1952 International Farmall AM Tractor

The Australian arm of International Harvester liked to do things its own way, and several of its models are unique to the land down under. The engineers based in Geelong, Australia, would often create models that blended various features from across the IH catalog. This Farmall AM is the Aussie version of the Farmall M. This restored example was owned by Eric and Betty Larson of Gellibrand River in Victoria, Australia, and it was photographed on their farm.

This first appeared in print in the Farmall Calendar 2024, ISBN 9781642341409, all images copyright Lee Klancher

Australian-Built Farmall Model AM, Super AM, Super AMD

More detail on these unique machines is below, excerpted from the book, "Red Tractors" by Lee Klancher. This text is by Sarah Tomac. 

Farmall AM

The Farmall AM was Australia’s first factory-produced row-crop tractor. Introduced on July 20, 1948, at a Victorian dealer conference, it replaced the American-built Farmall M. (The American M and H were offered during the war until the Australian plant was able to make more castings.) The Farmall AM was popular with cane and tobacco farmers for its high visibility and row clearance for front- and mid-mounted attachments.

Farmall Super AM

The McCormick International Farmall Super AM represented new and higher standards. Introduced on July 28, 1953, the Super AM is the most powerful kerosene tractor built to date, with 18 percent more power than the Farmall AM. It was replaced in March 1958 with the AM-7K.

Farmall Super AMD

The increasing demand for a diesel-powered Farmall tractor resulted in the development and manufacture in Australia of the Farmall Super AMD. Released December 18, 1953, and built until July 1957, its 50-horsepower engine (the AD-264) provided ample power for most farm requirements. There can be some confusion identifying early Australian M tractors. Like their American-madecounterparts, their decals simply show an M and serial numbers starting with the prefix FBK. The Super AM serial prefix may have “AM” without “Super” on the AM decal. Some early Super AM tractors have “SAM” decals but only “AM” on the serial number tag. Rest assured it is indeed a Super AM tractor if it has the AC-264 engine. The diesel tractor had AMD decals and sported the AD-264 engine. The AM tractor was available only in kerosene and used the AC-248 engine until July 1953.