Henry Ford's experiments with tractor design began as early as 1907. Tractors at the time were heavy machines suited to the large farms of the prairies, but Ford wanted to produce a cheap lightweight machine that the smaller farmer could buy to replace his horses. Ford already had a thriving automobile business, so it was natural for him to use readily-available parts for his early tractors. Ford's "Automobile Plow" of 1907 used a Model B car engine and radiator, steering and wheel hubs from the Model K car; rear wheels were taken from a binder. Ford continued to seek a small, compact tractor that would be suited to mass-production, and in 1916 he unveiled a unit-frame experimental design that would later give way to the Fordson. During the First World War, Ford became involved with producing tractors for the UK Ministry of Munitions. Britain was desperately short of tractors and called on Henry Ford to produce thousands of machines to plough up land for much-needed food. The original plan was for the tractors to be built in the UK to Ford's plans, but for various reasons it was eventually decided that Ford sould ship them complete from the United States. The unmarked MOM (Ministry of Munitions) tractor subsequently became the legendary Fordson F, which went on to sell in the hundreds of thousands. Ford's mass-production facilities allowed him to produce tractors far cheaper than other firms, which led many to go out of business as they could not compete. Our interest in Ford tractors ends with the Fordson F, although the company continued to play a major role in tractor design on both sides of the Atlantic for many years to come.

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