My Tractor's Story

On the 22nd August 1952, John Brooks and family bought a TEF20 Diesel tractor from George Henderson Ltd, Kingston, North Berwich. This tractor was sold by George Milton of Kingston, who is still living and well. At that time this tractor would have cost about £500. The Brook family had a big farm of about 550 acres. They had 4 or 5 other Ferguson tractors and 2 Nutfield tractors as well. The tractor that they bought in August 1952 done a lot of work on the farm it ploughed field and dug potatoes and bought in silage and lots of jobs around the farm. The Brooks family kept this tractor for 9 years and his son Andrew sold it in 1961 around the same time that his father died. This tractor had been shipped across to Ireland to a company called Sam Hazlett tractors, Moneydig, Garvagh.

In May 1961 a local Garvagh man called Gary McAllister bought a 1952 TEF20 Diesel ferguson tractor from a company called Hazlett's Tractors. This tractor was sold by a salesman called Ian Wilson of Moneydig, Garvagh, who at the time was in partnership with Sam Hazlet. This tractor cost £210 to buy at that time which was a lot of money then. It is hard to beleive that we still have the original receipt that Sam Hazlett give my father when he bought the tractor. This grey Ferguson tractor has been in the family for 45 years which is along time to keep a tractor without having to change it. This tractor has done a lot of work on our farm it was used for ploughing the fields and bringing in the hay. It was also used in the moss for bringing home turf. This tractor was very good in the moss because it is light and does not sink into the moss. We also had a slay on the tractor it helped bring turf out of the moss in them days. At that time my father and mother would have lent this tractor to other farmer's to help them on their own farms, thats the way it was in those days, one person helped another.

My father fell ill and we were too young to work the land. My father and mother sold the land in 1970. They still kept the Ferguson tractor just to bring turf home from the moss. Sadly on the 3rd March 1990 my father died aged 66 and left me the tractor and home place where I lived with my mother. After this, the tractor was kept in a big shed as it was no longer needed. In 1997 I had gone to a vintage tractor show in Limavady just to see some old tractors, just to help kill the day. When I got there I took a walk around the show. As I was walking around I spied a small grey Ferguson tractor, it turned out to be a TEF20 Diesel, just like the one I have in the corner of my shed. This tractor looked very very nice and it was well done up. It really caught my eye, from then I was hooked. I had lots of visions going around in my head at that time. I just stood and looked at that tractor and I said to myself my dream is to someday have my tractor look like that no matter what it costs. I think it is because my tractor holds lots of memories for me of my father driving it on the farm, 45 years worth of memories. My father and I were very close, so I set out to go on my tractor. The first thing I done was to take a photograph of the tractor. The following day I took the tractor to work and power hosed it 3 or 4 times to get it nice and clean. I put the tractor into the shed and stripped it right down completely. I took the engine completely apart, it needed a lot of work done to it. I soon discovered that this engine was going to be very hard to work at, this didn't worry me.

I am not a mechanic but I am mechanically minded which is half the battle. I had to rebuild the engine completely. It had broken rings and worn bearings etc. Then I started to work on the body of the tractor. It had to be cleaned with a wire brush which was attached to a drill. This type of work seemed to last forever, however, i think if its worth doing its worth doing right. I fixed all of the oil leaks over the tractor. This is very important when you have to spray the tractor. When restoring this tractor I did really go to extremes. I got the throttle lever rechromed and all the other parts that needed rechroming done. I put the tractor right back to the way that it would have originally come from the dealer. With the two old 6 volt batteries and original lucas brakelight battery lids and a set of old original 10 by 28 Goodyear tyres. Also that very frist lighting set as well this is a very unusal lightset. It is the very first type of lights that Ferguson put on them. You would have got these lightson TVO Fergusons and some of the first T20's in them days. This light set was made by Lucas, it consisted of one big head light and two small sidelights The big one was put in the middle of the bonnet and the small lights were mounted on the side of the bonnet. This light set was fitted on this tractor by the dealer the day the tractor was bought which is 51 years ago. I have worked at this tractor night and day for over 3 years. I sometimes would have worked to 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning at the tractor. By this time my wife thought that I had fallen in love with this tractor. I suppose I could not have blamed her. I have to admit I really enjoyed working at this tractor. I think it is because it holds so many memories, and that I done all the work myself.

When I was ready to get the tractor sprayed, I got 4 empty barrels and 2 ladders. I put the ladders across the barrels, and hung every part I could get off the tractor over the rungs of the ladders, so that they could be sprayed separately. It took me over 3 days just to reassemble the tractor completely again.

Eventually I got the tractor finished, the very first show I went to was at the Limavady Showgrounds. On that day one or two people said to me that they thought my tractor was a 1953. I was not pleased that day. So when I went home I started to look for the tax book of the tractor but sadly enough I could not find it. I looked the house up and down but I could not find it. In the process of looking I got some good news and bad news. I found one of the old insurance policy of the tractor dated 1973 from a company called Wallace Kerr of Kilrea. The price of the policy was £2.50 and the orignal receipt from Sam Hazlett's Tractors, Moneydig, Garvagh. The receipt read paid in full £210 "1953 Ferguson Tractor." My father only ever bought one tractor in his life time which was bought from Hazlett's Tractors. I was even more confused about the year of this tractor. There is a serial number just in front of the steering wheel, so I rang a vintage company in England. They said according to the serial number of the tractor it was made n 1952. So I thought to myself Sam Hazlett had made a mistake in the year of the tractor. In them days the year was not important for an old tractor. So I realised I needed the tax book to solve my problems. So I rang the County Hall Coleraine to check if I could get a tax book for my tractor. The County Hall told me that they could not track back the registration of my tractor. They said that records only go back 30 years. My mother said that my father got a tax book around the time he bought the tractor but unfortunately it got lost. Sam Hazlett's had closed down in 1999 premises currently occupied by Torrence McFetridge, so as a last resort I decided on to take a chance and ring Torrens about my problem concerning the tax book.

I told Torrence about my problem, he said to me there is an old filing cabinet which used to belong to Sam Hazlett's Tractors in his premises. He also said there was some old tax books in the bottom of an old cabinet. He said he would take a look and give me a call. I got a phone call 4 or 5 days later, it was Torrence, he asked me to call round with him. With this my heart started to beat faster, could this be the good news I was looking for? When I got their, Torrence said "Is this your Tax Book?" I looked at it, and could not believe it, after all those years, there was my fathers original tax book. My eyes lit up, it was like winning the lottery. The tax book read 22nd August 1952 it even give you the engines trial number, which is the same as on my tractor. What a dream come true. I now take a copy of the tax book with me to tractor shows so I can show people the tax book to prove that this tractor was made in 1952.

I have spent thousands of pounds on this tractor but as far as I am concerned it is worth every penny of it. I have won first place cups and trophies, which makes it worth while.

Bob