What’s in a name? Why did the firm, which became known for its four-wheel drive tractor conversions, start its life as County Commercial Cars? This famous business originated in 1929 because of a simple change in road traffic legislation that restricted light commercial vehicles to a payload of 30cwt (1.5 tons), and a top speed of 20mph, but allowed vehicles with three axles to carry three tons at 30mph.
Brothers Ernest and Percy Tapp ran a motor transport business and to take advantage of the new regulations, Ernest, the engineer in the partnership, extended the chassis rails of a Ford AA lorry and then added a third axle. Two variants of the conversion were constructed, a 6x2 with a ‘dead’ third axle, and a 6x4 with a driven third axle; a concept that set the wheels in motion as County Commercial Cars progressed into the world of increased traction for forestry, construction, and agriculture.
During the 1950s, the company developed a successful range of crawlers and four-wheel drive tractors with equal-sized wheels, mostly based on Fordson Major skid units. These tractors
