I really think the 504 is the best small tractor ever built, about 50hp and tough as nails and was the last small utility tractor IH built here in the USA. The model it replaced, the IH or Farmall 460 is about worst tractor of that era, a real piece of junk. Even has an automotive engine block, both the gas model and the diesel use the same way too light block and to make matters worse the block was used as a structural member. The 460 had a sort of three point hitch with an external cylinder, an attempt to get around the Ford/Ferguson patent on the lift.
Some folks might argue, say that the Farmall M or H or the 450 was the best ever.
My family did lots of business for years with IH.
Int'l Harv. was a great co. that began as a spark of genius in Cyrus McCormick's mind. Capitalism's creative destruction got it, but not before it did made some terrific things such as the prototypical SUV, the Travelall, and the fabulous Scout II, which a lot of serious off roaders go to a lot of trouble to maintain despite IH's demise.
Maybe TJ can get someone to reverse engineer and produce these wonderful products for a song?
Another company with which you may be familiar is Aermotor Windmill, with which my family also had a long and profitable relationship. Where I lived, farmers and ranchers had to use them.
aermotorwindmill.com
We sold literally hundreds, perhaps thousands, of them. Absolutely one of the best products of American manufacturing ever made. With a yearly oil change and minimal maintenance, the windmills could last half a century or more. No doubt some of the ones we sold are still working.
spearman.org
Like IH, the company started out in Chicago. Unlike IH, Aermotor has managed to somehow stay alive. I see a big future for it thanks to environmental issues. |
