The David Brown Tractor Story – Part 1 – 1936-1948

Hardback

The first in a trilogy of books looking in depth at David Brown and its products, this work begins by tracing the roots of this famous Yorkshire firm back to Huddersfield and its origins in wooden pattern making in the 1860s. Pioneering work in machine-cut gears at the turn of the century brought fame to the company and set it on the road to becoming one of the world’s largest gear manufacturers.


David Brown’s involvement with tractors began in 1936 through an agreement to produce machines for Harry Ferguson. It was an unhappy and short-lived partnership, but the lessons learnt with the Ferguson-Brown gave the company the experience it needed to introduce its own tractor, the VAK1, in 1939.

The development David Brown’s first tractor is covered in great depth. Meltham’s agricultural production was eventually curtailed by the war, but valuable defence contracts propelled the company into other directions from Spitfire gears and tank gearboxes to aircraft towing tractors and heavy crawlers. It emerged from the conflict in a strong position with many post-war developments in the pipeline.

This closely researched, highly illustrated book tells the full story of this remarkable company’s early years for the first time, and full coverage is given to agricultural tractor production including the VAK1 and VAK1/A models and their implements. The author has even uncovered details of the ill-fated VAK2 project.

The book concludes with the introduction of the VAK1/C Cropmaster, which became one of Britain’s most popular tractors of the 1950s.

• 216 pages


• Integrated colour throughout


• 275 x 215mm portrait
  


• Over 300 photographs


• Hardback