OK! I suppose I brought it on myself! Mustn’t make grumpy comments in print on message boards! But it all started with a John Deere.

A few years ago, at a National Tractor event, when it came to judging the most original and best-restored tractor at the show, a John Deere 710 was marked down because it had, (according to the judges), lift arms that came out the year after the tractor was built. The prize was given to a 1953 Fordson Major Diesel.

It later turned out that the John Deere was a late in the year model and totally as it came from the factory. Like all manufacturers John Deere had fitted parts from the next years model to this tractor. Ford did the same thing in the 1970’s when we dealers had been complaining about lack of power after the “Q” cab had been installed. Suddenly a batch of tractors were received that would pull like mad! It later came out that after a certain engine number, Ford uprated the engine to the “10” series specifications without telling anyone.

And the 1953 Major? The one that won the prize? The one that was pictured with its proud owner and shiny cup? That had BRIGHT ORANGE GRILLS!!!!!

Going back in history to the village where I was brought up, in 1953 there were three new tractors bought by local farmers. The first was an E1ADKN Major like Henrietta and the other two were E1ADDN Majors, which came to two farms, which shared the same yard. One of these was my father’s tractor.

The farmers tended to share machines in those far off days, so I was brought up with those three tractors, among others like E27N’s, Model N’s, Nuffields, Ferguson’s and IH SBWD6’s. We youngsters all had our favourite tractors. Mine (of course) were the Majors.

As I grew up and went to work in the agricultural industry as a fitter, these tractors remained in use and I eventually serviced most of them both for the dealer I was working for and in later years as a friend of the farmers concerned, looking after an old faithful employee. My father’s old tractor even donated parts for Henrietta and Barry T has the starting handle for his Major. She finally went to the big melting pot in the sky in the early 1990’s.

None of these Majors and none of the many hundreds of Majors I have serviced or bought and sold in my career with Ford dealers, were or have ever been fitted with Orange Grills. Yet at every show I attend Majors have these fitted.

The Major grill colour was blue. Right from 1951 through to the introduction of the Power major in 1958. Whether they were the wire grills or the pressed steel ones.

In 1958, with the introduction of the Power Major the grill colour changed to silver and it remained silver until the introduction of the New Performance Super Major in 1963. Then it changed to grey to match the wheels and rear wings.

I have seen a Power Major with orange grills in some Fordson literature but these were prepared by artists rather than being pictures of tractors. I never saw one in the flesh.

Now I realise that working for two of the biggest Ford dealers in East Anglia meant that I never saw tractors in other areas but the number of letters I have seen and the comments that have been made by other ex Ford mechanics and sales persons lead me to believe that, in their original paint work, Majors never sported orange grills at any time. Even the spare parts from the store were silver.

The Dexta is not so easy to define. In my time in the dealership I never saw a Dexta with an orange grill. They were all either blue or silver like the Majors. With the change in colour at the introduction of the New Performance range, the grills went grey like the Major.

However more orange grilled Dextas keep coming to light in their original colours. So Ford must have sent some out with orange grills but why? Were they special demonstration units? Or were the early Dextas from 1957 to 1960 fitted with them? Nothing seems to add up. I know what I saw in the time I was at the dealership and I know what I am seeing now. My friends in Holland tell me that all Dextas over there had orange grills and so I began to believe it was an export specification. I know that the petrol Dexta was built for export and that Mark P’s un-restored version has them. So that seemed to re-enforce the theory. Then within the last month two petrol Dextas were returned from New Zealand to East Dereham. Both are January 1961 and both still have their original silver grills!

This months tractor magazines show pictures of original Dexta and Super Dexta tractors in un-restored condition in the ex-farm sales reports. Every single one has silver grills!

I therefore think it is wrong to say no Dexta was fitted with orange grills in the same way it is wrong to say ALL Dextas were fitted with them. However I will go on record as saying no Super Dexta was fitted with orange grills.

As with all things Fordson it would be difficult to prove either point. It might also be said that all Dextas coming into Eastern England had their grill colours changed to either blue or silver but to what purpose? Did Ford think that the staid folk of this region would turn against these brightly coloured tractors and buy more soberly painted ones? But there again we must remember that Henry Ford himself chose the colour scheme of blue and orange because it matched the Essex wagons he had seen when staying at Boreham House and he felt that farmers enjoyed bright things.

I have a theory that some Dextas had their grills painted orange when shown alongside the Major just to emphasise the difference in the two tractors. This was done by dealers or by the Ford demonstration teams and copied by others but I can only guess that this is the case. But I also stand by the fact that I never saw an orange grill in all the Dextas I serviced, sold, bought in or pre-delivery checked, during my time in the dealerships.

Let me say this though. You all have the right to colour your grills and tractors in whatever colour you like, be it purple with green spots if you feel that way inclined. I will stand up for your right to do this. It is your choice and if it gives you pleasure to see it then so be it.

However I also reserve the right to say “EURCH” when I see it!

And if you enter it for a show as an original tractor, expect me to comment!!

You never see a John Deere with orange grills either!