One of my fondest memories is sitting on my father’s lap while he drove his Vaaljapie around the farm. Although he passed on many years ago, I still retain a soft spot for the small tractor which revolutionised the agricultural industry.
More than a decade ago when we redecorated Canyon Roadhouse, I was delighted when a Vaaljapie became part of the merry ensemble. I had nearly given up trying to find one when a visitor enquired about buying one of the old Land Rovers that were part of the display. I told him that it was not for sale but that I would consider exchanging it for a Vaaljapie. He somehow managed to find one and the exchange was made.
Besides my happy memories, the tractor, known worldwide as the ‘Little grey Fergie’ and in southern Africa as the ‘Vaaljapie’, made its mark in history. The Ferguson TE20 (Tractor England 20 horsepower), which rolled off the assembly line in 1946, fulfilled engineer and inventor Harry Ferguson’s dream to improve the lot of small farmers and reduce food shortages after the world war by mechanising crop production affordably.
His most successful design, it was manufactured from 1946 to 1956 using the three-point linkage system or the ‘Ferguson System’ patented in 1926, the hydraulic system that allowed the farmer to change the height of the plough, turning tractor and implement into one working unit.
A born inventor, Ferguson had collaborated with his brother Joe on the development of the Ferguson Monoplane, becoming the first person in 1909 in Britain and Ireland to build and fly his own plane. Later, while working as a motor salesman showcasing tractors to large crowds he realised their shortcomings, noting that their plough attachments were still based on a horse-drawn system. Using his farming background and experience, he began working with Americans George and Eber Shearman to develop new ploughing attachments.
He made a verbal agreement with Henry Ford and manufactured 300 000 tractors between 1938 and 1947, until Ford’s death when the agreement was no longer honoured by his successor. But the best was yet to come when he worked from 1946 with the Standard Motor Company in Coventry to produce the world-famous ‘Wee’ or ‘Little grey Fergie’.
How this lightweight, versatile tractor became known in southern Africa as a Vaaljapie is a bit of a mystery, but I was told that because of its grey colour (‘vaal’ meaning grey or dull in Afrikaans), it was given the nickname ‘Vaaljapie’, a name used to refer to the pale-skinned boys from the towns when they first came to the rural areas. The grey colour of the tractor was simply a result of a surplus of grey paint during the war years, which was later sold at a cheap price.
Ferguson didn’t stop being innovative. After he sold his companies to Massey-Harris in 1953, initiating the Massey-Ferguson tractors, he continued with his inventions which included a four-wheel drive system that would later be used in Formula One racing.
He declined knighthood for his services to the Allies after World War Two, stating that his contribution to improving farm machinery had been for the good of the small farmer.
The Vaaljapie and one man’s creativity had however changed the world of agriculture. When I pass that small Vaaljapie at the Roadhouse, looking so shiny and pleased with itself, I often have the urge to tip my hat in respect.
(References: Ferguson TE20 turns 70 | Farmer's Weekly (farmersweekly.co.za); Harry Ferguson, the ‘Mad Mechanic’ who invented the modern tractor – The Irish Times)
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