Triple triangle treat
In the late 1950s pressure was mounting on the major tractor manufacturers to increase the size and power of their models. Ford had been producing the Diesel Major since the early ’50s and so a relatively straightforward evolution enabled it to market the Power Major in the final years of the decade.
BMC had been turning out Nuffield models from the late 1940s and, like Ford, chose to update its tractors throughout the ’50s, resulting in the Nuffield Universal models being introduced in 1957.
David Brown’s 900 model, a tractor plagued by reliability issues (see T&M September 2020) became the 950 in 1958 and at the same time the B-450 began flying the flag for International Harvester.
Massey Ferguson also recognised the need to upgrade its offering and, having enjoyed success with the FE 35, decided that it needed a more powerful version to take the fight to its rivals.
Attempts to develop a larger tractor had been made back in the days of Harry Ferguson, with a desire to put into production what was known as the LTX. This model became a victim of the merger between Ferguson and Massey-Harris, due to potential production costs, resulting in the likes of the Massey-Harris 744 and 745 fulfilling the demand for larger tractors.
Although more powerful than the FE 35, the 744 and 745 were basic in specification and so Massey-Harris-Ferguson engineers set to work on what would become the Massey Ferguson 65.
During the
