TED 319084

by John Kurtz, a member of The Ferguson Club

Some 40 years ago I bought a 1952 TED 20 p/p tractor from a remote Herefordshire farm, where we spent many family holidays, situated in the River Lugg Valley.

The tractor’s previous owner farmed a large flock of mainly Suffolk sheep, and a large herd of Herefordshire beef cattle. In his latter years, he only used the tractor for his own personal use travelling to the local cattle market and around the farm

Upon his death the tractor was left to deteriorate, in one of the many old wooden barns, with other interesting machines including two old horse drawn 4 wheel haywains.

I arranged to buy the tractor from his widow, who now employed the Shepherd as the Farm Manager. Upon inspecting the Ferguson more closely, I found the cylinder head gasket had failed. So I arranged to spend the next Easter holiday there so I could not only replace the necessary gaskets but also decoke the engine and grind in the valves.

I was a motor mechanic in the Royal Air Force for my National Service when Standard Vanguards were the everyday mode of transport, so I was very familiar with their engines being almost identical to my Ferguson.

That summer when we went for our summer holiday, I towed a borrowed home-made trailer. The suspension was made from two old Citroen reclaimed rear axles. The tow car was one of the first Vauxhall Cavalier diesel hatchbacks of the late 70’s. Unexpectedly, our ginger cat produced six ginger kittens, just before departure, so they all came too housed in an old baby’s carry cot in the boot of the car!

Back then the A14 did not exist, neither did many town bypasses; so, the return journey home was quite an adventure. The outward journey was further south and after Stow-on-the-Wold, the only point of interest would be the fledgling GWR railway at Toddington, not far from Tewkesbury. Town centres, threrefore, had to be driven through; Leominster, Bromyard, Worcester and Stratford upon Avon where we stayed the night. Then onto Warwick, where climbing the hill into the town, the poor old car came to a standstill, unable to cope with the hill and its load; my wife, and children aged 8 and 11, had to get out and push!

We continued travelling east; Leamington Spa, Northampton, St Neots, Cambridge, round the backs on the river Camm, past Addenbrooke's Hospital and home.

We have a large ornate and beloved garden but, to get to my storage and tractor shed, a very long herbaceous border has to be negotiated. So when it was designed, the lawn dividing the flower beds was made wide enough, using old engineering bricks, to the same wheelbase as the Ferguson.

I am now pretty ancient, and it isn’t used very much. In the past it has carried fallen trees from beside the River Stour, which runs nearby, using an old 4 wheel trailer so the wood could be cut and split for our wood burning stoves.

In Summertime, I park Fergie outside our house on the wide verge and, as our house is the first in the village, even in its unrestored condition, it is much admired. I fit a M-F spring tine cultivator to complete the picture.

JFK's Fergie in Hrefordshire before journey to Suffolk 40 years ago. 1980ish.