Kerrykeel is one of the delightful Donegal villages that surprises the visitor with the splendour of its location and warmth of the people living there; it may also hold the most northerly vintage rally in Ireland.
It is not the largest vintage rally in the country, although there was an impressive turnout of classic cars, yet what was there in the way of tractors certainly put quality over quantity, as the the majority were delightfully restored and presented in good condition.
Harry Ferguson is considered one of their own, and so it was no surprise that the bright red Massey Ferguson livery was strongly represented.
A good selection from the 100 series, introduced in 1964, was present and all were beautifully restored and brought up to a fine show standard.
These were the Masseys that sold by their thousands throughout the 60s and early 70s and cemented the association between Massey Ferguson and Perkins in the minds of UK and Irish farmers, the engine manufacturer having been bought by MF a few years before their launch.
Kerrykeel conversion
Harry Ferguson was, at heart, a car man, and after selling the Ferguson company to Massey Harris, he became involved in four wheel drive systems for cars, most notably Jensen.
He might then have appreciated the efforts of Billy and James Blaney in attaching a driven front axle to a Massey Ferguson 65 from 1959.
The axle itself was from a Land Rover and had been cut down to a narrower width, while an insert between the rear axle and transmission casing had been fabricated as a transfer box.
Contained within are two cogs and chain to provide the drive out to the front front differential and it was said to work well, although Land Rovers were never renowned for a tight turning circle and this conversion now shares that same shortcoming.
P3 engine swap
A more common conversion to the earlier Ferguson 35, was the fitting of a three cylinder Perkins diesel engine, which was supplied in kit form and included fittings to raise the bonnet to accommodate the taller motor.
A nicely preserved ‘before and after’ pair of grey Fergies were parked next to each other with the P3 Ferguson, sporting the Perkins, badge, belonging to Norman Simms, who has a collection of at least 30 tractors and 20 grandchildren, many of whom were at the show as well.
Away from the red and grey of Massey and Ferguson, there was a good sprinkling of Fords, with one noteworthy model being a genuine Silver Jubilee 7810.
Premonition of tractor win
These models in unmolested form are rare enough but what marks this one out was that it was won in a competition by Neal Gallagher, who bought the ticket on impulse just 30 minutes before the draw.
Just to add to the story, three days before the competition closed Neal tells us that he had a very vivid and clear dream of driving this very tractor down the street, and so it came true, much to his continued delight.
Continuing with the theme of fine restorations a pair of Internationals had been brought along by James Gallagher, one was a B275 and the other a B250.
30hp and 38hp respectively would have been solid performers in the late 50s and early 60s, competing with the Fordson Dexta and Massey Ferguson 35, but they are not so frequently preserved, so credit is due to their owner for keeping the McCormick International flag flying.
DBs and the last of the Leylands
David Brown did not go unrepresented and a fine trio of machines from the 60s and 70s arrived, all in a perfect state of repair and running as sweetly as the day they left the factory.
The DB 780 looked particularly resplendent with the red name boxed in gold on the side of the bonnet, in addition to the brand the labelling informed us that it was had a Selectamatic transmission and live drive, prompting the thought as to how big a bonnet would be needed to list all the features on a modern tractor.
One marque that did not enjoy quite the attention the the other major names did was Leyland with the sole representative being a Leyland 802 in the Golden Harvest livery with the Danish designed Sekura cab that had been introduced in 1980 along with the new paint scheme.
Other than this dramatic change to the appearance, the tractors remained, to a large extent, unchanged, with the unstoppable Leyland engine still powering the four cylinder models.
However, larger politics were at play and the brand was sold off to Marshalls of Cambridge in 1982.
There is a growing trend among tractor collectors to leave a tractors appearance as it is, in its working clothes, or showing a patina if one wishes to be a little more sophisticated.
Yet, at Kerrykeel there was no such sentiment. The vast majority of the machines on show had been lovingly restored and while the idea of leaving tractors as they were when they retired, it is shows like this which truly show how magnificent these machines were when they started their working lives.