Eastern Massey Dealers of the Past.

[Lynette sutton]

Oliver Rix Ltd,
Sculthorpe was formed in in 1862 after being bought from James Blackett a wagon builder and iron founder in 1891 Oliver Rix bought the company in 1862 and carried on until his death in 1933, it then continued to trade under Archie Filby his nephew, selling M-F and all makes of farm equipment.

It was bought by John Riches Agricultural Ltd in 1973 who later went on to create the Oliver Rix Group of companies, selling Rolls Royce cars, with multiple car franchises across the UK, a haulage business, farm equipment manufacturing companies, and various other companies.

The farm machinery business was sold to Cargill Tradax in 1979, who then sold it to Cowies Eastern Tractors in 1981 the who later sold it to Boston Tractors in 1994.
In 2000 Norfolk Farm Machinery purchased the company from Boston Tractors which later merged with Randell Farm Machinery to form Randell NFM Ltd ...who sold out to Thurlow Nunn Standen
in 2012.
I worked at Sculthorpe from 1961 to 2011, in which time I saw so many changes in the farm machinery industry,
Sculthorpe staff picture at in 1959

My dad is in that photograph! He was there until his death in 1967 anyone remember him, Mortimer Sutton or Monty as they used to call him! It would be good to hear from anyone who remembers him! I think he worked in the office, accountant. Lynette Sutton

 

[Gloric]

My dad is in that photograph! He was there until his death in 1967 anyone remember him, Mortimer Sutton or Monty as they used to call him! It would be good to hear from anyone who remembers him! I think he worked in the office, accountant. Lynette Sutton

Yes i worked with him, as you have said he worked in the office assisting with the accounts and grain side of the business

 

[Gloric]

Yes i worked with him, as you have said he worked in the office assisting with the accounts and grain side of the business

Yes i worked with him, as you have said he worked in the office assisting with the accounts and grain equipment instalation side of the business.

 

[Courier]

Anyone else remember Edwards Motors in Doncaster and Samuel Wilson’s Sheffield - Edwards remained as Massey until their demise but Samuel Wilson went over to DB.
Also in Sheffield was J.I.Fearn who set up what is now Rip-off’s at Darrington

 

[Lynette sutton]

Yes i worked with him, as you have said he worked in the office assisting with the accounts and grain side of the business

Thank You for your reply. I am so pleased that someone out there remembers my dad. It is all such a long time since he died - 1967 and I was only six and have only vague memories of him. If you do have any memories or recollections I would love to hear them! Take care

 

[Performer]

Does anyone remember Gib Royce from Boston tractors Kirton Bob Baalem from Bourne branch . And David Barnsley from David Brown at Kirton, those were the days?.

 

[Courier]

Does anyone remember Gib Royce from Boston tractors Kirton Bob Baalem from Bourne branch . And David Barnsley from David Brown at Kirton, those were the days?.

John Cooke also from the 70’s - small engines were his specialty I believe?

 

[Anthony Baker]

Eastern Massey dealers from the past, moving a bit further north than those mentioned so far.
Claytons of Gilberdyke
Northfield Ag of Halsham (now part of P+B) also had a depot in Beverley briefly
Thompson's of Beverley
Woods of Driffield
Someone ? near york Ag market
Someone ? near to Scarborough (may have been in Seamer)​

Hi,

I used to drive (1980s) for Allen's transport Trafford Park delivering MF spares to all of the above MF dealers. The place at Beverley was in Tickton ? I also used to occasionally deliver to Stamford Bridge/Dunnington York. I then moved onto delivering KIrton (Boston)/ Sculthorpe/ Hall Rd Norwich/Attleborough/Wrentham/Woodbridge/Elmswell/Ely and finishing in Downham Market.

 

[lorkins01]

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.

Eastern Tractors. A little history. Harry Ferguson made an arrangement after WW2 with Standard Motors to use their Banner Lane facilities to build the TE20 using Standards petrol engine. Mr Ferguson did not have a plan on how to mass market and support his products so Standard suggested writing to their car dealers, of which my grandfather was one, offering a Ferguson dealership, hence Eastern Tractors was born. As we all know the Grey Fergie change farming and once farmers realised the efficiency and advantages of the Ferguson System they started to sell like hot cakes. Late 1950's saw the arrival of MF 35's and 65's with Perkins engines and the 100 series in the 1960's continued the product development. Eastern Tractors, based primarily in Essex and other dealers were in the right place at the right time. Apparently, ET was one of the most successful MF dealerships in the world! Seems to good to be true. The 1970's continue the success until mid 1970's, when strikes at Massey plants, new products and spare part availability and high inflation made life harder. In its heyday it was a cracking company, good products and well trained and capable workforce. 1980 company merged with George Ewer Group, who owned car dealerships and Grey Green coaches for a few days only before Cowies swooped in and bought the lot.
Trebornella above picks up the story from there.

 

[Harrysfergie]

Eastern Tractors. A little history. Harry Ferguson made an arrangement after WW2 with Standard Motors to use their Banner Lane facilities to build the TE20 using Standards petrol engine. Mr Ferguson did not have a plan on how to mass market and support his products so Standard suggested writing to their car dealers, of which my grandfather was one, offering a Ferguson dealership, hence Eastern Tractors was born. As we all know the Grey Fergie change farming and once farmers realised the efficiency and advantages of the Ferguson System they started to sell like hot cakes. Late 1950's saw the arrival of MF 35's and 65's with Perkins engines and the 100 series in the 1960's continued the product development. Eastern Tractors, based primarily in Essex and other dealers were in the right place at the right time. Apparently, ET was one of the most successful MF dealerships in the world! Seems to good to be true. The 1970's continue the success until mid 1970's, when strikes at Massey plants, new products and spare part availability and high inflation made life harder. In its heyday it was a cracking company, good products and well trained and capable workforce. 1980 company merged with George Ewer Group, who owned car dealerships and Grey Green coaches for a few days only before Cowies swooped in and bought the lot.
Trebornella above picks up the story from there.

That's really interesting, do you have much of the early company records/information anymore I have several friends who have tractors supplied by eastern tractors in their collection

 

[lorkins01]

That's really interesting, do you have much of the early company records/information anymore I have several friends who have tractors supplied by eastern tractors in their collection

I guess we are not very good at creating archives! I certainly have no knowledge of company records pre 1980 existing. I have a few photographs, a couple sets of accounts and thats it. Museum of English Rural Life has some material given in 1971 from Eastern Tractors (Chelmsford )ltd but mostly brochures/service manuals of Massey Harris, Ferguson tractors, Rover and Standard cars.

 

[essexpete]

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.

Did you know Eric Bartholomew on sales? I remember a man in the stores with only one arm (Chelmsford) and who was the mustard combine guru with blond hair?

 

[trebornella]

Eastern Tractors. A little history. Harry Ferguson made an arrangement after WW2 with Standard Motors to use their Banner Lane facilities to build the TE20 using Standards petrol engine. Mr Ferguson did not have a plan on how to mass market and support his products so Standard suggested writing to their car dealers, of which my grandfather was one, offering a Ferguson dealership, hence Eastern Tractors was born. As we all know the Grey Fergie change farming and once farmers realised the efficiency and advantages of the Ferguson System they started to sell like hot cakes. Late 1950's saw the arrival of MF 35's and 65's with Perkins engines and the 100 series in the 1960's continued the product development. Eastern Tractors, based primarily in Essex and other dealers were in the right place at the right time. Apparently, ET was one of the most successful MF dealerships in the world! Seems to good to be true. The 1970's continue the success until mid 1970's, when strikes at Massey plants, new products and spare part availability and high inflation made life harder. In its heyday it was a cracking company, good products and well trained and capable workforce. 1980 company merged with George Ewer Group, who owned car dealerships and Grey Green coaches for a few days only before Cowies swooped in and bought the lot.
Trebornella above picks up the story from there.

Thanks for adding to the ET history. I knew about Eastern Automobiles, but was unsure of the actual timeline. The B W family were great to work for, and the 1970's were a great time to be working for them.
As regarding archives, I would imagine lots of precious historical records were lost as depots were closed or amalgamated, a great shame. There was someone at a vintage tractor rally at Long Melford, Suffolk 20 + years ago who had a restored service van in ET livery with a display of old photos. Not sure who it was, or if he ever worked for the company.

 

[trebornella]

Did you know Eric Bartholomew on sales? I remember a man in the stores with only one arm (Chelmsford) and who was the mustard combine guru with blond hair?

Sorry, but the name does not ring any bells with me. I was personally at the Braintree branch and later moved to Steeple Bumpstead.

 

[Courier]

Hardly “Eastern” but I spent a while as an apprentice at “Edwards Motors” in Doncaster - Now a retail park

 

[borderterribles]

Anyone else remember Edwards Motors in Doncaster and Samuel Wilson’s Sheffield - Edwards remained as Massey until their demise but Samuel Wilson went over to DB.
Also in Sheffield was J.I.Fearn who set up what is now Rip-off’s at Darrington

I remember John I Fearn as a Massey dealership with (iirc ) several depots in the Sheffield/North Derbyshire area. I don't know the details, but they either lost or gave up the franchise. They sold Fiat and also John Deere, but only briefly, before closing. I remember my old boss trading in a MF 595 for a new JD, the first one the dealership had sold. The head man came to deliver the new one and I remember him telling us that he predicted that in thirty years time, at least half the new tractors sold in the UK would be green and yellow. I thought he was deluded, as they had always been regarded as Deere by name, and dear by nature, but he turned out to be a lot nearer correct than I was!

 

[lorkins01]

Thanks for adding to the ET history. I knew about Eastern Automobiles, but was unsure of the actual timeline. The B W family were great to work for, and the 1970's were a great time to be working for them.
As regarding archives, I would imagine lots of precious historical records were lost as depots were closed or amalgamated, a great shame. There was someone at a vintage tractor rally at Long Melford, Suffolk 20 + years ago who had a restored service van in ET livery with a display of old photos. Not sure who it was, or if he ever worked for the company.

Eastern Automobiles. My knowledge of EA is very sketchy. The company had an interesting start. My grandfather and his brother were engineers working in Egypt and Sudan building irrigation systems off the Nile late 19th century. Oil was discovered, 1906 I think and they saw an opportunity to import "automoblies", infact I think they imported the first car into the middle east (or near east as it was referred to in those days). They set up Eastern Automobiles to supply this new demand. My grandfather came back to England 1910 to source the "running gear" ie engine, gearbox and axles from early car manufacturers, and bodies which were sourced from bespoke coachbuilders, ie Park Ward, Mulliners. The finished autos were exported from Southend to Alexandria. I am not sure when Grandfather decided to expand Eastern Autos to supply cars in East Anglia, I would guess after WW1 as he was in the army 1914/18 but expand he did to create a chain of garages/dealerships, Standard Cars being one of the them which led to Eastern Tractors. The BW boys I still know well. Their father Peter and my father were both fighter pilots in WW2 and it was this connection that after WW2 brought Peter into Eastern Tractors. He was a man of enormous positive energy, larger than life character who was one of the main drivers of the success of ET.
Re archives, I would agree with your view. Service van. I wonder who that person was. With original colours? Red, black, yellow and white I vaguely recall. Do you remember Des Younger?

 

[trebornella]

Eastern Automobiles. My knowledge of EA is very sketchy. The company had an interesting start. My grandfather and his brother were engineers working in Egypt and Sudan building irrigation systems off the Nile late 19th century. Oil was discovered, 1906 I think and they saw an opportunity to import "automoblies", infact I think they imported the first car into the middle east (or near east as it was referred to in those days). They set up Eastern Automobiles to supply this new demand. My grandfather came back to England 1910 to source the "running gear" ie engine, gearbox and axles from early car manufacturers, and bodies which were sourced from bespoke coachbuilders, ie Park Ward, Mulliners. The finished autos were exported from Southend to Alexandria. I am not sure when Grandfather decided to expand Eastern Autos to supply cars in East Anglia, I would guess after WW1 as he was in the army 1914/18 but expand he did to create a chain of garages/dealerships, Standard Cars being one of the them which led to Eastern Tractors. The BW boys I still know well. Their father Peter and my father were both fighter pilots in WW2 and it was this connection that after WW2 brought Peter into Eastern Tractors. He was a man of enormous positive energy, larger than life character who was one of the main drivers of the success of ET.
Re archives, I would agree with your view. Service van. I wonder who that person was. With original colours? Red, black, yellow and white I vaguely recall. Do you remember Des Younger?

Very interesting, did not realise that Eastern Automobiles were involved overseas, always assumed they were just an Essex based vehicle dealership. I knew Peter was involved in WW2, and as you say he was a larger than life character. He always had time to speak to members of staff, from management right down to a humble apprentice as I was in 1974. Most of the ET service vans had PYE 2 way radios fitted and Peter had one in his Bristol car. If there was an issue, regarding spare parts he would often call asking if he could help collecting parts from other depots.
Service vans were red and yellow with black lettering and a white outline. I have a photo of one somewhere, will try to find it and upload it. Earlier vans were in Ferguson grey, but they were before my time.
As for Des, well lets say, everyone knew Des. I never knew anyone who could drive as fast as Des. I remember as an apprentice 'helping' him change a clutch on a MF 165. When we got to the farm, the tractor was still being used with a slipping clutch and the flywheel was nearly red hot. We split the tractor, put the worn clutch and flywheel in the back of the van, and headed back to the depot (about 10 miles). When we got back, the flywheel was still too hot to touch.

 

[lorkins01]

Very interesting, did not realise that Eastern Automobiles were involved overseas, always assumed they were just an Essex based vehicle dealership. I knew Peter was involved in WW2, and as you say he was a larger than life character. He always had time to speak to members of staff, from management right down to a humble apprentice as I was in 1974. Most of the ET service vans had PYE 2 way radios fitted and Peter had one in his Bristol car. If there was an issue, regarding spare parts he would often call asking if he could help collecting parts from other depots.
Service vans were red and yellow with black lettering and a white outline. I have a photo of one somewhere, will try to find it and upload it. Earlier vans were in Ferguson grey, but they were before my time.
As for Des, well lets say, everyone knew Des. I never knew anyone who could drive as fast as Des. I remember as an apprentice 'helping' him change a clutch on a MF 165. When we got to the farm, the tractor was still being used with a slipping clutch and the flywheel was nearly red hot. We split the tractor, put the worn clutch and flywheel in the back of the van, and headed back to the depot (about 10 miles). When we got back, the flywheel was still too hot to touch.

EA. Within my life time do not remember hearing anything about exports to Middle East and I would guess that EA involvement may have ceased after Suez 56. I do know that my great uncle lived in Egypt from 1910 and he was involved in setting up a car plant in Egypt (I think using Triumph/Standard old manufactoring plant equipment) that we helped the Egyptians to managed for a time until Suez 56. What happened after Suez I have no idea.
Des! What a character. I heard he was nicknamed Hammer man! Peter BW driving in his Bristol down the newly opened M11 and was over taken by an ET van travelling "quite" fast. He followed the van, which I guess would have been a Morris Marina at the time and radioed into base asking who was driving van reg no ????. "Des" came back the reply. Response from PBW was to congratulate said driver as he never realised a Marina could make 110! Remembering Des reminds me I must go and tap on his door to see if he is alright.

 

[Tractorstant]

We lived up the road from the Frating dealership; I remember pouring over the Britans models in there for hours, deciding which one to buy. I worked on the farm two over from there, but we ran Ford and Same, so I didn't use them. Dad bought a couple of Mowers from there. I've asked Mum if she has any pics of me there hanging off any of the stock! Fond memories.