Teenage tractor enthusiast from County Down takes five prizes as Newark celebrates 90 years of Ferguson Type A

A 13-year-old from Northern Ireland was one of the standout names at this year's Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show, collecting five prizes with a rare Ferguson Type A.

Aaron Taylor, who shows alongside his father Colin from Drumaness in County Down, took home Best Unrestored Tractor, Best Working Tractor in Show, Best Grey Ferguson with System or Implement in Show, Best Steel Wheel in Show, and the class celebrating 90 years of the Ferguson Model A, first introduced in 1936.

The iconic tractor had spent more than 50 years in an outbuilding which eventually collapsed around it, before being sold to the Taylors in 2018.

Records show the Ferguson Type A No 268 was sold new to a Ballyclare farmer a few months after Harry Ferguson himself carried out a successful demonstration on a local farm. The owner went on to add a range of Ferguson implements and attachments, including the pulley and road bands for the steel wheels.

The tractor worked hard on the farm for more than 20 years, before a Newtonards farmer spotted it in a scrapyard and saved it. However, he never got around to restoring it and it stayed in a shed – called a Nissen hut – for more than five decades.

The Taylors bought the tractor in 2018, after the building had collapsed around it. It needed a great deal of work to bring it back to life, including a full rebuild of the seized engine with new white metal bearings. Today, it is in full original working condition and is used regularly for ploughing. It still carries its original storm cover and is fitted with a PTO belt pulley that works off the gearbox, a rare accessory.

Aaron said: “We’ve spent countless hours restoring it. It’s hard to tell when you’re in the shed that long, fixing metal and components.”

Aaron has been into tractors for around three years, and the interest started almost by accident. “One evening I went out with my dad because he’d forgotten to put the tractors in his shed, and I ended up driving one home,” he said. “Then it just happened.”

Of all his prizes, Best Unrestored Tractor means the most. “I thought there were a lot that could have contended, but I’m very proud of it,” he said. “You don’t really expect that much.”

This was Aaron’s fourth visit to Newark, and he plans to return.

Fergusons remain his first love and, while he has no new project on the go just yet, he hopes to bring more kit back across the Irish Sea next year.

Next year's Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show will be held on 6-7 November 2027.