This is a Fordson Model F, the tractor that spelled the death knell for many manufacturers in the 1920s. Ford's greatest advantages over the competition at the time were its large manufacturing capacity, its ability to mass produce on an assembly line, and the move to modular construction, doing away with the (unnecessary) frame of the tractor, its role being assumed by the engine, transmission and rear end in concert. These things resulted in Ford's being able to sell tractors at a price that the competition just couldn't match and make a profit. Ford sold 755,278 Model Fs from 1917 to 1928, more than any other tractor before or since. Is it any wonder, then, that so many have found their way into museums?
The Fordson had a 251.3 ci(4.1 L) 20 hp (at 1,000 rpm), four cylinder gasoline/distillate engine and claimed 20 hp at the belt(tested at 22.28 hp) and 10 hp at the drawbar(tested at 12.325 hp). It weighed 2,920 lbs (1324 kg) and was rated as a two plow tractor.
Henry Ford had grown up on a farm, and had taken a personal interest in providing an affordable tractor to the small farmer. He built his first experimental tractor in 1907 and was said to have made more than 50 different prototypes until the development of the Fordson F in 1917. The Fordson name was selected for two reasons. There was already a Ford Tractor Company in Minneapolis at the time, and the Ford Motor Company shareholders did not approve of tractor production. So Henry established an entirely new firm, Ford & Son Inc., which was shortened to Fordson.
Ford stopped tractor production in the US in 1928, choosing to focus on the Model A car that was replacing the Model T. Fordson production, however, continued in England. The Ford name was brought to tractors in the US in 1939. For a time, there were two separate divisions, Fordson in England, and Ford in the USA. In 1964, the two branches were merged and the Fordson name was dropped.
From Tractor Data