rorsday

Thanks big 10-4, sorry if you felt past few issues hadn't been that good. We'll try to keep up the standard of the latest issue! Regards Rory

Lord F, I know, it's a pretty horrific thought. But believe it or not, I do some of my best reading (and even proof reading) in the bath. Nothing too serious and certainly no tractor brochures or any other historic documents that could be damaged by the steam, but general 'mags' (no top shelf stuff, honest). Perhaps I had better shut up now as I am letting all my trade secrets out.......... Regards R Day

Hi Richard, That is a good point and one that I shall pass on to HQ. It's fair to say that Sundial Magazines are not that enthusiastic about online versions of any of their three titles, mainly because there hasn't been a great demand, as yet. I can see your point though and as a subscriber, if you want an online version, why shouldn't you have it? I recently had my first taste of an online magazine when I paid for a single issue of the new Site Equipment magazine. I have to say that although it only cost £1.39 or something like that, I personally found it a most unsatisfying experience viewing a magazine on the screen. I couldn't download it as such, so no print outs, and I just can't see myself 'reading' the magazine on the screen over several different sittings/hours. Scrolling around to view the pages was hopeless, but you had to zoom in to be able to read the text. If that's typical of all online magazines, you can keep them. Saying all this, I am of course a lover of paper titles, so prefer the traditional approach. Plus, if I took my monitor into the bath to read a magazine it would get all steamed up! Regards R Day

Thanks for the feedback guys. I became aware of the supply problem when I went into my local Martins newsagent in Louth and they didn't have the magazine on the shelf. They said their next magazine delivery was going to be Tuesday. I checked W. H. Smith and another newsagent and they had the latest issue on the shelf. From your comments, it seems that the distributors failed to get the magazine into the shops on time on Friday....definitely not good and frustrating as it was printed at least 10 days prior to the on-sale date. Sorry if some of you had a wasted journey on Friday, but thanks for going back on Saturday to pick up the magazine. Regards R Day

JEP, Many thanks for your comments, really glad you like the issue. Andy, You've done well to enlist Austin....he is a real talent and, as you say, a great photographer too. Regards RD

Hi JEP, They are great models and were hand-made by Austin James. A feature on them appears in the latest July issue of Classic Tractor for anyone who is interested to know more about this skilled model maker. Regards R Day

That's a very nice brochure on the Manuel-Roadless Fordson Major, Staplopfordson. There were a number of variations of this, but I am sure you have any early one. I have a couple that are very similar in my collection. The Mustang was produced for the French market, I saw one at Cheffins sale a few years ago. R Day

Ford/nh fan & Jdeere6910 Comments like yours makes the job mean so much more. Thank you. Rest assured we will continue to do our best to produce good, solid issues. R Day Classic Tractor

Dear BC, Firstly, thank you for renewing your subscription to Classic Tractor. We appreciate your support. If you renewed late, or after the latest June 2010 issue arrived, there's a good chance that your subscription will not start until the July issue. It depends on whether you told them which issue you wanted, although I'm not even sure that this works. It's all to do with how the subs copies are mailed out from the printers. I just thought I'd mention it! Regards R Day

Bluegreen Cheers for that (and also to robbo and tractorbob). The story on the Wrights was an interesting one. Their current fleet is almost completely devoid of classics, but their past history of ownership is absolutely incredible.....120 or so tractors since 1974. I'm pleased the issue has been well recieved, thanks for all your comments. Regards R Day Classic Tractor

Grrrrrrrassland Special.......WANT, WANT, WANT! What a nice, rare brochure. I need it. Give it to me. I will swap you it for a 1985 MF Pocket Catalogue. R Day

B O R Your MF literature collector sounds like an interesting man. I wonder if he collects overseas sales brochures, as per myself, Lord Ferguson and a man called John Sellers from Bury, near Manchester, who can knock spots off all of us when it comes to the depth of his MF brochure collection. I'd be amazed if anyone had more MF brochures than John. He again is a private man, not really that well known, even in brochure collecting circles. But he's been at it a long time and has been a very serious collector, more or less since I got to know him in 1991/1992. R Day

This is an amazing website. How runs it and who's collection is it? R Day

Archbarch There is no set pattern, it varies greatly from dealer to dealer, and can also change depending on the people who work at the branches. Some salesmen and parts people will put the brochures out, others won't. R Day

Stapleopfordson, Lovely Ford brochures you have there. I have some of them in my own collection, but there are a few I don't have. To answer your question, there were at least two, possibly three from memory, dedicated County brochures that were printed for the Nth American market. At least those are the ones that I have and have seen. I would post some pictires of them on here if I knew how! Countys also featured in several Nth American Ford tractor buyer's guides, both for the farm and construction ranges. The one of the Super-4 you have (single sheet) is an unusual one that seems unique to the US market. I see you also have some nice Australian Ford brochures (4600, etc). Very nice. Regards R Day

Powerabbit, Fair comment.....but I think there's a difference between modern and 'current'. I agree that once something becomes obsolete or a year or two old, then fair enough. It's just a bit disheartening when you see a brochure that has just been issued, literally that month, being sold on eBay by someone who's trying to make a quick 99p or more. Like I say, I think people who do this are spoiling it for the genuine tractor brochure collectors who enjoy adding to their collections by picking up brochures from shows and dealerships. R Day

Wow, what a response and some great comments. The point I was trying to make was this. As Lord Ferguson and others have rightly stated, eBay has revolutionised the hobby of collecting tractor brochures. However, recently, there seems to have been a growth in the number of 'current' brochures advertised for sale on the site, especially after a large farm machinery show has just taken place. I don't know how anyone can say that brochures are as widely available or as enthusiastically given away as they used to be. The racks of brochures on every simple of kit produced by a manufacturer are just not to be found at many shows now, simply for reasons of cost. Take LAMMA for example. New Holland had half a dozen brochures on a table; Claas had two brochures available on the second day; John Deere didn't even have a brochure rack like it normally does (mainly because it's moving to fewer brochures that cover more products); MF/Challenger/AGCO/Valtra you had to ask for them specifically; possibly the same on the Case-IH stand. SDF's rack was empty by the second day. Only McCormick/Landini had a decent selection of brochures on their stand. I don't deny that there is a great benefit to manufacturers giving out brochures to 'non-customers', as they've always done, but it really must grate on the companies when they see people putting their just-published brochures on eBay the very next day, just to make a few quid. I wonder how many people have gone into dealerships just recently, asked for brochures and then been asked 'are you going to put them on eBay' ? I would say quite a few. I have to say, I think brochures from overseas, which aren't available in the UK, are fair game, as well as those that have just gone out of print, even if only by a few months. However, I do take on the board the comments that everyone is free to do as they please, and if the current brochures they are selling make good money, then good luck to them. Yet based on my own experience of collecting, buying and selling tractor brochures over 20+ years, it is a practice that really concerns me. R Day

I have to agree here with Niels about the trend of current brochures being sold on eBay. I actually think it is quite damaging to this aspect of the hobby, because manufacturers and dealer salesmen do monitor e-bay and it must be incredibly annoying for them to see someone making money out of nothing. In the end, as Niels says, they will limit the supply of brochures they give away to 'genuine' customers, not people who are just trying to make a cheap, fast buck. I really hate to see brochures that were picked up at, say, the LAMMA show, being sold on eBay the day after. Each to their own, I guess, but in my opinion, selling 'current' just-printed brochures on eBay is bad news and will only have an adverse effect on this hobby of ours. It also does smack a little of desperation on the part of the seller, because some of the brochures only make 99p. Surely no-one is that hard-up that they need 99p minus selling fees, etc, or maybe they make a profit by inflating the postage (don't get me started on that one either). Other views most welcome! R Day

Sounds like a good read, where can you buy a copy of Collectors Gazette? Are they available to buy in the newsagents? R Day

Roberthenning, Absolutely don't mind at all....it's been good publicity, so many thanks! Regards Rory

Lord F is right and I thank him for the advice he's given. It is not acceptable to copy/reproduce pages from a current magazine and post them up on the internet, especially as said magazine was only recieved by subscribers today. Our official copyright statement, which is pretty much the same as everyone else, is: Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden except with the written permission of the publishers. To be honest, there are no really exciting pictures of the forthcoming models in the latest issue, only the Roadless Super Dexta. The listing that has been given earlier in this post pretty much tells it all. Regards R Day Classic Tractor

NO! The County book and a July 1985 copy of the UK pocket catalogue, that is my final offer. I think that's more than generous!

I need that brochure, give it to me....NOW! I will swap you for my new County book, how's that? RD

You are so right, Lord F. Sometimes, all it takes is a call, an image and maybe 10 minutes to check to see if something is correct in terms of its appearance. It is just so easy to avoid a major blunder like, for example, the UH MF 135 based on the Banner Lane collection model. Neither is it acceptable to expect someone who has worked at MF for a few years to know what was correct 40 years ago. That's perhaps where some of the cottage industry model builders like DBP and Classic Combines, not to mention Imber Models, do perhaps have the edge, because they are closer to the market and do their research so very thoroughly. I feel very strongly about this accuracy business.

What a great shame the bonnet is so badly wrong on this model. I like what BFA do and they are a good company, but if only they had bothered to get this checked before it went into production. It is unfortunately the same with UH, another force to be reckoned with, who also make a few slip ups here and there. On the latest Doe Show Super Dexta model, I noticed that instead of having an alluminium Fordson badge on the side of the bonnet, the model has a decal, which was in fact used on the later blue/grey version of the Super Dexta. The frustrating thing is, little faults like this could so easily be picked up if they bothered to speak to someone who was knowledgeable on the subject. There is really no excuse for this sort of thing. RD