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Massey-Harris 12-20

I know some of you have been waiting a while to see this one, it is the latest arrival here in Lincolnshire for 2012 and a tractor which I am very fond of.

I remember sitting on my dad's knee many years ago and him telling me all the stories about the three 12-20's which they ran for many years, it was those discussions which sparked my interest in finding a Massey Harris tractor in 1970, the first Massey we bought was my red Pacemaker and since then the collection has continued to grow.

It took me from 1970 to 2008 to finally locate the 12-20 which grandfather bought new for my dad in 1934, I still have the original tool kit, instruction and parts book for that tractor and one day would like to get it back home.

In the meantime I have always been looking for a similar M-H 12-20 and this year Lyn Jones of L&L Vintage Tractors of South Wales had located one in Eastern Canada, so the deal was done in October and I collected the tractor and brought it back to Lincolnshire. The serial number is 105606.

Here you see the tractor on the day when I collected it from Lyn's near Newcastle Emylin.

Malcolm.



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RE:Massey-Harris 12-20

Another nice find, Malcolm.  I could almost own one of those.  Nice size.  Where is the start button located!?!?  LOL!!


GTE


RE:Massey-Harris 12-20

Some time ago Tom S and Joe P were in contact with me regarding the correct PTO shield for a 12-20.  Tom wanted to get copies made but they had no pattern.  Joe told Tom I had one on my spare parts shelves.  I initially deneid this but then he produced photo evidence from his visit here!  I went to look for it but it wasn't there.  Then a day or two later I recalled having thrown it on my scrap heap because it didn't look Massey related.  It had initially come to me tied to the Wallis 12-20 I had imported from Missouri but it looked like a home made bodge.

Anyway I retireved it from the scrap heap and sent measurements to Tom and Joe.

In the meantime I have re-fitted it to the Wallis 12-20 so here are a couple of photos of it.  Note how a slot is cut out of the shield to accomodate the seat spring.  Joe says he has only ever seen one other original fitted to a tractor.

John
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RE:Massey-Harris 12-20

John:

Glad to see it back on the tractor!!! Looks great!! Now you won't get caught up in the PTO when you hook it up to a Pulverator Plow someday when you find one

Joe

RE:Massey-Harris 12-20

Hope Ervin is now busy in the shop making some new 12-20 PTO shields just like the originals, unfortunately none of my 12-20's have the PTO unit fitted.

Here is a photograph of my dad's 12-20 when it was new in 1934, it arrived by rail to Horncastle station, then was driven to the M-H dealers Ward and Co of Bank Street Horncastle, then driven by road on steel wheels with road bands pulling a new M-H No 23 two furrow plough approx 15 miles to the farm at Holton Kum Beckering.

The other photo's show it later in life at Salmonby with the addition of the British cast iron wheels with rubber tyres. The binder is a M-H No 16 with my Grandad on the binder and Dad driving the tractor.

Malcolm.


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RE:Massey-Harris 12-20

This next post is about a M-H 12-20 which I heard about in the late 1980's and finally found in 1993. it was in the middle of a forrest owned by The Forrestry Commision of Great Britain and just a few miles from Holton ***** Beckering where my dad was brought up and even closer to where Graham C farmed at Primrose Hill before he took on his new life farming in Manitoba.
I was told by the farm manager the tractor was used in Bardney Forrest for pulling out trees when it was cleared previously, they thought around the 1940's, it had  been left and just got grown in and over the years parts had been robbed and taken.

For many months and visits I thought it was a wind up, fighting my way through the underrgrowth and making sure I knew my way back out of the forrest, eventually I stumbled across the tractor and I am sure looking at the lugs on the rear wheels it had not done much work.

I know during this time Graham was only focused on those big blue Ford, County' and Roadless tractors and often wondered if he knew this M-H 12-20 was sat right under his nose?????

Malcolm
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RE:Massey-Harris 12-20

I am surprised that this thread has had so few views.  Do people have a prejudice against the M-H 12-20s????!!!!!

Anyway not to be down hearted I thought I would put our family archive photos of my Grandad's 12-20 on here.  They are actually photos taken and mounted for him by the Massey-Harris company who were based just two miles away from the farm.  Being so near the factory my Grandad was often asked to test tractors and implements for a year or so for the company and told to break them if he could.  As a results of his monitoring of their performance modifications were made before they were widely placed on the British market.  One example of this was the grass mowers which had to have their knife speed increased to cope with our much thicker crops than those found in N America.

John

The shots show my Dad on the binder and Tommy Moss driving the 12-20.  My uncle (Dad's younger brother) can be seen in short trousers and hands behind his back.  In the background you can see the original Barton coal fired power station with its many low chimneys.  These caused so much local pollution (soot, soil acidification) that the power authority was forced to pull them down and replace them with two very tall ones which got the muck up into the higher atmosphere out of the way.

You can see the men "stooking" the sheaves - it's a crop of wheat - and in one shot you can see the stooks capped with two inverted sheaves to protect them from rain by shedding the rain off.
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RE:Massey-Harris 12-20

Hi John,

Those are great pictures of the 12-20 and binder working!!  I think there might be a short article for the MCA Clipper associated with those pics if you would be willing to write something up????

Gary


RE:Massey-Harris 12-20

Malcolm and John,

I continue to be amazed by the advertisement quality photos you guys have from your family's past history with Massey.  There are almost no photos that I have found of any of my ancestors and their farm equipment.  About the closest things I have are a photo of my Grandpa Bush with his MF 35 taken in 1975 (the one I have now), a shot of me with my Dad on his Farmall H when I was 6 months old, and a shot of my Dad and sisters on the 3-pt carrier with me at the wheel of the Ford Jubilee when I was around 8 years old.  I lament the fact that my family didn't even get a set of photos of Dad's equipment the day we had the farm sale.  I was too busy getting everything ready and in order for the sale, and nobody else thought of it, I guess.

I would love to have had a photo of Dad and Grandpa pulling their 3-bottom moldboard plows behind their Massey 44s, turning over the fresh dirt in the spring...  Or perhaps one of my Dad on Grandpa's Challenger doing some field work before they traded it on the 44.

Anyway, thanks for sharing your treasures with the rest of us.

Cheers,

     JB

RE:Massey-Harris 12-20

Well thanks for posting the pictures. It has been pretty slow on here lately!

Hi John, Ervin had the new 12-20 pto shields finished and shipped here to Minnesota a month ago. We made a few small mounting changes to fit the 12-20 orchard. If anybody has a pic of an orchard with pro shield we sure would like to see it!

Next week I will have some more pictures to share  of our massey 12-20 orchard. Just got the frame and front end back from being worked on. A few big rings of metal for another wallis project!