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