britainswomble

I've just looked up a Vectis picture of the Pippin Toys Raphael Lipkin model of the Nuffield and it was definitely one of those. I remember the "Power Major" type wheel rims and the conventional hub arrangement on the rear hubs.

Thanks for the replies. The tractor was die cast metal. I don't remember it having the features of the Denzil Skinner one. The reason being that I don't remember it having the DM4 type rear hubs or the nuts on the front wheels. I'm not that well up on Nuffields as i was brought up on a Fordson and Massey farm; but I seem to think it had the conventional type rear hubs. Would these have been in production in the early sixties? I wish I'd paid more attention to it!

Hi............. now there's a name I remember. had a little holiday from the forum like me? Welcome back! I remember the pictures you used to post from your travels in your truck.

I've now got my car running, the drive shaft is back in.......... I can move it to solid ground to work on it........... apart from the fact that I have nowhere to work on it under cover......................... And it's been raining non stop since I woke up.......Grrrrrr.

EEE when I were a Lad! I was given a brand new model Nuffield tractor. I don't know who made it but it was a very well made model in what I would think was probably about 1/25th scale. it wasn't as big as the UH 1/16th models. It was a very well detailed model and if I remember rightly; it even had the Dunlop Fieldmaster name cast into the tyres. However good it was, I didn't play with it that much because it was a lot bigger than all the other models I had. Most of my collection was 1/32 Britains. Sadly my younger brother inherited most of my models I had as a child; and although he didn't look after them as well as I did; some survived in their original boxes and have in the last few years been given back to me. The Nuffield disappeared without trace. I've looked on E Bay for one of these, without any success. Does anyone have one of these, or would you have either pictures of one, or know who made it? Thanks for reading this post!

They sure do!

One more request for Universal hobbies........... a Krone Optimat with a UK style drawbar. Why on earth they made it with a "European" type drawbar baffles me. I haven't seen any models made with the latter type drawbar that it would fit. The real machine in the UK had a pair of adjustable plates to lower the drawbar. The PTO passed through the middle of them so that it was above the hitch. There are very few implements made by UH for the older "Classic" tractors......... dozens of classic tractors and very little in the way of implements. I know it's difficult to please everyone, but I'm sure that collectors of 1/16th scale would like some universal equipment to display or attach to their models. For the smaller tractors, maybe a 1/16th scale MF bale trailer like the 32nd scale one. Other implements along the lines of disc harrows, rollers, ploughs, a drum mower and a grain trailer. Does anyone else have any ideas or comments about what they think would be a nice addition?

Just one more request............ a Claas Jaguar SF 80 self propelled forager. I have a 60SF, but would particularly like an 80 as my Uncle and a local contractor called Mike Cushing owned one. Two of the first in the UK. (Mid latter 70's) PLEASE!

No doubt we all have our favourite era for farm machinery, and bearing in mind that UH have made Claas combines of the sixties; there is another combine I'd dearly love to see them make, and that is the Massey Ferguson 500. Preferably the first version before the 510's etc. 1/32 scale would be ideal for most of us with an older collection. It was quite a streamlined model and would probably be easier to make than the Claas combines. The original 500 was light years ahead of the old 780's it replaced and was a joy to look at. Very modern looking for 1962? I'm really impressed with the MF bale trailer now available as I can remember one of these arriving brand new on the farm where I lived when I was about ten or eleven. I would love one but find them a bit pricey for what they are..I'll have to save up my pocket money for a few weeks! What a coincidence.......... just look at the pictures in the post above. Someone has been reading my mind. Now you have to agree that the 510 in the picture is just beautiful.

It's funny Sue that you should mention the fact that "Grown ups" didn't call each other by their first names. I too can remember that. Perhaps children weren't supposed to know the first names. Familiarity breeding contempt, perhaps. I've just said to my wife, that I'm not totally certain of any of my grandmothers or grandfathers first names, as they never addressed each other by them. Names like mother were used, but I suppose it's happening all over again to a certain extent. We are known a "Nan-nan and granddad" by our grandchildren. Funny how things change!

I've just read this topic from start to finish. What fascinating reading. I was born in 1952 and had forgotten many things mentioned here. I didn't have a particularly good childhood as I was one of the middle children of four and my father was brought up by his Victorian Grandmother and still lived by Victorian values. Children had to be seen and not heard. Showing affection made them weak etc. Typically Victorian. However, I often say to people, "I wish i could do it all over again, but only in the same time span as before" In spite of everything, and growing up in a world where we didn't have everything; I look back at my childhood with great memories. We did have more freedom as children, but more was expected of us in return. We made things to keep ourselves amused, usually from whatever we could find around the farm. We used to get things from the local tip and make something out of whatever we found. We often helped around the farm, feeding and cleaning out the animals. I was probably about eight when I used to help dad feed the animals. By the time I was thirteen I had done a fair bit of harvesting like bale carting etc, pulling wild oats, getting in fodder rape which was cut and collected by hand and brought in to the dairy cows on a horse and cart. At the age of thirteen I was driving tractors around the farm. I was only allowed to pull trailers for the first year though. One thing not mentioned though was how scratched and bloody our legs became stacking and moving bales. We wore short trousers to school and often got comments about our scabby legs! I too grew up in an era where nothing was thrown away until it had no further use, and I'm still like that now. I've had arguments with my 30 something boss at work over it. He just doesn't like clutter, but I have said to him that our so called "Clutter" is very often what gets our trucks back on the road when spares aren't readily available. My mother could make all sorts of tasty meals out of leftovers. Very little got wasted. The food we ate would probably be considered unhealthy now, (Stews etc) but we burnt off all the food we ate during the day. Very few children were over weight and our family were rarely ill in spite of being with animals etc. When I was very young we washed clothes in a "Copper" didn't have a TV, a washing machine, fridge or cooker. We always had electricity. No heating in our house! I too remember paraffin stoves in the bedrooms, paraffin nightlights, ice on the insides of windows, an unheated bathroom (When I was about five we had our first house with a bathroom). Children of today don't like eating "Plants and leaves". We absolutely loved the food we grew in our garden. Summer salads were a treat, especially as we were often sent up the garden to pick it for our meals. Surplus apples were wrapped in paper and stored for winter consumption, runner beans were salted in Kilner Jars, onions strung and hung in the "Pantry", meat was kept in a stone cooler that had water in the top. ( Osocool?? Blue door?) Ice cream and fizzy drinks were an occasional treat. Crisps were too! Mushrooms were picked off the fields around the farm. They were often picked when we were bored or walking out to get the cows in. Wild mushrooms and what we called "Horse mushrooms" were a real treat for breakfast. I'm glad I din't grow up in an era like today. We accepted life for what it was and were grateful for everything we had, including the beautiful world around us. When I was at Primary school I always remember the Harvest festival Church service. It was a time when we gave thanks for another good year, brought gifts for those less fortunate than ourselves and prepared for winter. Looking back there is little I would have wanted any different. I didn't always understand everything as a child, but I can see what my parents had to put up with. I feel sorry that my dad wasn't brought up in such easy circumstances as me, although as I got older I understood why he and I didn't always hit it off. Sadly he's gone, but luckily for me I still have my mum to laugh about the good old days with............. including the time she ruined her frying pan. Serves her right for hitting me over the head with it! It never did sit right on the stove after that.

Reading the headlines on the Daily Express today; it would appear that in a few weeks time we could be experiencing temperatures of minus 20 degrees C and the very heavy snowfalls; the like of which we wouldn't have seen in the last hundred years. It's difficult to believe that at the moment. We've had a few days where the temperature has been about four degrees, but today has been very mild. probably about 13 degrees. I was quite shocked at this revelation, and had already made my mind up that this winter would be as mild as last winter. I'm always a little sceptical of long range weather forecasts so we'll have to wait and see. maybe we (Us Southerners) will have a white Christmas. They have said the South and South East could be the worst affected, so we'll have to wait and see!

None other Nigel........Middle farm Firle. I think that was the only one in Sussex that I've seen on unequal wheels.

Do you ever wonder if a new sport is about to emerge.......... we have tractor pullers and an increasing number of people fitting engines that make tractors go fast............. so how long will it be before we see Drag Racing Tractors. ............ mark my words; it's only a matter of time. What sort of speeds will we be looking at. Obviously anything faster than a Fastrac? (I followed one going downhill empty, with a big Rolland trailer doing 58 mph). Another thought........... put a fast engine in a tractor. (Golf GTi Diesel at about 175 BHP).......Qcab............heater,........ air con ...................CD player.............passenger seat.......... cheap road tax................no MOT............. who needs a car?

Here's another unlucky / lucky truck driver. Don't worry there's no blood and gore and no fatalities so it's safe to watch!

Nearly finished putting my Peugeot back together. Filled up the cooling system so I could give it a longer run than it had previously............ aaaaaaaand it actually moved under its own power . Once I've finished putting it back together I can get on with getting it ready for the MOT. Bad news is though the ESP/ASR light has come on. I suspect that was because I turned one wheel with the ignition on. I hope it will go off when it gets driven on the road, .

This is an interesting conversion. I'd like to see more pictures of this one close up to see just how it was done. All it needs is some matching yellow paint on the cab and it would look great. It overcomes the rot problems Muir Hill's suffered with their cabs. Like it!!

Sorry to hear of your loss. My wife and I know how you must be feeling at the moment. We had to have one of our cats put down a few weeks ago. He had suffered a number of blood clots causing him to lose the use of his back legs. The vet we took him to wanted to give him a chance and treated him on the first occasion. Five attacks later over a period of eighteen months he had an attack again. This time the medical treatment had taken him as far as he could go and there were no options left. He may have responded to treatment; but he was too distressed and other symptoms emerged. His illness made him special to us, and he was one of our oldest cats. There's never a good time for a pet to die and having to make the decision is very hard. Some people don't understand how special pets are to their owners and how great a loss they can be. We had our "Dink" cremated and will keep his little casket as long as we live. The crematorium is part of the Raystede Animal Rescue centre and they treated us and him with a great deal of respect. They allowed us to put him in their Chapel of Rest. We said our goodbyes and left him for the last time. He looked really peaceful as though he was sleeping. He will never be forgotten.

'Scuse me for dragging up an old topic; but this is something that I have strong views on! I own a 1998 ERF EC12 artic unit. I bought it to transport another "Vintage" truck I own and had hoped to get it insured as a "Classic". Bearing in mind that ERF were one of the last true British manufacturers of trucks and they disappeared around the year 2000; I feel that they should have "Classic" status regardless of their age. The insurance company state that anything older than twenty five years is considered a classic. Rubbish! There are very few "True" ERF's now in use and most have been scrapped or exported. Unless people like me stash them away to become classics, there is little incentive to keep them and they will virtually disappear in the next few years. I told the insurance company that their definition of a classic vehicle was wrong and that mine was already a classic. They wouldn't have it! I can insure my ERF on a conventional policy. The price they quoted was £1200 third party fire and theft, or £2200 full comp for a limited mileage. I now can insure it via the NFU on a daily basis as and when I need to. That costs me forty pounds a day but I'm not restricted to the limitations of classic insurance. The limitations would come from taxing it as a private heavy goods vehicle. To summarise; it's time the insurance companies took a good look at the definitions of "Classic" vehicles which should include, Vehicles of particular interest, manufactured in limited numbers. Historically important manufacturers vehicles. ie companies such as ERF or Foden who survived in the UK for over 100 years. Vehicles no longer in production, used on a limited mileage, and used mainly for show purposes. A friend of mine has an ERF that just about scraped into the insurers definition of a classic. He tows a forty foot beavertail stepframe low loader with it and that costs him about £160.00 a year for the whole lot. Where's the logic in that? My definition of a classic vehicle is one that is remembered fondly by the public both old and young that depicts a particular era in the motoring world. be it cars, motorcycles trucks or tractors. Most of which have a supporters club dedicated to the one make. What do you think! P.S. Here is a picture of my "Classic" ERF.

What fantastic work you do. The paint finish is much better than original. I used to restore cars and know just how time consuming this sort of work can be. How the hell do you price a job like a tractor restoration. I've always fancied restoring tractors, thinking it would be easier and probably more rewarding than doing cars. The thing that stopped me was firstly pricing a job and secondly whether people would be prepared to pay the true value of the time it would take. I could never justify the time it took on some of the jobs I did, and often there were long delays in getting parts; particularly researching and finding the correct materials for interior work. That took up valuable workshop space. Space I didn't have! Congratulations on your excellent work. It's great to see someone making a living for doing something they really enjoy.

Here's one that didn't survive to be restored. Not sure what caused the fire, but no doubt it was an electrical fault. This one was on a farm near Lewes in East Sussex.

One more picture........... Sorry about the picture quality; but these were prints, copied and transferred to my computer. This County was one of two bought by Robins of Herstmonceux and fitted with lime spreader bodies. Quite a strange beast to drive!

From my rusty old memory; the axle fitted to the tractor in the picture is a Schindler aftermarket conversion. This tractor is actually an 8200. When I was at S.T.'s we converted this one for one of our customers. I think Nigel Ford also had one on a Ford 76-? The 8200 used the Ford 8000, TW 10 engine, whereas the 8100 used the Ford industrial / truck engine.

Muir Hills do have other uses. Not the best of places to have a nest, but this bird thought it was a good idea to have one overlooking the rest of our sales yard. Sadly I think she never successfully raised her young. Too many cats around when the new housing estate was built nearby.

I wonder what happened to all the Perkins engined Muir Hills. I seem to remember there were a few around which had the model number 111. Also 141's are pretty rare too. I think we sold a 141 when I was at S.T.'s, which went to a farmer in Fletching. The biggest disadvantage of the Muir Hill transmission was the amount of PTO power absorbed in it. PTO outputs were always a disappointment from such a Majestic tractor. I used to pick them up from the factory. Due to the time it took from ordering one to taking delivery; I've had to wait at the factory while the wheels were fitted before it could be loaded on my truck. Sometimes the paint was barely dry when they were loaded. Other times we've picked them up with the wrong wheels fitted and had to fit the correct ones when it arrived for its pre delivery inspection. It was a great tractor to drive, but you did get thrown around quite a bit driving on rough ground. More so because of its height.