In 1977 the Ford Motor Company launched a range of four high horsepower, articulated steer, four-wheel drive tractors built for them by Steiger. Dubbed the FW range, standing for Four Wheel drive, these tractors gave Ford a foothold in this popular sector of the North American marketplace that it had never had a presence in before. This was followed up in 1979 by a new range of tractors given the TW moniker and built by Ford themselves. TW stood for Two Wheel drive as, in their native country, that was the form they usually took, four-wheel drive being mostly the preserve of the larger articulated machines. That name would become something of a misnomer as the range grew in popularity and was given a four-wheel drive option, especially in European markets – it also became something of a legend as a high horsepower tractor series and, in these articles, we shall look at how the TW tractors came to be.
THE FIRST FORD TW TRACTORS
The launch of the TW range by Ford in 1979 caused quite
