powerrabbit

Yes, that would be interesting. Take a pencil with you so you can write down in the catalogue against the lots what each makes we can see if this recession is having any affect on values then.

The idea of a 'conditioner' is that it is a unit that operates in conjunction with the mower in that it 'crimps' or crushes the grass after its passed through the blades of the cutting drums or discs, the joints or 'nodes' to be precise and 'bruises' it to release the sap which aids the drying process, sort of like putting your clothes through a wringer after washing like Mother used to do. A mower conditioner takes considerably more power to drive than a standard mower.

I have not collected many of these, finance reasons mainly, but being David Brown orientated I have all but one which was the 1999 issue 'First Cut' which was the Cropmaster and fingerbar trailed mower, Bamfords mower I think it was supposed to be but I will come across one sometime. Did come across an elderly couple at a local toy fair earlier this year selling off their collection as they were moving and down-sizing. Some of the peices they had were a little damaged but I did buy one from them, the Fergy MF35 and trailer, 'loading up', in perfect condition for about £90, bargain, all boxed up. I also have two of the MF35 and plough, 'autumn ploughing' which was the MF 50th anniversary one, got the second one for a mate of mine but he never came to get it so I still have it.

David Brown developed and built the 'Autodrive' gearbox in 1962 and was built into 4 Implematic 990's. This gearbox was fully automatic with the dial pointer in the 'A' position and with the pointer in either 1, 2, 3 or 4 numbered positions in conjunction with the main gear lever you could select a specific gear in the range. This would have added to the cost to the farmer which would have made the standard 990 which cost around £800 over £1,000 which to the farmer was quite prohibitive cost wise at this time. The system was 'put back in the box' as it were and with modifications and further development was re-introduced as 'Hydra-Shift' in 1972 and was fitted as standard to all David Brown 1212's and later offered as an option on subsequent models. There is a short D.B. produced film on the 'Autodrive', it is on one of the DVD's that are available. Four were produced and it is rumoured that only one survives to this day but no-one knows where it is, or are not telling.

Here is one of my two dogs. This one is called Poppy and is 2/3rds Jack Russell and 1/3rd English Springer Spaniel. Her Granny was the Springer, her Mother was first cross with the Russell and this one was the progeny of a Russell. She's a bugger for digging holes.

Very dangerous gearbox, or I should say system, as there was no indication of which gear you were in, just a series of knotches on the quadrant and it was oh so easy to skip a lot of gears and it would automatically select whatever gear you had the lever positioned to on the quadrant. Changing up was not too much of a problem as the tractor would jump and off it would go. Changing down was the problem, if you were in a high gear travelling downhill in a steepish field and if you missed a few gears between say 8th and 3rd, the rear wheels would start turning in the opposite direction and the tractor would be off, a very difficult situation to recover from. Changing up was very jumpy with more often than not, the front wheels in the air, we used to call this system 'kangaroo-omatic'. A lot of people don't seem to like the David Brown system of Hydra-Shift but this is a far better system with gradual change and is a lot safer as there is more control and better marking of the lever positions and when you bring the tractor to a stop it will always start off again in first gear regardless of which gear is selected and take itself up to the gear that the handle is selected to one at a time.

The 'rubber' bales were a darker colour and had sort of greyish flecks in the moulding of them more like a marbling effect and looked more realistic than the later ones as they had more of a texture to them. I'm not sure when they were first released, I think they came out with the Bamfords BL58 baler in the blue/green and white box with inner stand around 1969. The earliest catalogue I have to refer to is from 1970 which refers to these bales available in a pack of 6, catalogue number 1742. Not seen any in their original packaging but would guess they were in a similar box to the baler. Will have to look out for some in a box, you very often find loads of loose ones in the bottom of boxes of bits and bobs at toy fairs. Also of the period, the corn sacks were rubber as well, lighter grey than the plastic ones, you find these still with the 'ears' on them as being rubber they don't snap off like the plastic ones, they seem to survive pretty well. These came in a pack of 12, catalogue number 1741. The churns were in a pack of 9, funny odd number, catalogue number 1726.

The ruling has changed I'm afraid for rallies regardless of what you have printed on your insurance policy and you cannot drive a tractor on the site without having passed your test regardless of your age weather or not you have the landowners permission. In these instances it is considered a 'public place' and the highway laws come into effect.

If you are under 16 years of age and do not hold a provisional driving license and have not passed your test you can't drive a tractor either on the road or on a show field or rally. You can only drive a tractor on your own premises at the age of 13. You can only get insurance in your own name for a vehicle, in this case a tractor, when you have attained your 16th birthday and would have to be insured by a parent or guardian who's name would be on the policy as 'the insured'.

The brown hurdles were also available in a seperate box, unsure of the date, green and white box, 'Britains Herald' printed in black with a picture of the hurdles and there were 6 in the box. I've got a few boxes of them lurking around somewhere.

From speaking to various people in the Fergie fraternity and model dealers it would seem that this model has not been that popular. Some people have bought one for the reason that it's a bit 'different' but collectors and Fergie enthusiasts alike don't give the model that much credance and recognition because it was in the real world never officially produced, only an enthusiasts conversion. How many other 'dual' tractors have been put together by enthusiasts? We could all mention several but, apart from this one, models of them have not been produced. A lesson learned by UH perhaps?

There was a forestry one with a white plastic 'county' canopy and with a front winch, hook and rope in a seperate polythene bag. I don't think there was any decalling on it, only what was printed on the box inlay stand card. There was another with RSPCA decals on the doors of which a certain amount of the purchase price was donated to the RSPCA. Not exactly what you would call utility Land Rovers.

Globe, that's the ones.

Another crop it could be, if the top had 'balls' on, if they were green and spikey it could be Jerusalem Artichokes, like big thistle heads.

Sunflowers perhaps? They grow acres and acres (sorry, hectares) of sunflowers in France for the oil in the seeds. Processed into cooking oil mainly.

Nigel. The roses emblem first appeared on the 950 (non Implematic) in 1959 and continued in that form, the rose proper if you like, which was known as the 'cabbage rose' until it appeared as the 'flat' rose in 1972 when the Tennaco Company aquired David Brown. This later type was produced in the plastic insert emblem for only one year. The hole in the nose cone of the bonnet was deleted in 1974 along with the gold grille louvre and the roses emblem then became a stick on decal and the edging became more angular and along with the D and the B were in gold instead of the earlier silver. A smaller emblem decal in a roundel was used on the steering wheel center cap when the Q cab was introduced and this decal remained until the 90 and 94 series tractors livery changed to black skid units and all were decalled Case (1984) and this decal was deleted as well. The original first type emblem was resurrected once again in 1988 and mounted in a special holder and attached to the front of all the Commemorative Edition Case IH Meltham built tractors, mostly 1494's 1594's, 1694's and just a few 1394's. There are no specific details recorded of these tractors as they were decalled as 'Commemorative Editions' at random. To celebrate 50 years of D.B. tractor production and sadly, the last.

The film is pretty good to. National Lampoons Animal House. Anyone for a Toga party?

This reminds me of how the David Brown roses emblem came into being. The white rose representing Yorkshire as this is where the tractor factory was and being that Counties emblem, the red rose of Lancashire, where the implement factory was. Echo's of 'The Wars Of The Roses', putting both roses together on one emblem, emblematic of unification of the two Counties and further bonding them.

If you look on eBay and type in 'Dinky crane rope and hook' in 'diecast and vehicles' you will find someone selling new green 'rope' and hook, there are several different hooks so you'll have to pick out a suitable type, and they are pretty cheap. Heres a hook. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Dinky-Recovery-Swivel-Hook-Spare-part_W0QQitemZ150354735667QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_ToysGames_DiecastVehicles_DiecastVehicles_JN?hash=item2301d73233&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12%7C66%3A2%7C39%3A1%7C72%3A1683%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

There's no real damage you can do to a petrol/TVO engine by turning over too soon, if the engine is not hot enough to vaporise the TVO then it will just splutter to a stop. You may get a bit of carboning up of the electrodes on the plugs and have the inconvenience of having to drain the carbourettor and float chamber of TVO and then 'bleeding' it through with petrol but thats it really.

Absolutely spot on.

Well, if ignorance was food then this seller is truly obese. Go on, name and shame. Regardless of how much the seller charged for post and packing it should be the sellers responsibility to ensure that any item is apropriately packaged. Obviously this seller has no common sense whatsoever. Stick into him/her as much as you can, if you lodge your complaint with eBay in the 'disputes', give them all the information including the excuse of the reply and if successful, you'll get all your money back and still have the model, I would not send it back on principal. When buying anything of a delicate nature, I always 'include message to seller' asking them to be sure to package the item apropriately in a strong outer box and with inner packing for added protection against damage in the post and further say that if the item arrives without this either negative or no feedback will be left and a dispute may be entered into. This usually does the trick and if the seller takes umbridge at this request and does not send the item then the beauty of PayPal is that you are covered and will, after a period of time get your payment, including posage and packing costs retfunded to your account.

Recipe for TVO mix, 1 gallon petrol mixed with 3 gallons of kerosene and 1/2 pint of two-stroke oil. Kerosene is domestic heating oil, not to be confused with parrafin which is totally different. Petrol is a spirit and burns very dry so adding the two-stroke oil gives lubrication. Don't forget that petrol 'goes off' if stored for any length of time so when mixing your 'TVO' only make up enough for what you need at any one time.

Cerin. If you insure the tractor under a 'fully comprehensive' policy it will cover everything you want to do with it and will cover anything you're towing with it, including the load. It might cost you more to insure this way but well worth it.

Managed to mow a lawn this morning before the rain came. Had a man and his wife come to see me this afternoon, on holiday over from New Zealand and wanted to see my tractors as he runs the North Island D.B. Club. The strangest thing was that I mentioned that we had freinds that emmigrated to NZ 40 years ago who's family was evacuated from London down here to my Grandparents farm in the last War and has always kept in touch, I showed them some photos that I have of the now retired 'children' and this chaps wife could not believe her eyes when she saw in the photo that I handed her, she was looking at the woman she works with at home in NZ. How strange is that? It's a very small world!