Framed picture

Massey-Harris, General Purpose(4WD)

USA, 1932

The Canadian company Massey-Harris built its first tractors in Toronto in 1918. In 1928 they purchased the J.I. Case Plow Works of Racine, Wisconsin, which produced the Wallis tractors, and soon centred its tractor production at the old Wallis works.

The four-wheel-drive (4WD) General Purpose was the first tractor created by its own designers. Equipped with a Hercules four-cylinder, "flat head" engine and three-speed transmission, the General Purpose (GP) was one of the first successful 4WD tractors and was offered in orchard and industrial versions.

Styling consisted only of a piece of sheet metal over the motor. Those sold in Britain were dark green with red wheels; in North America they were grey with red wheels.

The GP was built as a cultivating tractor with adjustable wheel widths, 76cm (30in) ground clearance and a 1.8m (6ft) turning radius. Some had extensions on the controls so that the operator could drive the tractor whilst sitting on a hay wagon, seed drill or other implement, as he would with a team of horses.

Around 3000 were built at Racine, Wisconsin, from 1939 to 1935, and were sold in the UK, France, Canada and the USA. It was particularly popular in Canada for market garden work. The GP heralded the light 4WD tractors that are commonplace today.

Power & Size: 15-22hp, weight 1796kg (3900lb), length: 310cm (122in), width: 122-193cm (48-76in, adjustable), height: 149cm (55in).

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