I just saw this picture but it has no details on it. I'm interested to know if anyone know what model is this.
It is a International Harvester farm tractor. Model # 353. It was made about 1970 give or take a year or two.It is a very nice restoration. I don't care for the fabric and plastic operator enclosure. It appears to be at an antique tractor show.
I bet you'd appreciate that cover if you were out plowing snow in one of your Illinois storms! I spent too many hours on an old Case VAC plowing out in the open. Brrrrrrr!!!
In that situation Steve I would say it is a beautiful addition.
Funny how my father bought a tractor with a cab/heater as soon as I moved out. He also bought a ZTR mower to cut his mowing time in half. There were a few 353's in my area, but none with that enclosure and none in that good of a shape. It could be something homemade, or made aftermarket. There were alot of aftermarket cabs made in this area.
Thats quite the set-up. Check out the flip up windshield. Nice cover for winter, but I bet hotter than hell if anyone would use it in the summer, no idea why anyone would. I have always had to make the ole' vinyl engine sides work on our IH 756 when moving snow. You wouldn't think, but it helps out a ton!
Produced between 1967-1972. 34 horsepower, built in Germany. Dt
Are the front fenders factory?
I believe they would be. There seems to be a requirement for fenders in Europe, I see them on all the tractors working there. I've never been to Europe but I watch lots of YouTube LOL!!
Believe it or not, they started requiring cabs on little farm tractors in England back in the '70's. They claim it's a safety issue. If they had come out with that here before A/C, there'd have been lots of safety issues with heat stroke!
The issue was that they firstly wanted a ROPS structure to protect the driver during an overturn scenario, so cabless had to have an approved roll-frame fitted and new tractors from 1976 off the line had to have a cab which was not only an approved safety frame but also less than 90 dba at the drivers ear.....this was the requirement if you employed people. Your fellas would have done what was done here, take the doors off and open/remove the back windows. A/C didn't really start appearing on machines here until the very early 80s, for sure our climate never reaches that that you get in your southern states but as best as I can remember the Fords and Deeres of that era were the same build for both regions
those style of cabs were the offering from a German firm called Fritzmeier - at a guess I would say the photo was taken in germany because that model hardly ever made it to U.K.
and if you look straight through the cab in the photo , the man looks dressed for that area
It has a German licence plate on the front. Note the Euro Union Flag with the "D" on it. Isn't that a bit of a giveway ....? To answer Steve, front mudguards (fenders) are generally only fitted if the tractor does a fair amount of movement on the highway. I'd guess that for its size and being German it's a fair bet that the tractor in the OP photo was used in and out of vineyards around the Rhine Valley, so it would get a lot of road use. You hardly see a tractor in the UK even now fitted with front mudguards.
plenty of original imported tractors about in the UK and yes it could also be a visiting German and could also be made up as its IH353
Hey Richard, thanks for the details. I only knew what I read in the British antique tractor magazines. The whole subject is fascinating to me.
Dunno. Houses in the background don't look anything like UK to me, especially combined with hills the size of which you only normally see in Scotland and, I don't see any kilts..... So, Germany it is then ............
when was the last time you looked?.........I'd say that it was the exception rather than the rule that new tractors these days didn't have front fenders, bearing in mind they are almost all 40km/h if not 50km/h machines......it keeps the mud and spray off the windscreen no end
you're right Graham. I was just thinking that in all my days on that product range i had never come across one of those.
Graham, i managed to find a 353 in an old world-wide buyers guide, seems it was a 38hp from 3cyl D155 engine, 8fwd and 2rev. back in the late 70s they did import a 533 tractor which was a tad bigger along with the 946 & 1046s from Germany. After that the 80s came and we saw 955, 1055 and these developed in to the popular 56 series. Also very briefly offered in the early 70s was the American-made 966.
I couldn't help but laugh at that one! Whole house is silent. Wife, boy and dogs are asleep and I am laughing my butt off.
glad to see you got the humour bit
you hardly even see a backhoe now without front mud guards all the ones i have had in the last 15 years have them factory fitted