Agricultural Tractors - France: Books - History (2/3)

Les tracteurs des 30 glorieuses

The 30 glorious years: a prosperous period for industry but also for agriculture. As soon as the Marshall Plan was put in place, farmers were able to equip themselves and see their profession evolve thanks to the use of agricultural machines that they helped to improve by testing them.
In this book, for the first time, are brought together the documents presenting the most emblematic and innovative tractors that have marked the agricultural world and allowed the expansion of its mechanization.

A collector's book with 200 models and 50 French brands!

Information

Les tracteurs de nos voisins (1930-1975) - Allemagne

How did foreign tractors advance agriculture in France? This time, Bernard Gibert immerses us in documents that are still as unpublished as ever and will allow us to discover the technology of German machines.
More than 200 rare and informative brochures on what agriculture was like in France from the 1930s to the 1970s!

The most widely distributed German brands in France in the 1930s were Deutz, Fendt, Lanz and Hanomag. Known for being of good quality, these tractors were very popular. But from the beginning of the Second World War until a few years after the end of the war, they were banned from sale.
They were once again authorized for importation into France from 1950. Once again widely distributed, they experienced a boom among French farmers who were also able to discover models from Porsche or Allgaier. Apart from Deutz or Fendt, the other German brands have now disappeared.

Information

Les tracteurs de nos voisins (1930-1975) - Grande-Bretagne, Amérique du Nord, Europe du Nord

How did foreign tractors advance agriculture in France? This time, Bernard Gibert immerses us in documents that are still as unpublished as ever that will allow us to discover the technology of English, American and Canadian machines.

More than 200 rare and informative brochures on what agriculture was like in France from the 1930s to the 1970s! American tractors with iron wheels can be found on French soil during and after the First World War.
However, the first tractors with pneumatic wheels arrived in the early 1930s and took off after the Marshall Plan. At the time, for the price of a horse, you could invest in the purchase of an American tractor. This also somewhat undermined the trade of French brands.

Concerning tractors from Great Britain, if they had their own brands, such as Nuffield or David Brown, they were often American models built in English factories and imported into France.
Tractors from northern European countries had a reputation for being of excellent quality, especially those of the Volvo and Bolinders brands. Belgian models, little known in France, were often produced in small quantities. As a result, these tractors from northern Europe were often very expensive to buy.
Belgian tractors were not very widespread while Swedish brands were very well distributed. These tractors, from northern countries, are still known today under the Valtra brand.

Information

Les tracteurs de nos voisins (1930-1975) - Suisse, Italie, Espagne, pays de l'Est

How did foreign tractors advance agriculture in France? This time, Bernard Gibert immerses us in documents that are still as unpublished as ever, which will allow us to discover the technology of Italian, Spanish and Eastern European machines.
More than 400 rare and informative brochures on what agriculture was like in France from the 1930s to the 1970s!

Information

Les tracteurs à chenilles à la conquête des campagnes françaises (Tome 1) 1915-1975

Tractors were inspired by technologies from military technology, including tracked vehicles. How did they impact agriculture? How did farmers preserve their soil?

Bernard Gibert, thanks to his rare and precious period documents, continues his ambition to trace the entire history of the mechanization of modern agriculture. So come and climb aboard these legendary tractors with us!

Information

Les tracteurs à chenilles à la conquête des fermes françaises 1915-1985 (Tome 2)

"After publishing a book on crawler tractors requested by many passionate collectors, I was surprised by the success of this first volume. It made me want to continue my research and I found unpublished documents allowing me to complete this first opus with rare models such as the Italian Oto or Landini semi-diesel, like the German Lanz or even the Americans (notably Caterpillar)."

"I also found some among French brands such as:
- the Vidal straddle tractor with tracks,
- the Vermorel and the bizarre Licorne,
- the first model from Renault dating from 1919, type GP,
- some models built until the beginning of the Second World War.

The tractors that I have selected in this 2nd volume were mainly used:
- in the vineyards for their maintenance and for breaking up the soil in preparation for planting the vines,
- in large-scale crops for plowing, subsoiling and stubble cultivation. "

Bernard Gibert, thanks to his rare and precious period documents, continues his ambition to retrace the entire history of the mechanization of modern agriculture. So come and climb aboard these legendary tractors with us!

Information