Rare Irish-built Ford tractor draws attention at Newark Show

Rare Irish-built Ford tractor draws attention at Newark Show

Among the many historic machines on display at this year’s Newark Vintage Tractor and Heritage Show, few carried a story as remarkable as the Ford Model N exhibited by Retford enthusiast Nicholas Kitchen.

Nicholas’s tractor is one of the earliest examples of the Model N, which was produced between 1929 and 1931 by Henry Ford & Son at the company’s Cork plant in the Irish Free State.

“It’s the first of the Model N tractors,” Nicholas said. “They were made in Cork, then shipped to Trafford Park in Manchester for distribution across England. Some even went back to America after production in Detroit stopped.”

His particular machine left Cork in 1931 in the middle of the Great Depression, and was sold to a farmer in Yorkshire who, according to Nicholas, owned it for only six months before falling behind on payments. “That would have been down to the Depression,” he said. “Money was tight and people just couldn’t keep up.”

The tractor stayed in South Yorkshire, in the village of Hooton Pagnell near Wentworth Woodhouse, until 1970 when collector Trevor Harland of Green Hammerton bought it for around £35, complete with its original plough, a spare fuel tank and a few other parts. It went on to appear on the Ford stand at Earl’s Court for the 75th anniversary of the brand, and again at the Harrogate Show for the 100th anniversary of Ford and New Holland.

Known as the “Irish Long Wing,” Nicholas’s tractor stands out for its distinctive extended rear mudguards, which incorporate toolboxes on both sides.

“The idea was that if the tractor tipped, the wings would stop it going fully over,” he said. “The earlier Model F didn’t have wings as standard. They were optional extras, but on these, they came as part of the design.”

The feature was dropped after 1931 in favour of shorter guards, making surviving long-wing versions particularly rare.

Nicholas bought the tractor about ten years ago and has gradually tidied it up while keeping it close to original specification. “It came with the original plough and full front and rear steel wheels,” he said. “I’ve done bits and pieces to keep it sound, but it’s a very nice thing.”

He has shown it at a number of events over the years, but Newark remains a highlight. “People don’t always realise how rare it is,” he said. “It’s the only one of its type here this weekend.”

For visitors, it offered a glimpse into the ingenuity of Ford’s early tractor production – and a tangible link to the Irish-built machines that helped shape modern farming nearly a century ago.