The early ones are usually in a box which carries pictures of the prototype/mock-up (as shown in the 1981 catalogue). By the time the colour of the flatbed changed to red (before the end of 1981), the box illustrations had been changed to show the production version, and the wheels were red. As with the tractors, there was a panel on the rear of the box which described the real vehicle (Magirus-Deutz-Iveco 168m-16FL). For 3 years from 1986 to 1988, the Iveco Animal Transporter was available with a green cab and flatbed in set 9631 with the animal pens, hay rack and a selection of animals. The grille decal on this carried the Iveco-Fiat name. From around 1986/87, 9580 was fitted with a grille decal carrying the Ford badge (it was first listed as a Ford in the 1987 catalogue) and which also had an extra pair of headlights printed on it. The blue oval Ford badge was dropped from the grille in the mid nineties (probably at the same time it was dropped from the 2120, 5610 and 8730 tractors in 1995). The last of the badgeless Animal Transporters had a change of colour of the cattle box from pale grey to white before production was moved to the Far East in 1997/98. It was deleted at the end of 2001. There is also one further colour variation of the cab in the 9580 box. At some point a short run were produced with a lighter blue cab (the same or similar colour to the Salop Low Loader Trailer). The lorry without the cattle box was also issued as a flatbed in 1981 (cat 9582), with a white cab and silver-grey flatbed. As with 9580, this also had a box illustrated with pictures of the prototype/mock-up for the earliest issued models, but again it was updated by the end of 1981. It had the same Magirus-Deutz-Iveco grille decalas the Cattle Lorry, but had a cab door decal of a double arrow in yellow on a red background (which has also been found on a few of the early cattle trucks). The only variation is a version with a yellow cab and yellow wheels with the single arrow door decal used on the green tipper version. This was probably produced at the end of its run in 1984 when the Autoway series used a yellow cab. (NOTE: any white cabbed Cattle Lorry you may come across has most probably had the Cattle Box swapped onto it rather than coming out of the factory in that configuration) The Iveco lorry is quite a collection on its own - with all the different bodies (Flatbed, Cattle Lorry, Tanker, Cement Mixer, Tipper and Skip Lorry) and colour schemes across the Farm, Autoway and Road Series, together with UK and Far East versions of those that remained in the catalogue after 1997, there are over 30 variations. Grille Decal varieties were Magirus-Deutz-Iveco, Iveco-Fiat, Ford, Leyland, Mercedes-Benz and Volvo, although not all were used on more than one version of the lorry (neither did any version exist with all the grille names).

I have to admit I did sometimes drive an SG2 cabbed 2640 in the eighties, and later a 4650 on a couple of occasions. I found that ****** pillar nearly drove me insane. Combined with the awkward angle of access to the cab and the narrow gap between the dash and fender (even for someone fairly slim!), I came to dislike JD very deeply indeed. There is no doubt that cab limited John Deeres sales very considerably. As soon as they started fitting a proper cab when the 6000/7000 series came out, their sales took off.

That's quite a rarity, especially with the late cab (based on a Fordson ET6 I think). Very good find, well done.

Lincolnshire run 43 gritters (I've mainly seen Merc Actros with ridge bodies and a water tank) which apply pre-wetted salt to about 2000 miles of roads. They use a one way blade on the same vehicles for keeping the main routes clear of snow, with back up from a number of local farmers with various types of equipment to keep the minor roads clear. I've never managed to get any pics as they always seem to come past in the dark One of the contractors that Lincolnshire use for verge mowing does use a few Unimogs, but to be honest, the way they lurch about on the soft Mog suspension looks less than ideal for that job to me. My knowledge of them is very limited though -Would a Mog handle a salt and water gritting rig, and a blade??

Haha, I'd forgotten about that thread The person I got mine from obtained it direct from the garage of a Britains rep, so it had never been used. From the labels on the box, yours appears to be the UK version, and mine the export version.

The TW35 supplied with the display has no internal electrics (no motor or contacts for a battery) so the tractor and the spreader were driven by the belt. The belt itself was powered by the motor under the display (from the mains via a two pin adaptor). The spreader wheels drove the rotor via the normal drive from the axle (the Powerfarm versions had a ratchet type mechanism introduced into the drive from the axle to allow it to turn independently when the tractor power shaft was used, but still drive the rotor from the wheels when used behind a non Powerfarm tractor. The plastic tab held the tractor in place via a velcro pad on the end of it which fastens to the velcro pad under the front weights (see the third pic). I only recall seeing two in use in shops. One was in Townsends in Burleigh street, Cambridge, I can't remember where the other was.

Overseas visitors do already come to it, though not in the same numbers that come to Cereals. There is a bit of room for further expansion, but not a great lot. It's difficult to know where it could go that would provide the necessary room and facilities, combined with ease of access (even with the excellent road links via A17, A46 and A1, traffic management and speedy access to the site are already causing problems). Perhaps Stoneleigh or NEC?? Perhaps it has also outgrown its name ?? (Lincolnshire Agricultural Machinery Manufacturers Association Show). Its influence is now far wider than Lincolnshire, and it attracts more than just machinery manufacturers. Its popularity has increased enormously the last 2 or 3 years, almost certainly as a direct result of the demise of Smithfield.

TW35: Underneath of display showing motor, belt and rollers: Original instruction sheet:

It is this: Original box: Velcro tab for fitting tractor:

Was that supposed to show something ? - it just takes me back to the forum index.

That's interesting. I've seen quite a few of these promo boxes over the years, but have never found one with the painted mouldboards, so had assumed they were all unpainted.

The only experience I have had with French trailers was a Rolland. An experience I have no wish to repeat. The biggest problem with European trailers is that many of them have been designed to be towed from the more usual continental towing pintle, and are wrongly balanced to tow easily from a UK PUH, and are too heavy when empty. We make perfectly good trailers here in the UK and I see no need to import them from anywhere else. UK farmers are continually bleating that the rest of us must buy UK produced food - the same argument applies to farmers and their equipment purchases. British farmers have already destroyed the bulk of the UK ag engineering industry, too frequently guided by the mistaken and usually erroneous "foreign is better" sheep mentality.