fatjak Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 dont forget case brought the no-1 backhoe and small bulldozer into the marrige.i think if brooks mccormick would have barowed money from his friends they could have made it,he just did not want to be in debit to them.to this day the mccormicks give away a ton of money every year , to all good things that make chicago move. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogred Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 An interesting piece of history to me,today, would be to know where and who the McCormick descendants are and are they actively involved in Navistar and still own the company.Also,what their feelings were when their legacy company went through fiscal **** and survived.That would make an interesting book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogred Posted July 29, 2010 Share Posted July 29, 2010 dont forget case brought the no-1 backhoe and small bulldozer into the marrige.i think if brooks mccormick would have barowed money from his friends they could have made it,he just did not want to be in debit to them.to this day the mccormicks give away a ton of money every year , to all good things that make chicago move. I believe Case construction is a totally seperate entity than Case-IH,either one could fail and it would have no bearing on the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbone8 Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 Great topic! I hope people keep contributing to this. If you can find a copy of A Corporate Tragedy, I recommend it, very good read. Keep the posts coming! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatjak Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 bull dog you mite be right, i now when they started the new ag group the new ceo was a man named green and they only gave him so mutch capitol to make it go.i think brooks mccormick had 3 children and 2 of them died before he did, he has a son named marck i think and he must have a bunch of money i think he is on the board of directors of northwestern university, and has a lot to do with the art institute in chicago.brooks st james farm was sold in 2005 or around that time for 43 million,this year his apartment in chicago sold for 4.5 millionj. i think brooks father was chunsey mccormick and his father was robert mccormick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatjak Posted July 30, 2010 Share Posted July 30, 2010 corection to the above post, brooks is a decendent of william mccormick not robert.and brooks son is brooks junior not marck.brooks mother was also a deering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogred Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 corection to the above post, brooks is a decendent of william mccormick not robert.and brooks son is brooks junior not marck.brooks mother was also a deering. I know Brooks passed away a few years ago,I wonder where you might find info on his remaining family and whether or not they are involved with Navistar,I guess I could contact Navistar,I haven't tried that yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmall Doctor Posted August 8, 2010 Share Posted August 8, 2010 ALL brands of tractors have problems, but IH is by far the easiest to work on!!! I have worked on everything from Allis to Zetor. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reeseholler Posted August 10, 2010 Share Posted August 10, 2010 Wow. I didn't realize that much went on with the company. Since I'm only 18 this isn't something I'm familiar with but I've been around tractors all my life. I kind of feel like a mob is going to attack me when I come to forums devoted to one brand because it seems most people are devoted. Since I don't have a farm or do enough to have a big tractor, I just settle for what I can get. I love my MD I just bought and I also like my JD A my uncle gave to me. Each brand has its advantages and each one has disadvantages. It seems like IH had more advantages and one of them is that you can't help but loving that 4 cylinder purr. Hats off to all the guys that helped IH be what it was and it's a real shame that they had to go out. There is an old dealer a couple hours away they're trying to keep open. It's really cool to go down and look and see all the parts still on the shelves and all the ads still on the wall. A lot of stuff to soak in. Thanks for the good discussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogred Posted August 10, 2010 Share Posted August 10, 2010 Hey,we're glad to have you Reese,you can probably learn more about all brands here than any other forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grateful11 Posted September 13, 2010 Share Posted September 13, 2010 If you want to talk about a tractor lacking quality control we could talk about the 86 series IH and also the 50 series. I will say one thing the people on this website are true blue IH like the JD people are true blue JD. If any body wants to know why IH was on the verge of bankruptcy it was because of their antiquated tractor designs from the 1970's mainly the 66 and 86 series tractors. Those two series of tractors is what drove us to Case and it has been the best business decision we ever made. What are the major QC problems with the 86 series? We have a 686 with an M&W Turbo that's been trouble free except one broken gear in the rear end, about 20 years ago. The brakes are bit grabby in reverse but that's about it. It's been repainted but never overhauled, it has 4400 and some hours on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ken Ryan Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 I can sum it up for you briefly: The union and poor top management brought IH to its knees. Ken Ryan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Towe Posted November 18, 2010 Share Posted November 18, 2010 I can sum it up for you briefly: The union and poor top management brought IH to its knees. Ken Ryan And the economy of the time. And their huge production capabilities which translated into huge overhead in a time when the Farmall plant could produce every tractor sold on the continent in a year in a couple weeks of hard running. That goes back to poor management though. They should have moved the Farmall plant to a smaller, more efficient facility in the early to mid 70s and even that would have been late in the game. Survival in anything requires the ability to change and adapt, and that didn't happen at IH until it was too late, if at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulldogred Posted November 19, 2010 Share Posted November 19, 2010 If you want to talk about a tractor lacking quality control we could talk about the 86 series IH and also the 50 series. I will say one thing the people on this website are true blue IH like the JD people are true blue JD. If any body wants to know why IH was on the verge of bankruptcy it was because of their antiquated tractor designs from the 1970's mainly the 66 and 86 series tractors. Those two series of tractors is what drove us to Case and it has been the best business decision we ever made. What are the major QC problems with the 86 series? We have a 686 with an M&W Turbo that's been trouble free except one broken gear in the rear end, about 20 years ago. The brakes are bit grabby in reverse but that's about it. It's been repainted but never overhauled, it has 4400 and some hours on it. I can't understand how 66 series and 86 series IH tractors were inferior in quality as anything else of that era.Sure both designs had there quirks but so did every other major tractor in that era.Here in the South back then it was all red and green with some blue.There was not a single Case dealer in South Ga. back then I can recall.You started seeing Case on the sign after the merger and those were all former IH dealerships.The only Case tractor I can recall was one neighbor in the community bought a big Agri-King forget the # in the mid 70's,I don't know where he went to get it.I do know they never bought another one.I think the production record of approximately 200,000 66 and 86 series tractors is a pretty good testament to their quality.I know of several bleedin' green,keep up with the Jones's farmers around here that's got a 66 or 86 outback doing the crap work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Fay Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 There's an article coming up i the next Red Power about the McCormick family in the company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bermuda_Ken Posted December 16, 2010 Share Posted December 16, 2010 Brooks farm in "rural" Chicagoland was donated as a park a few years back. The 5288 that he "farmed" with is local to me now. Its kinda unique.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George 2 Posted December 20, 2010 Share Posted December 20, 2010 Ken: Don't hold back on us. What is unique about Brook's 5288? Did it have some experimental parts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squishydreams Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 My Dad and I spent half a day reading up on the history of IH and this thread was a great resource. He does have a question though: Was Lee Iacocca ever involved in managing IH at any point? He seemed to recall that he was back in the 1970's. I actually phoned Case IH and their customer support told me Red Power Magazine would be a great place to find out more info. If anyone knows, that would be great! Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard_P Posted January 1, 2011 Share Posted January 1, 2011 Iacocca started at Ford in 1946, moving up through the ranks to VP in 1960, then President in 1970. Fired by Henry Ford in 1978, he then went to Chrysler, no time at IH. There were several Ford people at IH during the 1980s. Donald Lennox, who was the President after McArdell came from Ford. I think one of the Truck Div. Presidents during this time also came from Ford, but I can't remember his name. Larry Shinoda who was at Ford, spent a short time as head of IH Truck Division Styling in 1980 after the the departure of Ted Ornas. Howard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squishydreams Posted January 3, 2011 Share Posted January 3, 2011 Iacocca started at Ford in 1946, moving up through the ranks to VP in 1960, then President in 1970. Fired by Henry Ford in 1978, he then went to Chrysler, no time at IH. There were several Ford people at IH during the 1980s. Donald Lennox, who was the President after McArdell came from Ford. I think one of the Truck Div. Presidents during this time also came from Ford, but I can't remember his name. Larry Shinoda who was at Ford, spent a short time as head of IH Truck Division Styling in 1980 after the the departure of Ted Ornas. Howard Thank you for the reply Howard! I'll pass that information along to my dad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guy Fay Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 Iacocca started at Ford in 1946, moving up through the ranks to VP in 1960, then President in 1970. Fired by Henry Ford in 1978, he then went to Chrysler, no time at IH. There were several Ford people at IH during the 1980s. Donald Lennox, who was the President after McArdell came from Ford. I think one of the Truck Div. Presidents during this time also came from Ford, but I can't remember his name. Larry Shinoda who was at Ford, spent a short time as head of IH Truck Division Styling in 1980 after the the departure of Ted Ornas. Howard IH went from Ted Ornas to Larry Shinoda? Man, talk about a downfall....Lots of Larry stories out there from the GM days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Howard_P Posted January 4, 2011 Share Posted January 4, 2011 I can't say he was the first after Ornas, but he was there for a short time--6 months or so I think. Ted didn't have too much good to say about it either. Howard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bmacguyver Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 having read this thread and knowing what happened with the explosion in light truck and suv sales in the early and mid 80's i have to wonder what might have happened if they had kept the light lines going for a few more years. mac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Random Hero Posted March 31, 2011 Share Posted March 31, 2011 This topic actually made me join this forum. I got the link on another farming-forum where i asked for some IH history. This was some really interesting stuff. That you all for that. But i still kind of miss something from about 1980 to 1985 and some actual dates like when Tenneco took over and such. I was told it was on November 26, 1984 that IH agreed to sell. And it was on May 24 or 26, 1985 that Tenneco finally took over. Doe it have some truth to it or was i informed wrong? I know i could just get a copy of "A Corporate Tragedy" but not having English as my first language it can be hard to read a whole book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete23 Posted April 2, 2011 Share Posted April 2, 2011 Not much help here on the accurate dates of the switch to Tenaco, however, I remember coming to work one morning in late 1984 and the boss came back to shop and said, well, you are a case mechanic now. He had just received notice on the shop computer network of the pending buyout by Tennaco. Of course it had to pass the congressional anti-monoply smell test I understand so it was a while before it was official. My boss always went to Florida for a month or two and he was not present when the new Franchise agreement had to be signed and I actually proxy signed it for him. So, it had to be like Jan or Feb for that to take place. That is how I remember it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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