The much loved Ford 7000 represents the pinnacle of Ford’s development of its 6X range, the original tractors of which were introduced in 1964 in New York.

These new machines were the fruit of a massive development programme that not only saw four brand new models arrive on the scene, but a huge investment in manufacturing facilities – including the construction of a new factory at Basildon, which covered 60ac when complete.

The other two factories were at Michigan, which supplied the American market, and Antwerp for what was then known as the EEC (European economic community).

Parts were exchanged between the plants so that, although, a machine may been assembled in Basildon, it was likely that there were both American and Belgian components included in its make-up.

Ford 2000 at Marina factory, Cork — The baby of the foursome was the Ford 2000, seen here at the old Marina Works in Cork

The four new models were the Ford 2000, rated at 37hp, the Ford 3000 offering 46hp, the Ford 4000 with 55hp, and the range topping Ford 5000, which provided 65hp.

Big sellers

At the time, this range of power outputs must have seemed to cover all that was needed in the general purpose tractor market and indeed, they were received with great acclaim – Ford had sold 250,000 within three years of starting production.

They were not without their problems though, due mainly to a lack of testing, which was the result of a large development programme being pushed without full and proper validation of the tractors or their components.

Ford 6X tractor — The original 6X tractors had a distinctive ‘sharks gills’ styling on the bonnet which was dropped with the later and much improved 6Y models

In 1968, the company revamped the range and corrected the faults to produce the 6Y, or Ford Force range, and these tractors still enjoy a strong demand, albeit as used machines, half a century after their heyday.

Yet despite this, it was recognised by the development team, led by John Foxwell, that larger versions would be needed, and so a much bigger six-cylinder machine, which became known as the Ford 8000, offering 115hp, was launched in 1968.

Ford 9600 with trailer — The Ford 9600 was a development of the 9000 with 150hp on tap

According to one source, the Ford 5000 and 8000 had been designed at the outset to be turbocharged at a later date.

The blown version of the 8000, known as the Ford 9000, was introduced a year after its smaller brother, the addition of a turbo boosting output by 30hp.

However, slotting a tractor into the chasm that lay between the Ford 5000 and the 8000 took a little longer, despite being such an obvious missing link.

Two distinct paths to rectifying this were considered.

Ford 5000 with silage trailer — The 5000 was an excellent seller for Ford and proved very popular in Ireland

The first was to basically add another cylinder to the Ford 5000 using the same internal components, such as pistons and valves, but a longer block, adding to the overall dimensions and longitudinal stability of the tractor.

This idea was eventually dropped due to its expense, a shame, as a five-cylinder Ford would have been a novelty and added so much more to the Ford Force range.

Ford 7000 silaging — The Ford 7000 is still a much admired and capable tractor

The original option was therefore pursued, and a turbo was fitted to a Ford 5000 to create the 7000, which went on to become the star of the range, and the darling of Ford enthusiasts everywhere.

Ford 7000 engine mods

Many smaller changes were made, such as a new top compression ring, and engine rebuilders will agree that that there are some slight differences.

Yet, many collectors and owners of 7000s remain puzzled as to quite what they are, but this may well be due to the changes being incorporated into the 5000 engines, as they are remanufactured over time, blurring the distinction between the two.

Ford 7000 with silage trailer — Many 7000s will be around 50 years old, yet they still soldier on earning their keep on smaller farms

That anyway, is the accepted version of events, but it has been challenged by David Pearson, an ex-Ford employee who had risen to a senior management position in the sales and marketing department.

According to David, the Ford sales people knew that bigger tractors were needed, and the Ford 5000 was rapidly becoming outdated and outpaced by the competition, yet he maintains that the product design team were not overcome by zeal for the new model.

During the late 1960s, he found himself in charge of Ford’s training and conference centre at Boreham House in Essex and, frustrated by this lack of enthusiasm, he used the profits from the centre’s bar to buy an ‘off the shelf’ conversion kit, and bolted it to a Ford 5000 demo machine that was spare.

Ford 7000 with rollers — Compared to modern tractors, the Ford 7000 was noisy and cramped, but its performance outweighed these issues and it became a firm favourite with tillage farmers

The results were dramatic, an extra 19hp, a much quieter engine and that low turbo whistle beloved of diesel enthusiasts everywhere.

The machine was sold on to a farmer in Hampshire who comprehensively field-tested it before the engineering and production departments were convinced of its merits.

Load monitor

The engineers’ decision may well have been spurred on by the development of the company’s new load sensing mechanism which depended on the torque loading of the transmission output shaft to vary the implement depth.

A turbocharged 5000 was probably considered the ideal tractor to launch it on, and so the Ford 7000 was eventually presented to the public, complete with the new Load Monitor system in late 1971 at the Royal Smithfield Show.

This is an interesting take on the story yet it does neglect the fact that the turbo was part of a proprietary kit supplied by Northrop Tractors, a company which had been using the Ford 5000 skid unit as a basis for its own 4WD conversion known as the Northrop 5004.

Roadless also developed a version of the later Ford 5000, fitting a driven front axle to a skid unit and calling it the Ploughmaster 75

The tractor suffered a perceived lack of power, so a CAV turbo was fitted, and it became the 5004/T. It is most unlikely that the Ford marketing department was unaware of this conversion.

So, do the true origins of the 7000 lie further back, with Northrop in the mid-1960s? It’s an intriguing question that is unlikely to be answered by the company itself, for it was eventually bought out by JCB, which, it is said, used the last three examples on Joseph Bamford’s own estate.

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