International Harvester’s line of small, Bradford-built tractors can be found on farms, in collections and in the hands of match ploughmen and women, where their size and characteristics make them an ideal choice in the competitive arena.
Those looking for a good all-rounder that is not too heavy and won’t break the bank could do a lot worse than one of these tractors and although the earlier models of the 1950s and ’60s are still by far the most popular, it is those built in the 1970s that are the focus of this guide.
It was the launch of the B-250 at the 1955 Smithfield Show that started the ball rolling on what would become an extremely successful line of tractors for International Harvester. The ‘Little Giant’, as it was dubbed by IH’s marketing team, was the first model to leave the assembly line at the ex-Jowett car and light commercial factory in Bradford and elements of its design would remain visible in all of the subsequent variants that followed.
The story of these Bradford-built tractors is a classic case of evolution, rather than revolution, and the first of the B-250’s successors was built in 1958. The B-275 saw an increase in horsepower and a change to a dual-range transmission, as well as styling differences and the subtle improvements continued with the introduction of the B-414 in 1961, 434 in 1966 and 276 in 1968.
The first of the small tractors to be part of IH’s brand-new, ‘World Wide Series’ (namely the 454 and 574), in 1970, was the 354 – a 38hp machine powered by the BD-144A four-cylinder engine. This was joined by
