In the first part of this series, looking at how tractors developed in Britain during the 1960s, we saw how all the major tractor manufacturers of the previous decade carried their products over as the 1960s arrived.
By the time the middle years of the decade came around, it soon became clear that the face of the tractor in Britain, and indeed the rest of the world, would never be quite the same again. In fact, the years of 1963 to 1966 saw changes so great that they would have ramifications that could still be felt 30 years later.
SETTING THE SCENE
As we learned in the last issue, even the largest tractor manufacturers began the 1960s with models carried over from the earlier decade, and this trend continued with the first major launch of the 1960s, concerning as it did, a range of tractors introduced in 1963.
The Fordson New Performance models were not part of a brand-new line-up; once again they were an update of previous models, with a new colour scheme added to match up with the Ford tractors then being produced in North America.
The Dexta was the same as before, except for its new look, while the Super Dexta and Super Major did at least receive a modest power increase and the largest model had a few other mechanical improvements to boot – but these were still very much designs of the 1950s.
International Harvester was also still playing it safe, at least in the UK, launching the 60hp B-614 in 1963 – which was much like the other IH tractors introduced previously. The same year though, saw the firm introduce two big, six-cylinder tractors in North America: the 89hp 706 and the 110hp 806.
These large, two-wheel drive machines were eventually sold in limited numbers in Britain as well, being an early sign that British farmers
