David Brown industrial tractors

David Brown was a patternmaker who started his business in Huddersfield, England, in 1860, focusing primarily on gear manufacturing. In 1936, he formed a partnership with Harry Ferguson, leading to the production of 1,350 Ferguson-Brown tractors. However, this collaboration was short-lived, and Ferguson eventually moved to the United States, where he would later team up with Ford. The first tractor produced under the David Brown name, the VAK1, was introduced in 1939, with initial orders totaling 3,000 units. Unfortunately, due to World War II, only 1,000 tractors were actually manufactured. After the war, full production of tractors resumed. In 1972, David Brown Tractors became a subsidiary of Tenneco and functioned as part of JI Case. By 1983, tractors were no longer produced under the David Brown brand but instead carried the Case name. The Meltham factory, the original site of all David Brown tractor production, was closed in 1988.