bluegreen

Well I just found out that former Collings Brothers Managing Director Ray Runciman has sadly, recently died. He retired a few years ago now and was known for being the driving force behind the Cambridgeshire CASE dealer. I met Ray back in 1992 and tried to sell him some 2 way radios but alas he decided against them and went for mobile phones instead. I chatted with him on a few different occasions at the dealership over subsequent years about tractors and combines and I remember I bought a Ertl CASE Steiger 450 model with triple tyres which he had personally ordered from CASE for me. The company has put up a classic picture of a large fleet deal he and his team secured back in 1992 again, which I remember him talking to me about. 3 lovely AF 1680s with 20 ft heads, 4 of the first Maxxum 5150s, 3 Magnum 7240s (incl 2 x spec. editions) plus three 7210s. I suspect Goodie knew Ray very well and probably Smithy and others too, may he rest in peace. I hope Collings Bros don't mind me posting the classic pictures below, stunning time capsules for sure.

When is Goody getting his new shape Puma demonstrators Smithy?

Smithy should have sneaked off with the 150 Maxxum and replaced it with his old mcmac and hoped no one noticed

Theres still a few 7810s about in these parts too Sean, saw one hauling a trailer last week. I saw a smart rig last week, JCB8330 pulling a tri axle Krampe dumper, similar to the forthcoming 2 axle model in 1 32 size. Also on a pre harvest check up to one of the three huge JD user farms in my locality near Kings Lynn I spied 3 x JD9620RX parked and ready to go, they had bought their second one last year replacing a Quadtrac 580 (I don't approve) and now have a third probably due to an increase in land to harvest. Probably 8000+ acres now. They also had 4 x 690/790 combines and given that Doubledays the JD dealer are 1/2 mile up the road I suspect an X9 might arrive before the season finishes.

Jeez!! I flogged my 5150 two years ago for £40 or thereabouts!! Fortunately I didn't sell the JD3350 though and the mint one in its box just fetched £102!!!

Excellent work James, very impressed.

I see a John Deere 3350 is making good money on ebay currently...………..its been bid upto £81.00 with 2 days left!! I would say the 3350 is the pick of the bunch as its got the nicest wheels front and rear, plus a front weight. I painted my ones wheels JD yellow but not tempted to sell her.

I sold my last Bailey silage trailer for £170.00...…….. They do look really nice, but very fragile in comparison to say a UH Rolland version which were £50 each.

Gen 2 Fendt 926 yr 2000...…………………….Fendt

Last couple of pics of the impressive old 926

In 1997 whilst I was out an about near some very black fen soils I spied these two brand new Fendt 512 turbo shifts harvesting root crops. They had replaced a lovely pair of 1993 MF3120s so they must have been damn good tractors as the MFs were highly thought of in the trade.

Back in 1995 I had noticed one farm out in Essex that were running a pair of decent newish Fendts along with what was left of their previously all Ford fleet. They were both L reg 93/94 machines and fairly early versions as both had the bonnet mounted exhaust stacks. The 514 in the picture has just been released by Weise in 1/32 and its bigger brother which I never got to photograph was the MK1 818 and was identical to the 824s I put in the thread before.

So the year was 1996 and in retrospect I was looking at Fendts most important single tractor release of modern times, the first Fendt Vario!!! The classic 926 The companies flagship tractor badged 926 wasn't much different from the 824 in the same field except for the rather eye catching side exhaust and air filter stacks which made it look very purposeful. As the picture shows it was getting lots of attention. Unfortunately for me I was still stuck on the old guard of NH, Massey CASE and JD and didn't appreciate just how ground breaking the 926 and its subsequent Vario transmissioned little brothers would be in the years ahead.

Most Fendts I saw were at Demonstrations and I snapped these nice 824 and 515 in 1996 I think. The 515 was a lovely tractor and Fendt had only just moved the bonnet mounted exhaust to a side stack that year I believe. The new 824 still had the bonnet exhaust, but whats that lurking in the background on the Amazone combi??

Well I found some time to dig out some more pics for the archive files, this time I cobbled together a few Fendts Back in the day their were very few on my patch, the ones I can remember from the 80s were toolcarriers and one sultry 612 on sandy root crop unit. It wasn't until the early 90s when I first took real notice of Fendt, that happened when I was visiting a farm in a village called Feltwell which I had photographed a very nice 2wd Ford 6710 and series 1 8210 on a previous visit. There sat behind a hedge with 7 furrow lemken behind it was a huge Fendt. I was a bit too shy in those days and didn't want to just walk in the yard and photograph it, and I never saw it again. However Im guessing it would have been an early 824 as the same farm has an 936 these days and surprisingly still runs a split Fendt/ New Holland set up with a 724/820 and T7270 BP and several other blues. I also remember seeing an 515 coming out of the farm gate in the late 90s.