MuirHillyBilly Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 This is one model that always puts a smile on my face. For a Britains it is great looking and chunky, maybe lacks some accuracy and detail but I loved the ones I had (a white and a yellow one- wish I'd kept them ) Why do you guys think they are so sought after now, a lot more than many other great Britains tractors? Often commanding crazy prices for boxed, un-boxed or broken!!. I guess they are good for conversions but suspect this is not why people buy them in the main. Also does anyone know what's the deal with the blue ones? How many were made altogether and perhaps some pics of your personal favourites. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tractorman810 Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 to the best of my knowledge britains never made a blue county its a sort of myth , i belive warner hall made the prototype blue, but the company went the other colours for some reason??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichardJW1 Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 This is one model that always puts a smile on my face. For a Britains it is great looking and chunky, maybe lacks some accuracy and detail but I loved the ones I had (a white and a yellow one- wish I'd kept them ) Why do you guys think they are so sought after now, a lot more than many other great Britains tractors? Often commanding crazy prices for boxed, un-boxed or broken!!. I guess they are good for conversions but suspect this is not why people buy them in the main. Also does anyone know what's the deal with the blue ones? How many were made altogether and perhaps some pics of your personal favourites. well i guess its part of the "County Dream", if its got County on it then its desirable, the full-size stuff some of it boat anchor candidates pulled out the bushes have been making silly money in the past 12 yrs, the leaflets fetch a fair price, these models as well Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justy 46 Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 The origanal well kept yellow & white Britains Countys well always be worth a nice few pound, cause they were Britains beasts in their day and every carpet farmer back then wanted one. I had 2 white ones myself & were my fave of all the Britains gear i ever had as a child. Getting back to their value.......i can see the blue convos falling in value now that UH have a fine example of a County 1474 on the way i reccon . Im trying to collect all the Britains tractors from the 70's & 80's era myself, but i need the County to complete the fleet & trying to find a good one at an affordable price is proving to be a nightmare. The Powerfarm TW-35 likewise. Its their collectable value that will make them a sought after model always ..providing they are kept origanal & not tampered with. Anyone that wants a BLUE one will now get the UH model in my opionon & not a Britains convo. DBPs Countys will always be the KINGs tough & will be worth a fortune in years to come. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuirHillyBilly Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 So were there yellow and white 1884's in real life or did Britains opt for the colours because they were more desireable? Were there more made of either colour as the yellow ones seem to be worth a little more now? I've seen a few Tw35 (similarly expensive as you say Justy) converted into 1884 too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughmaster Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 As Tractorman810has said, any blue County 1184 that you see will be a conversion as it was never issued by Britains in blue. I think Warner Hall made clear in one of his magazine articles that the only genuine blue one was the prototype which he made for Britains. Britains were (at the time of release) asked why they were not making them in blue and the official reason given was that as they already had two blue tractors in the range (Ford 5610 and TW35), they didn't want another one, and used the excuse that County would produce a tractor in whatever colour the customer wanted, which whilst quite true, was certainly extremely rare. Britains will have run some colour trials and picked the colours which they felt would look best on the shop shelf. County certainly produced industrial versions of a number of their tractors painted yellow, although I don't know that any 1884s were painted yellow and I think a white one is highly unlikely. The last version of the 1884 as portrayed by Britains (with the last version of the bubble cab with the larger roof and black mudguards) had only just become available from County Tractors Ltd when David Gittins sold the company to Bensons in 1987 and whilst it is known that at least one 1884 was built with this cab, it is certain that no more than a handful could have been made in total. The one that is known to exist may well be the only one?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justy 46 Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 (edited) Britains sould have went ahead tough & done a blue one along with the yellow & white. If Britains could realise several different colour variations of Valmets & Valtras which the Benson Group were the UKs main Valmet distributers at the time along with County,so what was stopping them doing the propper colour. BLUE ones would have sold probably better than the other 2. Edited January 20, 2012 by justy 46 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughmaster Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 The five different coloured Valmets were commissioned by the Dutch importer; and the emphasis here is different colours - the problem with a blue County, from Britains point of view, was that it would be a third tractor in the same colour. In reality most of us would have liked a blue one, but at the time Britains were very muich orientated towards sales as a childrens toy (and mainly through toy shops in those days) and of course back then there were massively fewer actual collectors than now (for example, Spalding toy tractor fair in those days fitted into the now demolished old Springfields restaurant with about a dozen stall holders in a space about a third of the size of the smaller hall of the exhibition centre ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justy 46 Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 A blue one still would not have broke the bank. Its was the right colour for a County ,and if not blue ..maybe the Benson colour red could have been another idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuirHillyBilly Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Wonder why they never made Massey's a different colour? I do agree though that at the time (and still now to a degree) Britains cater for children first. It would be great if they did a commemorative County 1884, might get in on the profit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
britains Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 Here you can see my 3 BRITAINS COUNTYS The white one is REALLY WHITE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuirHillyBilly Posted January 30, 2012 Author Share Posted January 30, 2012 (edited) Fantastic examples there mate, the blue one is a good mod. Edited January 30, 2012 by MuirHillyBilly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justy 46 Posted January 30, 2012 Share Posted January 30, 2012 These things are starting to make big money on EBAY even for a playworn exsample! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SPN Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I have a vague recollection of being stuck behind a white FC with a tank ont back, and another County (1184?) on a backroad near Rickmansworth sometime around 1991. Was there an outfit doing sludge that ran white Countys maybe? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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