Flagship flyer

Back in 1981, the Ford Motor Company proudly launched the new Series 10 tractors and, in one fell swoop, modernised almost its entire range of agricultural tractors. Almost – because the higher horsepower TW range, introduced only two years previously, remained in place above the new Series 10 models.

There was also another model that remained after the 1981 launch, and became something of an acronym in the new line-up. The retention of this model was intriguing and the reasons for it even more so, and it would take until 1982 before it was effectively replaced by a new addition to the original Series 10 line-up, in the shape of a new model called the 8210 – a tractor that had a strange history due to two earlier incarnations that were unique in the Ford tractor story.

NEW SERIES 10

The Series 10 launch in 1981 was a landmark event in that, for the first time, synchromesh transmissions became available on a Ford