Surviving the merger

With almost 100 years of tractor production during its existence, International Harvester produced many successful tractor models, but perhaps none captured the imagination quite as much as its range of six-cylinder models, produced in both the USA and in Europe during the 1970s and ’80s.

During the filming of Tractor Barn Productions’ DVD IH Six Cylinder Power, I had the pleasure of seeing some superb IH six-cylinder tractors in action up and down the British Isles. In this final part of the series I take a closer look at some of the Case IH models that carried on the IH tradition after the merger in 1985, as well as the first true Case IH model – the Magnum.

Merging two giants

In 1984 International Harvester was producing a wide range of tractors globally, including two ranges of six-cylinder tractors that were both highly acclaimed. In the USA this was the high-horsepower 50 Series, built at the Rock Island factory in Illinois. In Europe the baton was held by the slightly less powerful, but still large, 55 and 56 Series – built in Neuss-on-Rhine, Germany, and, St. Dizier in France.

There was a downturn in the global economic situation in agriculture during the 1980s and all farm machinery manufacturers were feeling it,