County Commercial Cars launched the 1254 and 1454 models in 1972, at the Royal Show in Stoneleigh, Warwickshire. In the early development stages, these new heavy-duty tractors were initially based on Ford’s 8000 and 9000 models.
The 8000 and 9000 were built at the Highland Park facility in Michigan, USA, and by early 1971, County had built the first prototype machines ready for development testing.
These tractors were the first large, heavy-duty machines to be built using a Ford six-cylinder production skid unit. The previous models of County sixcylinder tractors were based on Ford four-cylinder skid units, fitted with a range of Ford six-cylinder engines.
The new tractors were significantly heavier than anything County had previously produced and were aimed at the large arable farmer or contractor that wanted a tractor capable of operating the largest ploughs, disc harrows, and cultivators available at the time, but were also used in construction for pulling large dump trailers.
Only a small number of Ford 8000 and 9000 skid units were used to build the production models of the County 1254 and 1454, as in March 1972 Ford introduced the 8600 and 9600 as replacements. As a result, County then used the new Ford six-cylinder tractors for the production of its top-of-the-range 1254 and 1454 models.
The main difference between the 8600 and 9600 and the previous tractors was the introduction of Dual Power transmission, which meant the tractors now had 16 forward and four reverse gears, instead of the eight forward, two reverse transmission. These tractors also offered a 540rpm/1,000 rpm power take-off as standard.
The 1254 now produced 125hp, and the 1454 remained the same at 145hp. For the export market the 1254 and 1454 were sold without a cab, in open platform guise. These tractors were fitted with round mudguards, as illustrated by the
