County Archive Film Special Volumes One and Two

COUNTY ARCHIVE FILM SPECIAL: Volumes One and Two

County is one of the great names of British agricultural, industrial and civil engineering machinery, with its innovative use of tracks and four-wheel drive mechanisms, mostly based on Ford and Fordson power units. The company was also a pioneer in the use of film as a promotional tool. This two-volume series makes use of all County’s surviving films to give a clear understanding of how they developed from offering conversion kits for Ford lorries to becoming major manufacturers in their own right.

Volume 1 looks at the industrial side of County, going back to those first lorry conversions that included their Kleenaway dustbin system and Market Loader meat handling device that revolutionised both sectors. County became a major supplier of tracked and wheeled machines to industry at home and abroad, many of which are featured here. They include the Mark 3 County Crawler including the Braydozer variant and the later Four Drive and CD50 machines at work in forestry and civil engineering.

Volume 2 concentrates on the field where they were best known – agriculture. County got involved in farming at the end of WW2 when the government contracted them to build a suitable tracked tractor for British farmers. The result was the County Full Track, or CFT, based on the Fordson E27N Major tractor. Upgrades and the arrival of the E1A Major saw the Mark II County Crawler take the place of the CFT in the County agricultural range. The crawlers were successful at home and abroad, but overseas demand led to the introduction of wheeled four-wheel drive tractors, including the Four-Drive, Super 4 and Super 6 machines. These were later developed to use power and drive units from most of the Ford tractor range in later years. Examples of wheeled and tracked tractors are featured here, including the Swampmaster low ground pressure range, a wheeled example of which can be seen crossing the English Channel under its own power.