International Harvester

International Harvester (IH) helped define 20th-century farming. The company emerged in 1902 when the McCormick and Deering firms (plus several smaller makers) merged—creating a powerhouse that soon spanned everything from binders to tractors.

Before “Farmall”: oil tractors and the learning years (1910s–early 1920s)

In the teens, IH built Mogul and Titan kerosene “oil tractors,” lighter two-plow machines that aimed to replace teams of horses on average farms. Models like the Mogul 8-16 and Titan 10-20 set the stage for what IH would do next.

1924: The Farmall changes everything

In 1924 IH launched the Farmall (later nicknamed the “Regular”), the first widely successful general-purpose row-crop tractor. With its narrow front, high clearance and belt/PTO power, one machine could plow, cultivate, and run stationary equipment—a revelation for mixed-crop farms.

1939: The famous Letter Series

IH followed up with the streamlined Letter Series (A, B, H, M and variants) in 1939, spreading the Farmall concept across sizes and jobs. These tractors cemented IH’s reputation and flooded fields across North America.

Diesel power and the TA: engineering leaps (1930s–1950s)

IH pushed diesel into mainstream farming. The McCormick-Deering WD-40 (mid-1930s) brought diesel to standard-tread tractors, and in 1941 the Farmall MD gave growers the first diesel row-crop Farmall—gas start, switch-to-diesel for work. In 1954 IH debuted the Torque Amplifier (TA) on the Super M-TA, letting operators downshift under load without clutching—hugely useful in varying soils.

A stumble and a reset: the 560 recall (1959)

IH’s aggressive horsepower chase bit back when the 460/560 series overstressed legacy final drives. The company issued a widespread recall in 1959, patched the weakness, and moved on—but the episode dented IH’s momentum right as competition heated up.

The 06s (and beyond): big red muscle (1963–1970s)

IH answered with clean-sheet designs: 706 and 806 in 1963, then the 1206 in 1965—IH’s first factory-turbocharged row-crop Farmall and a symbol of the high-horsepower era. Through the late ’60s and ’70s, the 66-series and then 86-series refined power, comfort and cabs, while IH built millions of tractors under the Farmall banner (the 5,000,000th Farmall rolled out in 1974).

Game-changer off the tractor: Axial-Flow combines (1977)

IH’s most disruptive 1970s innovation wasn’t a tractor at all—it was the Axial-Flow rotary combine. Launched in 1977 (1440/1460), the single-rotor design reshaped harvesting and still defines Case IH combines today.

Wild cards and big ideas: the 2+2 (1979)

IH also tried bold concepts like the 2+2 (3388/3588/3788): articulated in the middle with the cab forward, giving row-crop visibility and 4WD traction. It wasn’t a sales smash, but it showed IH’s willingness to rethink layouts.

The fall and the merge (1980s)

Labor strife, high interest rates and missteps battered IH in the early ’80s. On Nov. 26, 1984, Tenneco (owner of J.I. Case) purchased IH’s agricultural division; the combined line became Case International and soon Case IH. Production at Rock Island’s Farmall Works ended in 1985; the remaining truck/engine business became Navistar International in 1986.

What IH left us

  • The row-crop universal tractor (Farmall) that replaced teams of horses with one do-it-all machine.

  • A long run of diesel innovation (WD-40, MD) and the operator-friendly Torque Amplifier.

  • An enduring red lineage—06/56/66/86 tractors and the still-dominant Axial-Flow harvest concept—carried forward under Case IH