Chaps,
the Dexta Special is a special problem. I've looked for years to find out the secret behind the Dexta Special and the search end up abortive
There's no evidence that the Special's were only sold in Germany. I also saw them in the Netherlands. But here it could be that the tractors were sold to the Netherlands as used tractors in their later life.
Fact is, that the Special were only in 1964 sold. I was read in a Vintage Tractor Magazine that Ford had problems to sold-out the Dexta's because the Super Dexta costs just a few Pounds more. Ford tried to sold-out the huge stock of Dexta's with a marketing trick. The trick should have been to fit many optional extras for a low price. These limited edition was called Dexta Special.
But there seems to be something fishy about the story, because the german sales brochure doesn't mention that the tractors were fitted with many optional extras. All the available extras have to be payed extra.
So in my opinion it was just a marketing gag to sold-out the Dexta's before the new Ford tractor range came to light.
Fact is also, that the Special were not axiomatic fitted with the huge fenders (see brochure).
Fact is, that the huge rear fenders were already fitted in 1958. And not all Dexta's that came to Germany were fitted with them. My Dexta is built in 1959, came brand new to Germany and is fitted with the small rear fenders. There's absolutely no system to see ... the tractors seems to be delivered to Germany as they came from the assembly line, with or without huge rear fenders.
Fact is, that in the 1950th and 1960th tractors were limited in speed (20 kilometers / hour) to comply the law. So the Dexta's delivered to Germany were fitted with a 6-speed-gearbox but a lock was fitted to the last gear. So they had just 5 gears. It just needed a hack saw to free the top gear
Fact is, that many many Dexta's were fitted with two batteries. And not only the Special in 1964. My tractor (1959) was also fitted with two batteries. Seems to be an export version. Brian, did Ford fitted just 1 batterie for the domestic market?
You guys are wondering about the Dexta Grand Prix? Ford started a promotion tour through UK and continental europe. Belgium, France and Germany just to name few. In every country a couple of fairs were held. A special attraction was a radio controled Dexta. And a competition called
Dexta Grand Prix took place on every fair. The participants had to drive a Dexta through an obstacle-course. The best driver of all the fairs took home a brand new Dexta
The form shown in the entire topic shows the attendance-form.
