Sonalika Tractor Manufacturing

Something new in the International tractor industry, this is a company I knew nothing about until researching the industry today. I will post another piece on them when I have had time to discover more.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX-tPTIwVok

Lamborghini Original

During my time as a sales rep I spent some time with Inlon and they are the Australian Distributors for Lamborghini Trattori at the time. This is an interesting film from Jay Leno's Garage.





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wjL7lDtxW8

Sometimes you need to bring the old stuff outta the shed

The wheat harvest was decimated by drought throughout Victoria's Wimmera and other regions last year. This is one family's answer to making the best of a bad situation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fte-3RaDtq0

#drought #harvesting #ruralaustralia #tractors #masseycombineharvester #farms #farming #aussie

Ford Tractor Film From the Sixties

Tractor and Machinery history has a part in all our lives, minute of everyday. Whether it's the food in front of us, or the textile on our back, or the table we sit at a machine operating in primary production provided the raw material to make it.

To educate and prepare sales and service teams to understand the machines they were either selling or servicing, manufactures produced training films to get the message across. This is one film from the sixties that Ford Tractors produced to show their dealer body what was coming.

Enjoy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asea8ZFm-JQ

Terry

Bury Your Carbon Emissions and Let Your Soils Benefit

Is it possible to bury your exhaust emissions to feed the micro-organisms in the soil and fertilise it with carbon and nitrogen? Alastar Dennis thinks it might.

Check out ABC Landline's report from 2016 it may surprise you.

https://www.abc.net.au/local/archives/landline/content/2016/s4510359.htm

Massey Ferguson Men and Women

I am writing a biography on one of the giants of our Australian agricultural machinery industry and have found a wonderful pictorial collection of the people and places Massey Ferguson operated in the late 1950's through to their plant closures during the 1980's. For anyone interested in the history of the factory take a few minutes to check it out.

In this link, it shows a very young Ian O'rourke who was part of the harvester test team for the MF 585. The photo shows him operating a self propelled unit: https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/items/1476906

More on Ian's story can be found here: https://machinerymen.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2014-01-14T10:34:00%2B10:00&max-results=7

Don Mason remembers Norm Fiegert

With news of Norm Fiegert's passing, former Sales Manager for the Ford Motor Company Tractor and Equipment, Don Mason wrote to share some of his memories of Norm and his time in South Australia. 

In his own words, this is Don's story:

It was 50 years ago, plus or minus a couple….It was hot and windy, with the north wind dust blowing everywhere.  In line with Ford’s marketing plan, Reg Flanagan had been searching for a solo tractor dealer in the Cleve area for a while and he was taking me to meet this bloke, Norm Fiegert.

We drove up to an all galvanised iron shed of 2 tractor capacity and in the main street, as I recall.  Norm was a big robust man wearing his overalls and was half-way under a Ford 5000 at the time.  You couldn’t help but like Norm, he was an open, upfront, you-get-what-you-see individual who looked and talked like he didn’t mind hard work.

To cut a long negotiation story short, we filled out a dealer application and sent it to Head Office.  Back came the reply in the person of Jim Parker, Tractor Division General Manager.  Needless to say, coming from the high volume tractor dealer operations of the UK, Jim was totally unimpressed with the proposed dealer premises, investment, etc, etc, and insisted we show him the competition, which was a well set up MF dealer and a less than well set up Chamberlain dealer.  Jim was reluctant to sign off on the application especially when he learned that Norm’s then net worth was measured in an old Ford Consul, a refrigerator, a work bench and a good stock of tractor mechanics tools.  Jim Parker’s English based training was to say keep looking, ours was to ‘give him a go’. 

So in the tradition of lies, lies and damn statistics, Reg Flanagan cleverly massaged the figures and undertakings and we finally got Norm on board.  If my memory serves me correctly, David Beak was the Field Manager and assisted in the success of the dealership.  On mentioning David Beak, I am reminded of a call he gave me one morning from the west coast to the effect that he had just had a kangaroo land on his lap, after coming through the front windscreen of his vehicle.  It was raining steadily and David asked what he should do to get it fixed.  He never forgave me for asking him to drive straight back to Adelaide, which he managed to do, replete with swimming goggles!

Thankfully Norm’s tractor and business attitude was service, service and service.  Soon the message got around.  I recall him saying that a farmer he sold a 5000 to had real problems in the middle of harvest one night.  He rang Norm and Norm left within the hour, driving the 150k that took him well north of the Eyre highway and got the tractor going.  As I mentioned, the word soon got around and Norm soon got busy with Ford tractors.

A bout of nostalgia for those West Coast days helped me recall that Norm, together with Gordon Abbott and Laurie Curtis really put Ford broadacre tractors on the map.  So much so that due to West Coast demand we offered a bench type seat on the 5000 and really pricked Chamberlain’s balloon. 

Although I was moved back to Melbourne head office via a stint as NSW tractor manager.  I still retained a close interest in South Australian performance and particularly pleasing was the West Coast’s continuous success.  I learned that Norm had moved his tractor dealership near to the sale yards and as someone said, “continued to brain them”. 

Norm obviously had an interesting and chequered career.  He will be remembered by myself and many others as a larger than life hands on bloke.

Don Mason