Austin farm tractor books - history

Austin Tractors

Herbert Austin, like Henry Ford, had farming roots and aimed to make motoring accessible to the public while reducing the physical labor of farming through mechanization. During World War I, Austin imported American machines and learned about the innovative Fordson tractor.
In 1919, he introduced the Austin R, built at his Birmingham factory, using the new rigid, frameless technology. As Fordson prices dropped, Austin shifted his tractors to the protected French market, challenging Renault's dominance.

A former leather factory with a farming estate in Liancourt, near Paris, became the exclusive site for Austin's tractors, where diesel technology was adopted earlier than in England. During World War II, Liancourt produced German military vehicles, leading to the imprisonment and, in some cases, execution of Austin's management. After the war, there was an effort to revive the French tractors, and British Austin engines were used in Bristol crawlers.

This book reveals the intriguing and largely untold story of the tractors made by one of Britain's major car manufacturers.

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