The Fordson Tractor Pages Forum

I was having a good root about the workshop and I ran into my stash of Major grille screens, as I looked at the "Live" badges it once again had me wondering, when did Fordson make the change to the blue badge ? This question has puzzled me for some time.

My father bought a new Fordson Major with Live hydraulics and PTO in 1958. It had a blue "Live" badge fixed to the right hand radiator grille.
Tim E

There you go, another baffling fordson mystery that needs to be solved next after the question... when was the orange grills painted??

ford5000y wrote:There you go, another baffling fordson mystery that needs to be solved next after the question... when was the orange grills painted??

Hi
Orange grills is a topic which is nearly banned from the forum . Non of the major grills should be orange. They were either Blue on new majors or silver, on power and super Majors if my memory is correct on it. Orange is something that has crept in with a few to many guys during restoration .
I am pretty sure Brian will give you the full history of grill colors he knows it really well from his fordson days and the arguments on here about it .
Regards Robert

Yes, I know the grille colors are controversial to say the least, I prefer the factory original colors myself but if he or she likes them purple, pink, green, etc that's OK too, as long as its on there tractor and not one of mine. I am most interested about when they changed to the blue 'Live" badge though, I did some scratching around on the screen that has the red letter badge and it has at some point definitely been re-painted, there is blue paint under the silver, so this tells me it was on a regular Major not a Power.

Matt in WI wrote:Yes, I know the grille colors are controversial to say the least, I prefer the factory original colors myself but if he or she likes them purple, pink, green, etc that's OK too, as long as its on there tractor and not one of mine. I am most interested about when they changed to the blue 'Live" badge though, I did some scratching around on the screen that has the red letter badge and it has at some point definitely been re-painted, there is blue paint under the silver, so this tells me it was on a regular Major not a Power.

Hi Matt
The last of those new majors before powers could have a live PTO and hydraulic set up on them. Have seen/owned them in the U.K like it, but never had a genuine in the day North American import with it.
All the ones I picked up here have been single clutches. Have had a dead drive power major and super major here in Canada as well, so not all of those had 2 stage clutch either . I just looked in my sales leaflet folder, Those colors are correct for the grills but the last new performance super majors sold here as Ford 5000 Diesels. Had blue grills with lights in. I would guess the U.K version was silver grills again .
I agree with what you say about the color for a working tractor.The argument here is usually for show tractors or original parts/ color working restorations.
I have seen some ordinary /power major tractors with white fenders,wheels and grills instead of blue tin and orange wheels, more like modern ford colors. i don't have a problem with that on a worker, It's the guys choice again .
I wonder if the red badge was before the powers so it stood out better on a blue grill . Or did somebody paint it in when they did the grills .
Regards Robert

Hi Robert, I have two late New Majors with "Live Drive" but they also have the blue badge. I know this topic might make no difference to some but It has made me curious for a while now. All the aftermarket "Live" badges I seen have been blue. I am siding with you, the red letter badge must have been for a New Major with "Live Drive" but what year did it change I wonder. It may be helpful to someone doing a factory correct restore.

I do have one suspect out in my bone yard that I think the screens may have been removed from, I will get a serial number tomorrow and check the production year, I have gotten myself into the practice of removing the screens as soon as I get a "bone yard" tractor to prevent them from falling out and getting trampled on.

I'm thinking your rite about the badges color change with the Power Major grill color change, my Dads 58 had the orange and I believe my Grandpas that was only a few months from being a Power Major had the orange badge as well.

Pat

Hi Matt
The first powers came out in 58 I can't remember if the first live drive major was late 57, and can't find the new major series bible, right now , my 2 new major leaflets don't even show live as an option for the N/A market but thinking it must be somewhere in those 2 years of 57/8 that badge changed .
If you got 2 genuine new majors with live they could be pretty rare this side, like I said never seen them here in Canada, only the one I got from England I shipped over .
I think Brian might know the answer to this question with a little more certainty

My 60 PM had a Blue Badge. Most of the paint was gone so I re did it in a reversed blue pattern because it was easier than painting the background blue. Dandy Dave.

The badge color makes perfect sense, The blue would show up better on the silver grille and the red/orange on the blue.

I went out and got the serial number from the one I know for sure is a New Major with "Live Drive" 1455519 and it shows as being built 12-57. This was my uncles tractor and the one that made my father trade in his 1956 Major for his first Power Major just for the Live Drive" option. I thought it had a blue badge but after checking its Red/orange

The second "Live Drive" New Major is buried in the back of the shed so it a bit like walking a tight rope to get to at the moment to check serial numbers, but I did notice it does have a faded blue badge on some rather rusty looking screens.

As I said before, I'm going to the bone yard to check out the tractor I suspect the screens in question came off, I know that's a "Live Drive" New Major as well, just unsure of the year.

Maybe I'm sitting on a hoard of rare "Live Drive" New Majors here. Never realized they were that hard to come by in Canada.

Hi Matt
I would guess it was an extra few hundred $ to have live in the day and maybe some people up here had short arms and deep pockets . if they managed with out it on the first ones, I guess if they traded up they probably managed again . I don't see many raised PTO's either I got one on a LD power, heard of 1 more on a super and that's it local, The wreckers never had them either. Must be that arm/ pocket ratio being wrong again
i guess your family found out what they were missing pretty quick . I know i got no red badges here and I have had a few from wrecking yards. so it has to be tied somehow with that 57 tractor before the powers. all my later ones are Blue or faded out like Daves.
Regards Robert

Well I did manage to make it out to my "bone yard" and got a serial number of the tractor I suspected and turns out that it was built in 12-1957 as well. At least I won't lay in bed again wondering about it. But, I did have a sneaky suspicion that the one tucked in the back corner of the shed may be a "Heinz 57" (I had the youngest boy crawl back there after they got home from school today) it has a serial number build date of 8-1956. Also a Super engine but a New Major rear so good chances are this is not a correct New Major with "Live Drive" but just a good old Mutt that I saved from the scrappers at auction.

My family had both Mk2 and Power Majors, both with livedrive and the badges were different. In the UK the Mk2 Major was the first to have livedrive and had a gold grille badge like this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fordson_Major.jpg

The Power Major had the blue badge like this:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/14302965@ ... otostream/

Sometimes collectors put the blue Power Major livedrive badge on the grille of blue/orange Super Majors, but new ones were never supplied like this. They had triangular orange badges on each side at the rear of the bonnet, like this:

http://paulbee.picturepush.com/showform ... clid=53382

I've never seen one with red lettering in the UK.

I hope that's of use!

Sure is. My PM was like the second photo. Dandy Dave!