The Story behind the 4000025 Ferguson Tractor exclusive LEGO set...

Istokg

The new 4000025 Ferguson Tractor LEGO exclusive set that is a gift for the LEGO Inside Tour folks (as well as for internal TLG promotional use) is a very attractive and true to the original to the 1950s version of the set.  I give the designers two thumbs up for the excellent design, faithful to the original. 

The Ferguson boxtop...




The 4000025 Ferguson built model (image PromoBricks)...





Here's some background on this 1950s iconic LEGO set, that really did a lot to promote LEGO plastic toys via strong sales that funded other plastic LEGO items...

1951.... LEGO licensed the production of Ferguson Tractors from a very small company called TRITON, who owned the rights to this tractor, and may also have licensed it out to other toy makers at the time (TEKNO, HANSE).  The tractors, and even the boxes sold by TLG were vertually identical to those sold by TRITON.

From 1951-54 LEGO sold over 100,000 Ferguson Tractors.  This genereated a lot of income for TLG (moreso than the slower wooden LEGO toys), and Ole Kirk and Godtfred Kirk Christiansen were smart, and reinvested the profits into the development of faster selling plastic toys, including the new Automatic Binding Bricks, and LEGO Mursten bricks.

Here is an early Ferguson Tractor kit by LEGO that shows the gray tractor parts held in place in an attractive box.  These were produced mainly in gray and red....




Here is the original TRITON produced Ferguson Tractor.  Even though this is not a TLG produced product, these are also very valuable...




Both the TRITON and LEGO produced Ferguson Tractors also came completely assembled in a different box.  Here is an assembled red LEGO Ferguson Tractor, with the box labeled 'LEGO'...



Here is a TRITON labeled box....




Besides just the tractors... there were also a large number of farming attachments produced to 'prepare the fields'.  Here is a 1952 LEGO brochure that listed the different parts that could be purchased separately for the tractor....





Ironically both LEGO and TRITON produced boxes with the same item numbers and box types....




LEGO retailers had a display model of the Ferguson Tractor that were made of clear plastic, and showed the customer exactly how the pieces were assembled.  These clear plastic retailer models are highly prized by collectors today....




LEGO toy retailers also had a Ferguson Tractor Retailer Box... where children or customers could purchase spare Ferguson Tractor parts, if some went missing.



There was one of these retailer boxes for red tractor parts, and one for gray tractor parts.


The Ferguson Tractor was made with many variations from the 1951-57 era... early models had white rubber wheels, some parts were also available in other colours, and the boxes varied from country to country.  Ferguson Tractors were sold in Denmark, Norway and Iceland (under a REYKJALUNDUR label).  These old Ferguson Tractors command very high prices... not far off from the new limited edition LEGO version.

These early Ferguson Tractors are a new chapter for my Unofficial LEGO Sets/Parts Collectors Guide, along with chapters on the 1952-57 1:43 scale LEGO Chevrolet Trucks/Wagons.  Above is just a sample of the chapter images.

akunthita

Just wow! Amazing info! Super interesting stuff! Thanks for sharing! 

Istokg

TLG made Ferguson Tractors in colors besides red and gray (and for retailer displays... trans-clear)... they also made anniversary milestone tractors.

They made a silver tractor for 10,000 sales, and a gold one for 20,000 sales.  These special tractors were not unique.  I know of the existence of 3 of the 20,000 sales gold tractors...



There are most likely special Ferguson tractors made for other sales milestones. 

These special tractors are highly sought after by collectors.

Farmer_John

Vintage Farm Machinery...gotta love it!!!

This is the set that really got me back into Lego.

LusiferSam

The Ferguson tractor is one of my favorites of the early non brick toys.  I've been lucky enough to pick up both a red and gray one.  I'd love to own a clear or numbered one.  Maybe someday.  There's an image of a two color version I've seen floating around.  I don't think it's just the lighting, but looks to me to be a gray or bluish gray top with a more copper lower half.  It's in the 1999 DK Ultimate Lego Book.  I'll post a picture if I can.

I've not seen the silver 10,000 version.  I've seen the gold 20,000 and 35,000 versions. They are hand painted and not made of real metal.  Most photos show the paint have flaked in places. There's also a red 50,000 with a 50,000 box.  I thought there was a clear numbered one, but I'm not sure where I would have seen this or what the number was.  So maybe I'm making it up.

I love the number of accessories the tractors had.  They are a mix of plastic and wooden ones.  And they are compatible with both the wooden and plastic tractors. I understand what most of these are, but Nr. 668 eludes me.

So the Ferguson was Nr. 780.  But there's another plastic tractor Nr. 770, the Farmall H tractor.  It's been a long time interested of mine.  It's in the Lego catalogs and shows it  with all the same accessories as the Ferguson.  But the only images I've seen say BRIO on the side.  So I don't know if this was some kind of licensed copy, a trade with Brio or generally less popular item.  There just doesn't seem to be much information out there about this one.

Sorry about any missed spelling or grammar issues, my dyslexia seems unusually bad to night.

Pumpkin_3CK5

Are the wheels new? I rarely look at technic sets so I'm not sure if those have been used before.

stlux

@Pumpkin_3CK5 It's these tires.  As highlighted in my review of the set on the main Brickset page, LEGO had no remaining stock of these available when producing this set; they did a special production run.

LusiferSam

Ok, here's the two toned version I was talking about.  For a long time this was the only image I knew of for the Ferguson.  So I was quite surprised to learn later that this wasn't common or even standard. 

Astrobricks

stlux said:

@Pumpkin_3CK5 It's these tires.  As highlighted in my review of the set on the main Brickset page, LEGO had no remaining stock of these available when producing this set; they did a special production run.

I see the BL data hasn’t reflected a part inventory for the new Ferguson set yet.

Cymbeline

Thank you Istokg for all the interesting history about Lego and the Ferguson tractor. I've just come back from the LIT June 13-15 and this just enhances my appreciation of the tour set.

Russell844

Astrobricks said: I'm

stlux said:

@Pumpkin_3CK5 It's these tires.  As highlighted in my review of the set on the main Brickset page, LEGO had no remaining stock of these available when producing this set; they did a special production run.

I see the BL data hasn’t reflected a part inventory for the new Ferguson set yet.

Customer Service has it if you search for the set number to buy pieces.

Istokg

Thanks @Cymbeline and @LusiferSam...

Here is a 1951 historic TLG photo of LEGO founder Ole Kirk Christiansen in the Billund toy display room adding the Ferguson Tractor (already built and for assembly) to the TLG product display...

Baby_Yoda

We finally know what started the fire of '42...

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA

Is it correct to say that these were only moulded in red, gray or clear and any other variation is just paint over one of those three base colours?

Istokg

@MAGNINOMINISUMBRA I would love to say that you are correct in that assessment... but TLG always throws us a curve ball in trying to pinpoint specific old LEGO items.... such as this white 1/2 frame... no idea of the story behind why it is white... LEGO Mayhem...

MAGNINOMINISUMBRA

^ Ive read enough of your work now Gary to know that deep down, I probably already knew that answer :)

Continue the research...