Guy Fay

The tractor side of the issue is a lot more complicated than folks think. One of the problems IH had is that it had very smart engineers who knew a better way than the traditional clutch style power shift. However, those better ways always ran into problems, and IH stuck with a transmission in the 06s, which itself was a quickey that resulted when a CVT wouldn't downshft correctly (The Schottler transmission.) Hydrostatics never took off, and IH couldn't get a hydromechanical to workfor decades (neither could anyone else until Steyer did it) Axial flow was not a major contributer to the delay in getting a powershift to market. And it took a lot longer than 15 years to get it right. If anything, long development programs that got major advances to market was an IH strength. Powershift was an area where IH started and stopped. Cotton picker took decades. Farmall was in development for about 15 years before hitting market fully in 1926. Even gas engines took about 15 years before getting into production in 1904. IH management pretty much bought the union problems they had. IH management was told about most of their problems.THe new management that came in during 1977 were especially idiots- they were warned that the industry was going to take a major turn downward about 1980. They were told that Louisville should be closed. They told the naysayers to shut up, and the company paid the price. It was the anti-union side in the company that also screwed up in the 1950s by getting rid of Fowler McCormick and putting John McCaffrey in as CEO. McCaffrey lasted about three years before getting replaced as CEO, and a few laters he was retired from the board. The company really went down the tubes in the 1950s, as McCaffrey poured money into construction side, and shortchanged tractor R&D, shorted testing on everything, and generally screwed the dealer network. Even the Super MTA was a bit of a disappoiintment, as the dealership network thought they were getting an automatic transmissioned tractor.

There might be an article coming up in a certain magazine on IH's efforts in cannons....or several articles. And the first one might have what the same factory contributed to the Manhatten Project.

Here's a 57MM in Wisconsin from a more familiar manufacturer. http://warmemorials.us/artillery/m1_57mm_viroqua.html

IH went from Ted Ornas to Larry Shinoda? Man, talk about a downfall....Lots of Larry stories out there from the GM days.

There's an article coming up i the next Red Power about the McCormick family in the company.

From the fuel tank, I'd say 10-20.

Any feedback on the article I did in the current Red Power?

That first program was Payment In Kind, or PIK- gave farmers grain out of storage in order to reduce grain in storage. Tenneco was very blunt at the time that they needed to reduce overcapacity in tractor manufacturing. IH had already been looking at closing Farmall. Just too big. Just think of the factory capacity that's gone in the tractor industry. AGCO does nothing in the US anymore, eliminating Allis,Massey and White factories from that time. Farmall is gone. Clausen Works is gone, Case IH is manufacturing at the transmission plant. Louisville is gone. Basically down to Waterloo new factory (old factory is gradually closing down) Case Steiger plant and Mount Pleasant Plant, Buhler in Winnepeg, the CNH factory in Georgia assembling Farmalls. Did I miss any left? Dr. Evil, I was thinking about the workforce at Farmall. I know assembling a tractor is different than assembling a car, lots more complicated systems. Could you talk about the guys on the line? You've already talked about the machining there which was more skilled labor.

There's an article coming in the next Red Power that will throw a new light on some stuff that was never public about the union negotiations and the efforts that IH made to stay alive in the early 1980s. Stuff that's not in A Corporate Tragedy at all.

Delta, IH donated all their archives to the U of Wisconsin. Can,t remember exactly when it happened but it must have taken a few truck loads. It's actually the Wisconsin Historical Society- not the University of Wisconsin. Stuff started coming up from the McCormick Family in the 1950s, the Farm side of International Harvester came in 1991, another big chunk including the rest of what was in their corporate archives came in 2001. Machines from the old storage at McCormick WOrks (old reapers and models used for advertising) came in 1959. About 12 semi loads of paper Plus there's been donations of materials from Case, retirees, etc. Why Wisconsin? In the 1950s, The WHS was one of the biggest and oldest historical societies around, and they offered to take over the salaries of the McCormick families' archivist. There were previous links between the Historical Society and the McCormick family decades before, as well.