Eastern Massey Dealers of the Past.

[Two Tone]

I know exactly who you are talking about and he done some silage for us at the time wrapped in big bags and secured with a rubber ring.he had a couple of zetor crystals which we all christened heinkels.he did indeed have a bonhill combine that got stuck in a field next door to us and I pulled it out with my big,at the time 4wd Ford 7710.
most of their farm got sold off and they ran a haulage fleet for a while including a bonneted Volvo which was very rare.was not them with the cigar issue,maybe one of the many Alston farming families in norfolk
nick…

Thanks for that. I never knew they had more than one heinkel. That Same tractor was a good one. I drove it when one of them was on holiday and I was really impressed with it. As I was that JD 55O baler.

I remember that one of the Alston farming families had a herd of pedigree Friesian cows that usually did quite well at the shows. That is probably why they could afford the cigars!

Mentioning Alston, the Patterson family rings a few bells in my head too.

 

[Gordy1]

Only recently joined TFF and came across this interesting thread so thought I would add my tuppence worth. I joined Eastern Tractors in 1974 and at that time they had five depots, Chelmsford, Braintree, Bishops Stortford, Steeple Bumpstead and Colchester (previously Williams ). They mainly covered Essex, parts of West Suffolk and South East Cambridgeshire. At that time most farmers ran either Massey Ferguson tractors from Eastern Tractors or Ford tractors supplied by Does.
All was well until 1979 when we were informed that ET were merging with Grey Green Coaches, and then shortly after, both companies were taken over by Tom Cowie. At the time Cowie only really wanted Grey Green, and had no interest in agriculture. This did wonders for moral amongst the staff and customers, and led to redundancies and the eventual closure of the Braintree depot, changes at Bishop Stortford and the Colchester depot relocating to Frating. This allowed other colour tractors to gain a foothold into the area with Blyth and Pawsey of Dunmow and Ridgewell selling John Deere and Spot Machinery selling Internationals initially from the old Whitlock premises at Great Yeldham and then from Earls Colne airfield.
Realising that there was profit to be had from selling tractors, Cowies then bought Richies depots at Melton, Wrentham, Sculthorpe and the Larkmans depot at Attleborough. Things ran relatively smoothly until 1994 when Cowies decided they didnt like tractors anymore, and the ex Richies / Larkmans depots were taken over by TNS and Boston Tractors.
Eastern Tractors at Steeple Bumpstead was the only depot from the original five to remain and with a satellite parts depot at Chelmsford ran under a management buyout until 1997 when it went into receivership. Weatherheads bought the Steeple Bumpstead depot lock stock and barrel and traded there successfully until MF/ AGCO pulled the plug. Steeple Bumpstead depot was demolished earlier this year with housing due to take its place
R W Crawford of Writtle now hold the Essex MF / Fendt agency with TNS covering Suffolk.

Great memories, went through steeple Bumpstead today & saw Weatherheads old site all demolished & site boarded up with ground work going on for new houses, I believe Wearherheads have moved to the Royston area now.

 

[Slick]

Weatherheads did have a site in Royston, that's all houses now.
They now operate out of Hardwick near Cambridge.
McCormick dealers now.

 

[Cowcorn]

Weatherheads were massey through and through have to wonder why AGCO thought it a good idea to take the franchise away .
The were always very helpful when we rang with combine problems and the stores were efficent and most important the actually knew what you were talking about .
One of the benefits of a long history with the brand whereas a newly minted dealers knowledge of the older stuff can be non existent .

 

[Ploughmaster]

A Ford has Hartford Motors of Welton and Caistor, both long gone.

Not Massey Ferguson, I know, but...

Lincolnshire Motors Ltd became Hartford Motors (Agricultural) Ltd in the early 1970s. I think I am right in saying that the area covered by them from Caistor and Welton branches was either under the umbrella of Harris's of Epworth and Louth or possibly leased from them? The Caistor branch (in a small disused Quarry on Grimsby Road in the town), was demolished after Hartford Motors moved out and is now a small housing estate.

In addition to selling Ford tractors, they also sold Muir Hill and Roadless, and variously sold Ransomes and then Fahr and later both Deutz-Fahr and Claas combines.

The story is a bit complicated because Harris's was bought out by Lookers in about 1990 who subsequently also acquired Platts (International tractors and New Holland combines) This bwas at about the same time that Ford and New Holland merged. It was decreed that all New Holland dealers should sell Ford tractors and vice versa. The merged Platts Harris group dropped the International franchise in favour of Ford New Holland, and Hartford Motors pulled out of Hartford Motors (Agricultural) Ltd and selling the business to three of the management team. It was renamed back to Lincolnshire Motors, and they worked out an agreement with Platts Harris whereby Platts Harris took back the Caistor and Welton franchise area to supply from Platts former premises in Brigg and and Lincolnshire Motors relocated to the former Harris's depot in Louth. Ironically, after Platts Harris lost the New Holland franchise for the Epworth and Brigg area, Lincolnshire Motors took it over and moved into the premises at Brigg. Since the retirement of those three directors, Lincolnshire Motors has now become part of the Burdens Group, although the Lincs Motors name still remains for now.

Platts Harris also took over Townsends, but Lookers made a very poor job of running Platts Harris, and they have had a good proportion of their area taken away from them. What was left of Platts Harris was taken over by Russells at the end of 2020.

Our MF 135 which apparently has just seized its engine was supplied by Wests of high street Lincoln.

Wests were also distributors of Triumph cars and motorbikes as well as Massey Ferguson tractors back in the 1960s. They had branches in Lincoln, Horncastle and Louth (P&B have been in Louth for pretty much as long as I can remember - that would be 1960's). Horncastle has been a branch of Chandlers for a long time now too.

I think Wests continued selling motorbikes for some years after they stopped selling cars (latterly the car side had sold Reliant in the '70s and Suzuki on the 80s). I think the company was dissolved in the 90s, but am not certain about it?

 

[Tractorstant]

Eastern Tractors ( Cowies ) had a depot in Frating, Essex, which was a good cycle from where I used to live. I spent hours in there looking at all the Britians stuff. Many of our Mowers and Ride-Ons came from there. Fond memories

 

[Lowland1]

Not Massey Ferguson, I know, but...

Lincolnshire Motors Ltd became Hartford Motors (Agricultural) Ltd in the early 1970s. I think I am right in saying that the area covered by them from Caistor and Welton branches was either under the umbrella of Harris's of Epworth and Louth or possibly leased from them? The Caistor branch (in a small disused Quarry on Grimsby Road in the town), was demolished after Hartford Motors moved out and is now a small housing estate.

In addition to selling Ford tractors, they also sold Muir Hill and Roadless, and variously sold Ransomes and then Fahr and later both Deutz-Fahr and Claas combines.

The story is a bit complicated because Harris's was bought out by Lookers in about 1990 who subsequently also acquired Platts (International tractors and New Holland combines) This bwas at about the same time that Ford and New Holland merged. It was decreed that all New Holland dealers should sell Ford tractors and vice versa. The merged Platts Harris group dropped the International franchise in favour of Ford New Holland, and Hartford Motors pulled out of Hartford Motors (Agricultural) Ltd and selling the business to three of the management team. It was renamed back to Lincolnshire Motors, and they worked out an agreement with Platts Harris whereby Platts Harris took back the Caistor and Welton franchise area to supply from Platts former premises in Brigg and and Lincolnshire Motors relocated to the former Harris's depot in Louth. Ironically, after Platts Harris lost the New Holland franchise for the Epworth and Brigg area, Lincolnshire Motors took it over and moved into the premises at Brigg. Since the retirement of those three directors, Lincolnshire Motors has now become part of the Burdens Group, although the Lincs Motors name still remains for now.

Platts Harris also took over Townsends, but Lookers made a very poor job of running Platts Harris, and they have had a good proportion of their area taken away from them. What was left of Platts Harris was taken over by Russells at the end of 2020.



Wests were also distributors of Triumph cars and motorbikes as well as Massey Ferguson tractors back in the 1960s. They had branches in Lincoln, Horncastle and Louth (P&B have been in Louth for pretty much as long as I can remember - that would be 1960's). Horncastle has been a branch of Chandlers for a long time now too.

I think Wests continued selling motorbikes for some years after they stopped selling cars (latterly the car side had sold Reliant in the '70s and Suzuki on the 80s). I think the company was dissolved in the 90s, but am not certain about it?

We ( Grandfather) always dealt with Lincolnshire Motors however my uncle next door had two 4000’s from Peterborough Motors and don’t forget Friskneys at Horncastle and at Boston. Townsends was owned by Parker/Deans I think and changed from John Deere/Same in the late eighties to Ford when as you said Ford became Ford New Holland which meant Crop Driers and Patrick Deans swapped all their John Deere’s for Fords. We used to go to the Harris show at Epworth but other than that we were out of their area. I’m not sure that Platts bought out Townsends but I know Pecks took over their depots at Pinchbeck and Mareham le Fen.

 

[Ploughmaster]

We ( Grandfather) always dealt with Lincolnshire Motors however my uncle next door had two 4000’s from Peterborough Motors and don’t forget Friskneys at Horncastle and at Boston. Townsends was owned by Parker/Deans I think and changed from John Deere/Same in the late eighties to Ford when as you said Ford became Ford New Holland which meant Crop Driers and Patrick Deans swapped all their John Deere’s for Fords.

Friskneys is another name that has now disappeared (they were Deutz-Fahr in more recent years). There was also a branch at Wragby which was the Lincolnshire dealer for County.

I seem to think there was a family connection/relationship between the Townsend family and the Parker and Dean families. Deans went back green after Townsends was absorbed by Platts Harris, and Parkers are now mainly Claas (with a couple of Quadtracs), having initially started replacing the Ford New Hollands with Fendt.

 

[Lowland1]

Friskneys is another name that has now disappeared (they were Deutz-Fahr in more recent years). There was also a branch at Wragby which was the Lincolnshire dealer for County.

I seem to think there was a family connection/relationship between the Townsend family and the Parker and Dean families. Deans went back green after Townsends was absorbed by Platts Harris, and Parkers are now mainly Claas (with a couple of Quadtracs), having initially started replacing the Ford New Hollands with Fendt.

Friskneys I don’t think ever were at Wragby although I remember talking with Eric Young about all the places he rented to store tractors in the boom year of the 70’s. We went with a neighbour to look at a tractor at Friskneys one Sunday and both sheds were full of tractors it was a child’s dream County’s and new Qcab Fords an uncle of mine had ten new tractors every year during the seventies and into the eighties from Friskneys.Townsends was owned by the Parkers I know because a couple of times my Dad bumped into a young Parker whilst getting or attempting to get bits for our New Holland combines ( when he went on his own he went Claas so he wouldn’t have to deal with them) . Crop Driers are mostly Claas tractors as my son worked for Class Eastern last year and was often there. I bought a low hours Claas 630 that had just been moving irrigators for them.

 

[Ploughmaster]

Friskneys I don’t think ever were at Wragby although I remember talking with Eric Young about all the places he rented to store tractors in the boom year of the 70’s. We went with a neighbour to look at a tractor at Friskneys one Sunday and both sheds were full of tractors it was a child’s dream County’s and new Qcab Fords an uncle of mine had ten new tractors every year during the seventies and into the eighties from Friskneys.Townsends was owned by the Parkers I know because a couple of times my Dad bumped into a young Parker whilst getting or attempting to get bits for our New Holland combines ( when he went on his own he went Claas so he wouldn’t have to deal with them) . Crop Driers are mostly Claas tractors as my son worked for Class Eastern last year and was often there. I bought a low hours Claas 630 that had just been moving irrigators for them.

The first farm I worked on in the early 1980s had a County 1474, and used to hire an 1164 for a couple of months in the autumn as well - I am pretty certain both came from Wragby, not Horncastle.

 

[Lowland1]

The first farm I worked on in the early 1980s had a County 1474, and used to hire an 1164 for a couple of months in the autumn as well - I am pretty certain both came from Wragby, not Horncastle.

If you were hiring it would probably have been from Colin Mettam at Wickenby which is more or less Wragby. And if the farm you worked on had a 1474 you probably worked with Martin who lived in our village.

 

[Will 1594]

If you were hiring it would probably have been from Colin Mettam at Wickenby which is more or less Wickenby. And if the farm you worked on had a 1474 you probably worked with Martin who lived in our village.

Pink orange roofs Rota vator colour
lowland ,can you remember ,think he did porridge , some thing to do with that shed full of 5150 maxxums tax
wickenby airfield

 

[Lowland1]

Pink roofs

Orange really but yes coloured. Same with his Landrover which we’d often see with two Kidd spreaders or Rotaspreaders in tow.

 

[Lowland1]

Pink orange roofs Rota vator colour
lowland ,can you remember ,think he did porridge , some thing to do with that shed full of 5150 maxxums tax
wickenby airfield

We used him for years until my Dad fell out with him over some trailers he sourced for us to go to Kenya. I think the prison thing was over red diesel or something like that. He was a rogue but not a bad one. He would pass by to pick up his Cheque or whatever and fall asleep in the chair for a couple of hours as he’d been chasing all over the country. He bought 25 40 series Fords at the time you got a TV and bag with each one and he had a room in his yard full of TVs and drivers kits. I still use a bag he gave as a sweetener on a deal. My Dad went to see him when he got cancer and it was very sad to see how he’d declined.

 

[76masseyman]

We used him for years until my Dad fell out with him over some trailers he sourced for us to go to Kenya. I think the prison thing was over red diesel or something like that. He was a rogue but not a bad one. He would pass by to pick up his Cheque or whatever and fall asleep in the chair for a couple of hours as he’d been chasing all over the country. He bought 25 40 series Fords at the time you got a TV and bag with each one and he had a room in his yard full of TVs and drivers kits. I still use a bag he gave as a sweetener on a deal. My Dad went to see him when he got cancer and it was very sad to see how he’d declined.

Loveable rogue was Colin, couldn’t help but like the guy, despite his wrong doings.

 

[Flat 10]

Pink orange roofs Rota vator colour
lowland ,can you remember ,think he did porridge , some thing to do with that shed full of 5150 maxxums tax
wickenby airfield

Is all that stuff attached to the 8970?!?!?

 

[Ploughmaster]

If you were hiring it would probably have been from Colin Mettam at Wickenby which is more or less Wragby. And if the farm you worked on had a 1474 you probably worked with Martin who lived in our village.

Nope, it was definitely from Friskneys. They had two (or possibly three) as we kept getting the same ones back each year/when one broke down. Definitely weren't Mettam Hire as all their tractors had the roof painted orange and these were standard (and in any case, in those days nearly all of Colin Mettams tractors were spoken for at that time of year by Holdens for the straw job).

The 1474 was driven by a slightly cantankerous Yorkshireman called Tom. Don't recall anyone called Martin during the time I was involved with that farm (1981 to 1990 on and off)

 

[Ploughmaster]

Is all that stuff attached to the 8970?!?!?

Quite probably. The farm I mentioned avbove rarely used to run less than two pieces of equipment behinf the 1474. When they bought a TW20 instead of hiring the second County, it often had a 16' set of Parmiter discs, a three-gang set of Cambridge rolls plus a set of zig zag harrows behind it - needed a pretty big headland!

 

[Lowland1]

Then I presume you didn't work at West Ashby. Friskneys were at Horncastle and Boston there was a David Brown outlet in Wragby but as I said I know Friskneys stored tractors all over the place so maybe Wragby. Holden's would have needed to take a lot of tractors to empty Mettams yard although often what was sitting around might not have been the most practical. One year we wanted a tractor to put on a potato harvester and he wanted us to take a TW35 however we managed to barter him down to a County 1174 which he pitched up with at midnight.

 

[Ploughmaster]

Then I presume you didn't work at West Ashby.............. Holden's would have needed to take a lot of tractors to empty Mettams yard

No, just to the south west of Grimsby.

Holdens certainly took a lot from Mettams. At one stage they were running something like 20 Hesston balers, plus several home-made bale chasers following them round (in the days before most people had even thought of chasers), plus various tedders etc. They only had about three or four tractors of their own capable of driving the balers. Most of the off field transport was artic lorries from what I remember.

Mettams were also supplying quite a few tractors for baling and handling small bales for Cherry Valley at that time too, which was no small task for what was at the time the world's largest duck farm.