Well done on reaching the BIG 50 bet old Kevmac never thought it would go that far when he started it, some threads on TNUK don’t last long but this one is good with interesting content from a wealth of contributors with Saviem (John) leading the way with his unbounded knowledge of our industry as well as many other subjects, im’e sure he will raise a glass of Bollinger to celebrate the milestone, cheers Buzzer.
Paul John:
Fergie47, that’s a fine job you did on the restoration of both the tractor and MG.My Grandfather had a number of little Fergie’s over the years, both petrol/tvo and diesel. When he retired in 1974/5 he had two diesels one running perfect the other needed a little attention, basically from standing idle. I was about 14 and begged my Father to park them up in the shed as they would be collectable in years to come, but my view fell on deaf years and they were sold off.
It looks as if you have a Morris Oxford or Austin Cambridge parked behind the tractor, our family ran many of them, Morris 1000 and J4 vans, and Threepenny bits. All classic’s now.Congratulations on this thread reaching 50 wonderful pages.
Regards Paul.
Paul, thank you, always try to do it right first time, if possible !
The Fergie was Mrs Fergies granddads, after he died in the 80’ it was left in a leaking lean to, with a large leak that was right above the bonnet, which ended up with a huge rusty hole in it, to match the rest of the old girl…in 2000 when her grandmother died, she asked her dad if she could have the tractor…the rest is history as they say
The car in the back ground is a 1959 MG Magnet, bought off a 90 year old man, who, after buying it new in London, shipped it to Nyasaland where he was the chief of police until 1970, …thrown out after independence he drove it to south Africa and shipped it back to the UK, where he used it until l bought it in 1999, I used it as my everyday transport, and regular trips to Devon and Hampshire… Never let me down, and sold it when we moved here…
It’s a pity those Fergies slipped through your hands, but then if only I’d kept the Healey 3000, E type,
Lotus Cortinas Mk1 and Mk2, MGB and Esprit turbo…never mind, at least we’ve still got the tractor
Most of us live on, “If only”, Fergie! My late uncle’s claim to fame was that he had the first Fergie in Carmarthenshire. Goodness knows which branch of the family had it but I noticed it was missing from the barn just after he died and nobody seems to know anything.
Fergie47:
A 50th page prezzie for Saviem, I know this is one of his favorite companies…
Evening all,
Well, Im still on a borrowed device!.......just cannot face trying to purchase something that I know literally nothing about! Oh yes......Im truly a “Luddite”!
Thank you all for your congratulations, the length, (so far), is purely down to your contributions, and very little to me. You have all given me both great enjoyment, and a real admiration for what you have done, and continue to do…I`m sure that everyone who logs on enjoys your contributions, and the stimulation of the little grey cells that they provide…Thank you all!
Fergie , thanks for that picture of the Magirus 230.D 19 FS from the Rue Dixeme, Roissy, Val dOise, (ROT), branch of Onatra. With the 53 cu metre silo tank. Personally I never had much to do with the Magirus Tractors, but I always had a high regard for them.......even if, (under load), they sounded like one of Waless best Hoover vacumn cleaners!!! But the performance figures did not lie…they were very cost effective to run…Cheap!!!
They were a favourite with Onatra, right back from the bonneted 200 hp Pluto, to the last 230.19.FS of the 70s. So light, and ideal for the big Silo tanks. Onatra were running over 400 Magirus in the early 70s, and totally ran in excess of 900…must have had something going for them!
That little Fergie of yours looks a gem. Sweet little thing to drive, (all Petrol/TVOs were sweet, so unlike the racous early diesels), and you could do an amazing amount of work with them…but a bit miserable if it was raining…or cold!!!..Remember old sacks over your shoulders to keep off the rain?..But we wee young, and did it really matter?..(Yes, if my Sciatica is to believed, but its too late now)!!!
Those Farina Magnettes were a nice car, but not as nice as the earlier Magnette ZA, and ZB. Really a mini Jaguar…and my last one really could have been, except that I could not cure the overheating of my “transplanted” 2 litre Triumph Vitesse engine…but when she went…so smooth…so dreamy…(and that was what it was , a dream beyond my engineering skills)…but at £105 all in what could I expect…(£105 excludes my labour cost over many, many cold hours)!!!
Buzzer, that 1200 Massey looks great, but at £30K …boy, do those tractors fetch some dosh!..Sadly, I was never a Massey man, (even though my Uncle ran an ultra smooth Massey Harris 6 cyl petrol), that I loved to use. I had a few Dextas, and a few Majors, and more David Brown`s than is good for anyone! but my first big tractor was a Muir Hill…blooming heck, even on a moderate slope you felt like you were on the top of a 30 story building…scary…She never fell over, but my nerves were a little bit on the tight side!!!..And look what those evil devices are selling for now!!
Then the first Deere, it became a love affair that I cannot get over…
Sounded great, ran great, a joy to drive, just the most incredible combination of a tool I ever knew…4, or 6 cylinder, low, or high HP…and so cheap to run, so easy to mend, and such a friendly bunch of people if you had a problem…(even if you had caused it…oh dear)…I`ve still kept some of them, (simply cannot bear to part with “Les Girls”…and that does create domestic disharmony)…
Some people love the sound of a big 14 litre ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ the short staccato burp of a Gardner 240 8 cylinder…but if you wish to hear the Vivaldi, or Scarlatti of the engine builders excellence…listen in awe to the sensory vibrance of Mr Deere`s product…I have never sat behind, or over such an orchestrated delight of sensational sound…and the delivered performance never failed to delight!!!
ROF, you are right, all our lives are missed, or not realised opportunities…but is that not the fun of remembering? The Vincent Rapide sold for £75, the Gold Star, for £100…The Jensen 541, (that took 4 of us hard up lads to contribute to the “petrol fund” to get the heinous 4 litre Austin powered device to the next village for a drink…(strictly “halves”, as none of us had any cash left)!..Let alone “chat up” the talent…(or conspicuous lack of)…
Fergie, on your drivers and lorries post, 6th down looks to me like the little chap who drove for Marseille based Yvon et Doux, with one of their 60s Berliet GLC6Ms with those peculiar single axle wine tankers. The “Pinadiers”, what an incredible interesting bit of French Transport history. So bound up with France, the Wine Producer, (still in my simple opinion…the best in the World)!..So many stories, so many memories…150 Hectolitres, that was the target payload…150 hectolitres of heaven…Forget all those gross, blended, “bladder” Chillean, Australian, and New Zealand flatulence inducers…and forget the American “blended” by Mexicans Californian “rocket fuel”…France is the only real Wine Producer…and the Hauliers that transported their heavenly produce, just as interesting!!!
But Fergie, that MGB looks smart, truly you have a vocation as a “mechanicien”…how do you fancy tackling one of the Willeme Horizons in your post, either with the standard AEC 690, or the replacement ■■■■■■■ 6 cylinder? Would make a beautiful lorry to drive, that cab was a real gem, in terms of driver comfort........far better than the "garden sheds" that Atkinson, and ERF, and Foden, (I know from personal experience), produced in the 60s.
I would love to…but as ever the spirit is willing…but the flesh is weak…
Thank you all,
My glass, (a large one I think), will be raised to you all…
Sante.
Cheerio for now.
How’s it going Saviem? Have I missed much whilst I’ve been away?
Saviem:
Fergie, on your drivers and lorries post, 6th down looks to me like the little chap who drove for Marseille based Yvon et Doux, with one of their 60s Berliet GLC6Ms with those peculiar single axle wine tankers. The “Pinadiers”, what an incredible interesting bit of French Transport history. So bound up with France, the Wine Producer, (still in my simple opinion…the best in the World)!..So many stories, so many memories…150 Hectolitres, that was the target payload…150 hectolitres of heaven…Forget all those gross, blended, “bladder” Chillean, Australian, and New Zealand flatulence inducers…and forget the American “blended” by Mexicans Californian “rocket fuel”…France is the only real Wine Producer…and the Hauliers that transported their heavenly produce, just as interesting!!!**…how do you fancy tackling one of the Willeme Horizon
s in your post**, either with the standard AEC 690, or the replacement ■■■■■■■ 6 cylinder? Would make a beautiful lorry to drive, that cab was a real gem, in terms of driver comfort........far better than the "garden sheds" that Atkinson, and ERF, and Foden, (I know from personal experience), produced in the60s.
I would love to…but as ever the spirit is willing…but the flesh is weak…Cheerio for now.
Hello John, welcome back…friggin computers eh ! Go in, ask the schoolboy serving for the most powerful computer he has, for X number of pounds, but, it must be powered by a 14LCumm335 processor…that’ll throw him…
A few pictures of the “Pinardiers” with their normal oval tanks or other unusual designs…I feel a story coming on, on the wine tanker transporters of France…
Funny how things change in life…when we lived in Cornwall, I had the opportunity to by a Leyland Chinese six, (like the Octopus with a 680) immaculate show condition for 5000 pound, could have bought it, but nowhere to keep it… Now I’ve somewhere to keep it, plus enough room for another half dozen, all under one roof, no money !!! and as time creeps on the aches and pains get worse, so no scrabbling under an old lorry anymore…I’m going to leave that to the likes of David “Junior” Davidoff, he’s a young man with a keen interest of the old wagons, as for me, I’ll just potter with the old Fergie 
Anyway…pictures of Pinadiers…
Buzzer:
Well done on reaching the BIG 50 bet old Kevmac never thought it would go that far when he started it, some threads on TNUK don’t last long but this one is good with interesting content from a wealth of contributors with Saviem (John) leading the way with his unbounded knowledge of our industry as well as many other subjects, im’e sure he will raise a glass of Bollinger to celebrate the milestone, cheers Buzzer.
Buzzer, I’m not surprised that the thread is still going, but 50 pages!! and the content is fantastic. Apart from a couple of holidays driving through France I don’t know much about the country, but the pics on this thread are magic. In particular the tankers are a reminder of the wine
tankers I used to see on the A2 when I was heading for Dover in my Atkinson Borderer to load spuds. Oh how I lusted for one of those bonneted red Volvos. Tractors seem to have a good following on here, this impressive pair will be sure to get a comment. Are they any better than a little Fergie?
Regards Kev.
Hi All,
Just to add my congratulations and thanks for a great thread,Saviem your knowledge and memory is amazing,our old friend Barry Gibson (R.I.P) would have loved this, and Fergie thanks for all the photo’s,it’s a wonder Liz hasn’t divorced you with all the time you’ve put in if she does we have a spare room at home, for her not you !!
Thanks to Michel and all the other contributors, it’s really appreciated.
I brought this French Dinky Toys Berliet,at a little Brocante in Salieu the other day,the same one I got the Saviem plate.
Regards
Richard
kevmac47:
Tractors seem to have a good following on here, this impressive pair will be sure to get a comment. Are they any better than a little Fergie?
Oh, dear! I’m surprised that Ken Rainthorpe hasn’t learned how to strap a large tractor properly after all these years.
Retired Old ■■■■:
kevmac47:
Tractors seem to have a good following on here, this impressive pair will be sure to get a comment. Are they any better than a little Fergie?
Oh, dear! I’m surprised that Ken Rainthorpe hasn’t learned how to strap a large tractor properly after all these years.
The proof of the pudding ROF. I never heard that either of them fell off. Regards Kev. Ps. He definitely knows how to reverse that dangle!!!
I don’t think Ken has heard of “Emergency Stops”. I remember cringing when I was on holiday in Cornwall years ago. I met Ken right on a narrow bend when he had a thundering great Claas combine on. I think there were just three straps holding the whole thing! Having said that, I have never heard of him having an incident. He probably drives better than I.
This is for you John (Saviem) and just a gentle reminder of your tractor past and I hope it brings back a few fond memories, in my youth I was a member of the local young farmers club and my best man was going with a girl called Muriel who he eventually wed, but to all us boys she was always known as Muir Hill how quaint cheers Buzzer.
Way back in the 1960s we had a front end loader by Muir-Hill, made locally, used for reloading coal in the yard. It was always known as “Muriel”. leylandlover will remember it, I reckon.
Casey,I do remember it well.On hire to RAF at Gloster for 3 weeks with it I also rebuilt the 4d in it.
kevmac47:
Are they any better than a little Fergie?
NO !!! 
MaggieD:
Hi All,
it’s a wonder Liz hasn’t divorced you with all the time you’ve put in
Regards
Richard
Careful…Mr MaggieD, I could ruin your career as both QC and UKIP candidate with the photos of you the last time you were here !
On the other hand perhaps not, they might actually enhance it…
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