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Where do you get all these from paulali? Do you enter your details on the manufacturer's websites? I would like to keep my brochure collection up to date but don't always get chance to go to a dealership. You seem to get yours sent in the post. RD

Hi Ben/Niels Basically, I am getting behind with my recent sales brochures on certain brands, excluding JD, McCormick/Landini and MF, which I'm not too bad on. The rest, including Same, Deutz, NH, even some Case-IH, I am patchy. In terms of new brochure releases over the past 18mths I have slipped back. I'd gladly buy a bunch of brochures....my interests are anything with three or four wheels and an engine, be it a sprayer, combine, tractor, spreader, anything self-propelled from any manufacturer. I have boxes of older brochures from the mid-1980s onwards (mostly early 1990s onwards) that I can swap in return. I am interested in bulk, the more the better, and if I haven't got the brochure, I will probably want it. Happy to swap older for new, just as long as I get something for my collection ultimately I'm happy. Regards Rory

Paulali Do you have many doubles of these up to date modern brochures, I might be interested in doing a swap for some older ones I have? I am getting behind with my current ones and need to restock. Regards Rory

Thanks for clarifying this point. You should get the next one, published 25 January, providing that payment was processed in time to put your details on the system and then send them to the printers I am not sure what the cut-off point was for that. The issue is probably being printed in the next day or two. You could say I do know a bit about the magazine....... R Day

Thanks for subscribing. When did you actually send payment? Your first subscription copy probably won't arrive until the next one is due a week or so on Saturday. You should get it then. Regards R Day

Looking forward to seeing the new John Deere 50 Series tractors as I was involved in sourcing all the tractors that Britains visited and know the owners personally. Not seen any pictures of the prototypes yet so hope that the engineers over in the USA and overseas have done their job and got the tractors right. R Day

Dear Painter, You raise a valid point. We hear this regularly from our Irish subscribers. All we can add to this is that the Irish subs copies are posted air mail on the same day as the UK subscription copies. We have made lots of enquiries and as far as we can establish, the delay is caused when the magazines enter the Irish postal system. I'm sorry, but there's really nothing we can do to speed up the delivery of the magazines in Ireland. Thanks for your support as a subscriber. Regards R Day

Sounds like subscription copies have arrived! Just to confirm, the February issue of Classic Tractor will be in the shops this Friday 21 December, a week earlier than normal due to Christmas. Hope you enjoy the issue. Regards R Day Classic Tractor

I heartily recommend a copy of Farm Power Publishing's new book Flying the Flag by Nuffield, Leyland & Marshall salesman Tony Thomas! A great read! R Day

Tim, Thanks for that. You are a true CT supporter.....I know what 141 issues looks like on the shelf and it's a fair old pile. It's amazing how the magazine has evolved and changed over the years and almost doubled in size. Those early issues from 2001 look a bit basic and dated now, but they seemed OK at the time, given what else was out there, which wasn't much in terms of the number of other titles. I have often thought, for personal reasons, it would be nice to have my back issues bound into hard=back volumes, perhaps two volumes per year, trouble is the longer I leave it, the more expensive it will become. R Day

Niels, I agree, Stuart has been a very good addition to the magazine with his knowledge and archive of old machinery pictures. We would have enlisted him a long time ago if it wasn't for his other magazine obligations with Old Tractor and then Vintage Tractor. The arrangement seems to be working well for both sides now. Regards R Day

What's the collector?

Thanks for that Barry, certainly a good one this time for the Ford 7810 fans! Thanks for your feedback, glad you are enjoying the magazine and hope you find the rest of it interesting. Regards Rory

Yes, I remember getting all these. If you go back even further into time, MF had a tradition of bringing out an initial launch brochure for the MF 6100 and 6200 Series and then it has since done smaller, square brochures for the initial launch, followed by much bigger multi-pagers. I remember years ago, probably in 1998, when New Holland introduced the TS115 and they did an A4 fold-out brochure, maybe that was among the ones you sodl Paulali or perhaps you still have it. Then there was a whole sequence of them for the TL Series, a fold-out followed by the multi-page brochure. They also did one for the 70A Series, have you got that one? It was a studio background shot as well I think. I have dozens of them in my garage. R Day

Hi Bill Thanks for this post and the pics in the issue, great stuff and much appreciated. Jdeere6910, always good to hear the magazine is hitting the spot, thanks! Regards Rory

Interesting Paulali, did you collect the old stuff yourself, or was it acquired over the years? I have been collecting solidly since 1988/89, the older the better for me, though I also like to keep up to date with all the latest brochure releases. They actually come in handy for my work over a period of time, so serve a dual purpose. Do you think you will ever sell the modern brochures or maybe they are not saleable as not old or rare enough? I have some good connections as well with the manufacturers. My best contact, a good friend, worked for MF all over the world and let me have some very exotic brochures from Turkey, Brazil, even Argentica, rare stuff that I have never seen before and will probably never see again. I also got all the latest John Deere brochures and regularly swap with collectors over in Nth America as their brochures are all different. RD

How far back do you go with your brochures Paulali and how do you store them? Do you have any favourite brands? R Day

Paulali, You are getting some really good new brochures and remind me a lot of myself 25 years ago, hoovering up all the new releases. Mind you, nothing much has changed, I still like to keep up to date with all the latest brochures, which is actually just as challenging as collecting the older ones because of the lack of opportunities. I didn't even know there was a new full T6 brochure out there, got the pre-lim release, but this is a new one. R Day

Latest purchases: Two issues of Agricultural Gazette magazine from 1921; an IH H65B loading shovel brochure; and four early brochures for Doncaster-built IH implements, circa 1950.

I have to agree with Niels here with his comment below. (MarGe have done some fantastic models but if you are going to spends thousands of euros on making a new model why on EARTH do a complete mock up of some random tractor that doesn't even look like the real thing) There are, it seems, two schools of thought. There are people, such as Howard S, myself and Niels, who like to see models that are just like the real tractors, just as they left the factory. On the other hand, there are clearly plenty of other people who don't mind if the models are based on non-original tractors. Personally, having seen the side profile picture, I think it looks a tremendous model, BUT I find it so frustrating that for the sake of say 10 minutes extra research on the internet, the correct decals could have been applied. You wouldn't do it with a model of an MF 165, MF 590 or a Ford 7600, so why do it with a County? I seem to remember a heck of a storm among collectors a few years ago when the Britains Ford 7000 came out and the first issue had an incorrect bonnet decal (which was changed on the second batch to the correct colour). Anyway, just my opinion. RD

I agree completely with Howard S. Why on earth have Marge Models, a company who I greatly respect as model makers, based their model on a non-original version of the County 1884? I'm sorry but I don't buy into the theory that their initial release is a tribute to the owner of the real tractor. If that was the case, they would have added the non-original weight rack on the front, the Dutch registration plate and the twin flashing beacons on the cab for starters. Plus, given the cost of such a venture, why would you risk releasing a non-original version of the model just to appease the owner? No, I'm sorry, but I think it's a shame if this is going to be the final version. The main bonnet decals just don't look right. RD

Thanks everyone, your comments are most appreciated. CX820Joe, you 'bagged' (pardon the pun) a bargain there at Tesco with the special promotion that also includes Eart***vers magazine in a 2-for-1 deal. Mrol....sounds like you have a battle on your hands to read the magazine before it gets torn to pieces. I'll see if we can strengthen the binding!! Regards Rory

Not yet CX820Joe, it is in the shops from 31 August. RD

Thanks as ever guys, really pleased to hear you are enjoying the latest issue. Personally, I was pleased with the way it turned out. I can't ever recall there being so much happening within a few weeks.....Quadtrac record, Combines 4 Charity record and the Irish forage harvesting record at Dunmore (not to mention the small matter of the actual harvest). All three were great events, congratulations to everyone involved. We have also enlisted the services of Stuart Gibbard as a regular contributor following the decision by the publishers of Vintage Tractor (which he edited) to close the title. Stuart has several archive-related features he's currently working on for CT, which adds another different dimension to the title. Feedback is always welcome, good or bad. Regards Rory Classic Tractor

Hi Richard Sounds like you got your subscription copy today! Glad you like the issue and thanks for the comments, I was really pleased with the cover this time and there are a few 'different' subjects covered in the magazine, such as the vineyard models. Credit for that goes to Pete Small who tracked down a good selection and managed to get them out in the field during a very wet and difficult season....not an easy task. Regards Rory