Jump to content
Triumph66

1966/ 67 Ford 100

Recommended Posts

Yesterday I collected my Jacobsen built Ford 100 from Chard in Somerset. The owner, Tony, gave me the background on the Ford as referred to below:

"I have what I believe to be the only Ford 100 imported into the UK . It has a mower deck, beltdrive rotorvator, bulldozer blade, and most of the bits of a trailer plough.The story I had back in the late 60's was that "it was sent for evaluation as a saleable item and used by the then boss of Ford UK. He found it too small for his needs so traded it in with a local tractor dealer for something larger. They were supposed to remove all the Ford markings before re-selling it, but they left them on!"

My late father bought it. It was in use as a grass cutter for many years by my late father who passed it on to me when he moved to smaller housing. I used it either for grass cutting or rotorvating, but it has been stored now many years with only one minor attempt at renovation 7 years ago. I have no further use for it and I guess I want to sell it, but I would rather it goes into the hands of someone who can properly restore it, maybe that means it needs to return to the USA?"

He carried out a light rejuvenation of it in the 70s as detailed below:

"If this turns out to be successful attached are some old pictures I took abaou 20years ago before my last attempt at refurbishment.

The decals, from a ford 2000 were added in the 1970's following a repaint and DO NOT really suit this old lady, hey I was a lot younger then. in my refurb I made a new seat can cover. not easy and could not source the rib moulded material, but looks MUCH better than the ragged old one. The off road tyres were a 1970's purchase when I hoped to get some 12" rims adapted to suit the hubs and gain more grip for the plough. project submerged by marriage failure.

The potato ridger was added to the plough frame from a merrytiller and is not original.

For some reason I dont seem to have pic of the rotovator but the drive/attachment mechanism is in the third pic along with the plough attachment. The original exhaust was side delivery but this vertical one (now defunct) and a later one now added, though awful to a purist somehow make it look more macho."

I contacted the vendor and agreed to meet up in late August and a deal was struck. He was keen that it went to an enthusiast. Yesterday I collected it and drove it up the ramps onto my pickup after it was jump started. It is the first time it moved under it own power for 7 years. Previously prior to that some 30 years ago, as mentioned above, it was fired up and back in the 70s it was given a fresh coat of paint to freshen it up. The decals are from a Ford 2000.

Today I unloaded it and gave it a good wash whilst assessing what needs doing. I pumped up the tyres, grease the suspension and to drive and cleaned the plug. My plan is to give it a service (oil change, air filter, spark plug, drain the tramission oils,replace the fuel line etc) and buy a battery. It's missing a belt guide on one side but it's all there and original ( apart from the stack exhaust). The Ford is based on the Jacobsen Chief model from that era.

I will be picking up the Ford Tiller and front bulldozer plough in a few weekends time.

Ford 100 on collection

post-259-0-73419900-1442773895_thumb.jpg

post-259-0-47711000-1442773980_thumb.jpg

Ford 100 washed and given a quick grease up with tyres pumped up. Surprisingly a solid lump of metal.

post-259-0-08837700-1442774061_thumb.jpg

post-259-0-29403800-1442774100_thumb.jpg

post-259-0-86291000-1442774186_thumb.jpg

post-259-0-45810200-1442774223_thumb.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

According to the records (thanks Alain) I have a 1966 model. I will try to read the numbers again tomorrow.

1966

Prod. No. Description Starting Ser.# Final Ser. #

53057 8 hp - gear 1601 3040

53059 10 hp - gear 1601 5660

53091 12 hp - hydro 1601 2600

what do you plan on doing with it, nice find though

I want get it up and running and enjoy tinkering and using the Ford but in the long run get it back to its former glory; time and funds permitting.......

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Really nice find Andrew, Many of these do not have the PTO on the side of the engine any longer, really nice early Ford with a great 10hp kohler k241 engine. Does the engine serial number start with B or C?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks Alain,

I think it's a C but really difficult to decipher it.

post-259-0-68272200-1442840435_thumb.jpg

According to the records you sent me ( I still can't copy it and paste it) my Ford was produced in 1966. The tag numbers are

53059 1601

Extract from Ford Serial Numbers

1966

Prod. No. Description Starting Ser.# Final Ser. #

53057 8 hp - gear 1601 3040

53059 10 hp - gear 1601 5660

53091 12 hp - hydro 1601 2600

Well according to the seller, Ford gave the Chairman or Managing Director of Ford UK this garden tractor to try out at his home for possible selling them over in the UK. Apparently he did not think there was a market for these possibly because at the time British buyers were buying British and that the UK did not have the number of properties with large gardens to warrant 'another' garden tractor on the market. This would tie in neatly with the low serial number. I will take a photo of it for the records. According to a couple of Ford experts in the U.S. It would appear I have the first one produced in '66 and that again would tie in with the story.

post-259-0-90967700-1442840733_thumb.jpg

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Try looking at with a flashlight, maybe even in a dark room, and maybe wetting it

Prod. No. Description Starting Ser.# Final Ser. #

1965

53055 8 hp - gear 1601 1990

53056 10 hp - gear 1601 2050

 

1966

53057 8 hp - gear 1601 3040

53059 10 hp - gear 1601 5660

53091 12 hp - hydro 1601 2600

 

1967

53062 8 hp - gear 1601 2500

53064 10 hp - gear 1601 3960

53066 12 hp - gear 1601 2672

53083 10 hp - hydro 1601 2450

53093 12 hp - hydro 1601 2250

 

1968

53062 8 hp - gear 5500 5669

53064 10 hp - gear 6610 8209

53066 12 hp - gear 5290 6169

53083 10 hp - hydro 5350 5694

53093 12 hp - hydro 5250 6954

 

1969

53078 10 hp - gear 5196 12614

53089 12 hp - gear 5331 11529

53250 12 hp - hydro 6501 13674

53265 14 hp - hydro 5186 10589

 

1970

53078 10 hp - gear 15615

53089 12 hp - gear 14530

53250 12 hp - hydro 16675

53265 14 hp - hydro 13590

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

It might be worth it for me to fly you over for a day or two to paint a dozen of my machines :lol:

Alain,

Business class on British Airways and a week on either side to recover from jet lag and time zones and I might consider it....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I collected the Ford's bulldozer plough and rotovator this afternoon from the same owner as I couldn't do it in one hit. The rotovator is unbelievably heavy and solid. Can't wait to clean it up. I will upload some photos sometime.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

So, yesterday I picked up the Ford 100 from Devon. It was a long trip and several delays meant it took even longer but it was worth it in the end. It was a pleasure to meet Andrew again for the 2nd time, even though it was brief as we needed to get going. 

I had bought a few items at the auction near Andrew the day before so we went to get them first, we got loaded and strapped down and then went to Andrews, only to realize we had left out battery and jump leads at the auction as we needed to jump some things. Anyway we carried on going to Andrews and we went back later to get them. As I said it was good to meet Andrew again, and to see the Ford of course. We had a quick chat about it and got it loaded along with the attatchments. Our trailer was full to the brim and couldn't of got anything more on, some stuff even went in the car!

We went to the auction again to collect our stuff we forgot:rolleyes:. We then left Devon to return home. Then this happenedIMG_5892.JPG

 

This was not good and set us back 30mins in the end😡. Anyway, we eventually got home at 9:50pm and obviously was dark so could not do much. This morning I got everything off and had a play around. Managed to get the Ford firing but could not keep it running, fuel was not getting past the fuel pump, so I put it away as started to rain for next weekends project. Here are a few pictures.IMG_5891.JPGIMG_5893.JPGIMG_5895.JPG

IMG_5894.JPG

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×
×
  • Create New...