A family Reunion

A Rolling Project:

T20 Ferguson - "Harold"

A motoring project can be an expensive hobby and this project was one of those but money was no object. This was a MUST do project whatever the cost.

As a Welshman, you are either a descendant of a farming industry or mining, I was born into a farming family and have grown up not living on a farm but working and growing up in a farming village in Carmarthenshire. My family can be traced to the 1700s and all have lived in this valley and have either worked or owned a farm.

My grandmother (Angela) has always spoke of her up bringing on the farm and always spoke highly of her father Harold. My father (Brendan) also told tales about him. From these stories I knew he was not only a good man but also a man who loved his machinery.

He bought a Ferguson T20 in the 1950s from Pembrokeshire which he used daily around the farm working on the fields, around the yard and also the odd trip down to the shop or pub.

He also had a Nuffield which dwarfed the T20 and was usually used for silage season. But out of the both the T20 was his favourite. My grandmother and Father also had fond memories of my great grandfather driving the little grey tractor. When it was snowing he would always take my grandmother to school even if the school was closed. The tractor was everything to him and the family.

But come 1975, the family had to sell the farm and with that the T20 Ferguson was sold. The tractor wasn’t to be seen again.

Until...

2015, the T20 was found on a local farm. But it wasn’t in the best of state.

The Ferguson was found in a field, over grown with reeds due to the wet terrain. It had no shelter and was at the mercy of all the Welsh weather for 40 Years. The owner said that the tractor was used after it’s purchase in 1975 but was left to rot after short period of time. My father went to see this Ferguson and even though the tractor was in an unrecognisable state he still could recognise the tractor due to his grandfather’s comical chassis fabrication to the tractor to update the T20 with a Perkins 3 Cylinder Diesel engine. To confirm that this tractor was actually Harold’s the owner gave him the original log book which bared the name and signature of “William Harold Jones”.

He knew that he couldn’t leave it and decided to purchase the T20 Ferguson for £100.

I remember the day clearly, I remember going up to this farm to help retrieve the tractor from its grave. It was basically a grave as the tractor had sunk into the wet earth and was there to be reduced to a pile of rust. It took a JCB and the use of a lorry to pull it out. It was emotional as I was there with my father and his father (my grandfather) 3 generations working together to retrieve a family heirloom. We took the tractor home to the family and everyone was out ready to welcome the tractor home including my grandmother who was in tears. Tears of happiness. After hours or so talking and discussing this find it was clear that there was an elephant in the room. The beloved Ferguson was in a massive mess. It was obvious that this would be expensive and possibly impossible to keep original. It also will take time to restore. I was in school and father has a full time job. Both have worked on projects but nothing as bad as this. This was to bring back a project from the brink of disappearance. But it was a labour of love and you can’t put the price on that.

Within hours of it coming home my father gave it a bath and soaked in diesel, oil and all the s**t you can think of to clean and release any seized parts and joints. The Restoration had begun.

After a week of cleaning and soaking in lubricant, the Fergy was taken into the garage to be stripped apart. I started removing the 3 cylinder Perkins diesel engine. The nuts and bolts were still seized and took time to budge. This was the story for everything all the way down to the piston gudgeon pins.

The engine was out and in pieces. There were some positives out of the doom and gloom. The cylinder lining were in an “alright” condition and the gearbox was fortunately still intact. In fact there was still some oil in there! There was some hope!

The body panels were shot, the bonnet, the mud guards and the exhaust. The wheels were rotten but we decided to save the bonnet and the mud guard frame work to try and keep the tractor original. The tank was full of holes but with some fabrication we got it to work. We decided that the engine needed some expertise so we send it to get inspected.

Fortunately the engine was salvageable, yet there was plenty of work and expense to do it. We agreed on the price and they went to it while we worked on everything else.

Over two years of work went into the Fergy until it started to look like a tractor. The gearbox was like new when we opened it. The gears were covered in grease which protected them from the elements while out in the field. We wanted to keep the tractor original which meant repairing parts instead of replacing them. The rear axle and gear box as seen in the image is still completely original including the PTO on the back. The engine is the same engine from the previous image but has been through a lot of work to get it back to working condition. Everything you see is original except for the steering box which was cracked, gauges, wiring and the tyres!

My favourite bit is the original steering wheel, the same one used by my great grandfather. We wanted to keep the tractor in it’s working clothes but the engine was painted at the shop where they restored it. Because of this we decided to paint the tractor in the classic Ferguson grey.

This photo was taken following successful test drive. Our next step was to get it ready for the road and surprise my grandmother.

You can just see the amazement and the emotion in this photo. Fortunately for us my grandparents live on the other side of the village which wasn’t far for the tractor to drive to. The engine ran like clockwork.

She was amazed to see the tractor coming up the road. She told my father that he wouldn’t get it done and even if he did get it done, she wouldn’t be around to see it. She was wrong. Since this day, she has been on the tractor and even been for a spin while sat in the transport box on the back.

Most projects we have done are mainly to keep original and just to get it out on the road. This tractor was no different. This project is a “Rolling Project” a project that will always be worked over time but will also be used and enjoyed. It is more than a vehicle, it is a time capsule for my grandmother and my father, bring back the memories of being on the farm with their father / grand father.