“Pre Force” Ford tractors move down the line in what is now New Holland’s Basildon England assembly plant.
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At the introduction of the John Deere W235 windrower, the brand emphasized 50 years of continuous swather production.
Photo: Scott Garvey
Introduced in 1963, a 4020 John Deere tractor celebrated the 50th birthday of the 20 Series. It was parked beside new 2013 machines at an event in Columbus, Ohio, that year.
Photo: Scott Garvey
Case IH celebrated 50 years of combine production at its Grand Island, Nebraska, plant last July.
Photo: Case IH
Banners hanging above the main entrance to New Holland’s North American head office in Pennsylvania in 2014 pointed out a number of corporate milestones.
Photo: Scott Garvey
Marking the 50th anniversary of tractor production in Winnipeg, Versatile introduced the Legendary Limited Edition models late last year.
Photo: Versatile
Leaving the factory a few years after tractor production began, this truck is loaded with model 145 Versatile tractors.
Photo: Versatile
A special graphic was included on Golden Anniversary NH T7 tractors celebrating the Basildon England assembly plant’s 50th birthday.
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Machinery brands have been publicly celebrating a lot of anniversaries lately — and for good reason. They provide marketing staff with a great opportunity to emphasize past achievements and build on brand loyalty. We don’t always mention them in the pages of Grainews. But with our April 26 cover story detailing AGCO’s latest production milestone, we thought we’d take a look at a few of the others brand marketers have told us about in the past couple of years. Here’s a look at a few of them.
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Versatile
With the first-ever Versatile four-wheel drive tractor driving out the door of the Winnipeg assembly plant in 1966, 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of tractor production for the brand. Although machines built there have worn a couple of paint colours and marquees over the years, the original name has long since returned, and the company is celebrating with the release of 50 Limited Legendary Edition models that feature throwback paint schemes to the early Series II models.
The company will also be giving away a classic 1966 Chevy pickup truck decked out in the same classic livery. Watch for it at farm shows this summer.
Case IH
Last July Case IH celebrated 50 years of production at its Grand Island, Nebraska, plant, which is home to the brand’s Axial-Flow combines, along with some of sister company New Holland’s CR machines. Axial-Flow models began coming down the assembly line in Grand Island with the introduction of the AFX8010 series in 2003. The following year manufacturing of the 2388 Axial-Flow series was relocated from East Moline, Illinois, to Grand Island.
Harvesting research and development along with product testing is also located at Grand Island.
New Holland
At a press event held at the company’s New Holland, Pennsylvania, headquarters in 2014, NH was proud to point out it, too, had passed some significant milestones.
75 years ago the company that originally started as a local machine shop eventually bought the rights to a square baler with a unique — and for the the first time — reliable knotter system. 2014 also marked a total of 120 years of business under the New Holland brand name.
There were other anniversaries to mention that day as well. Fifty years of mower conditioner production, as well as 40 years or round balers and combines.
Across the Atlantic, the company had other anniversaries to mention. It celebrated 50 years of tractor production at its Basildon England assembly plant. On May 15, 1964, Ford’s farm equipment division opened a tractor assembly plant there. Since then, that facility has been in continuous operation churning out tractors, with ownership eventually evolving into the current New Holland.
To mark the Basildon factory’s golden anniversary, NH unveiled the limited edition “Golden Jubilee” versions of its T6.160 and T7.270 Auto Command tractors at the World Ag Expo in Tulare, California.
John Deere
In 2013 John Deere first introduced members of the farm media to its W235 self-propelled windrower at an event in Columbus, Ohio. The debut of that machine was held 50 years after the first green swather made its appearance. The new W235 included a host of engineering updates and for the fist time used the same cab previously introduced on the brand’s S Series combines.
At that same 2013 event the company also displayed a classic 4020 tractor to mark another anniversary. That series was first introduced in 1963, 50 years before.
