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In the year 1942, World War II was at its peak. America’s men were at war, which caused a disastrous labor shortage on the home front. Farmers made up 18% of the labor force with slightly more than 6 million farms scattered across the nation. Farms were short of able bodies to help grow and harvest their crops with many boys and men off helping Uncle Sam win the war.
Agricultural exports equaled…
Haddon Sundblom was the American artist who created the beloved Coca Cola Santa, Aunt Jemima, Quaker Oats man and International Harvester’s poster girl, Irma Harding. Born in Michigan to Swedish emigrants, Carl W. Sundblom and Karoline Anderson, Haddon was the youngest of ten children. The Sundblom family fell on hard times losing their matriarch to tuberculosis, so Haddon dropped out of school…
The Super 70 Series 2+2 was intended to be the flagship for International Harvester. The 2+2 design was an innovation that the IH leadership team had come to believe in. Like the original Farmall, the 2+2 worked well but the odd looks made it hard for some to accept. The original 2+2 was introduced in 1979, and the updated Super 70 Series consisted of two tractors: the 7288 and 7488. Both used…
The last and best of the Letter Series line came in 1954, when IH rolled out the wonders of a full independent PTO and torque ampliflication. A planetary gearset allowed the operator to switch speeds on the fly, a feature greatly appreciated when the load bogs the tractor down and a bit of extra power is called for. The tractor was produced at the height of International Harvester's dominance of…
Charles Klein’s father purchased an F-14 brand-new in 1938 or 1939. Charles took over his father’s peach and peanut farm near Stonewall, Texas, just a few miles from the Lyndon B. Johnson ranch. His dad’s F-14 was eventually sold, but Charles saved the unique headlamp housing from the tractor. He searched for years for another F-14 like his dad’s to restore, and ended up buying two rough ones…
This tractor has special significance to owner Gerald Forsythe, as his father purchased it brand-new in 1948. The tractor worked on the Forsythe farm for many years before being immaculately restored and retired to live in Gerald’s extensive collection of red tractors on 28,000-acre farming operation in Marshall, Illinois. Forsythe owns a very successful energy conglomerate, and was part-owner of…