EARLY IH TOYS

Doug Harke

International McCormick Deering Tractor

International Harvester or McCormick, as it was known on the prairies, has a long history in the area where I grew up.  My great-grandfather and grandfather owned almost 1600 acres in the 1920’s and grew grain and hay on most of it.  They saw the need to supplement the teams of horses with gasoline and kerosene tractors.  Steam engines were fine but were cumbersome except for the largest fields.  Horses worked well for haying and threshing but the effort necessary for plowing and disking the soil for hundreds of acres led to the purchase of a tractor which was a Titan made by International.  This was replaced by a McCormick-Deering 15-30 in the late 1920’s and a W-30 in the 1930’s.  The 10-20 and 15-30 were major reasons for farm mechanization because they improved on the weaknesses of the popular Fordson.  I picked them as one of the most significant developments in the history of farm tractors.

IH Farmall tractors new and old lead the way.

The next quantum jump in the development of tractors was International Harvester’s introduction of the “letter-series” tractors in 1939.  This included the Farmall A, H, and M and the W-4, W-6, and W-9.  I also picked the Farmall M as one of my significant developments in the history of the farm tractor.  International was way ahead of the competition with these nicely designed tractors which had both state-of-the-art engines and transmissions.  Their success was even more enhanced when they announced diesel versions of the M, W-6 and W-9.  Through the early 1950’s, International tractors were clearly the benchmark for the other tractor manufacturers.

Order blank for the 1925 cast iron McCormick-Deering 10-20 made by Arcade.

It is not surprising that an extensive line of toys was modeled on the successful IH tractor line.  The first International farm toy was the 1925 McCormick 10-20 made by Arcade.  Like many detailed toys of the era, it was made of cast iron and had a driver.  In 1929, Arcade added the Farmall Regular which was modeled on the first successful row crop tractor design.  Both of these toy tractors had steel wheels like the real tractors of the time and both were the “machinery gray” which was used for all tractor brands at the time.  A later version of the Regular was painted red because the real tractors changed from gray to red in 1937.  Most of the red Regulars had solid rubber wheels signaling the change to rubber tires on tractors in the late 1930’s.  There were some red 10-20’s with solid rubber wheels but these are very rare. 

Arcade made a good selection of implements to augment the International tractor line.  A two-bottom plow was made to hitch behind either tractor.  A later version of the horse-drawn manure spreader, on rubber wheels, could be equipped with a tractor hitch.  The most common Arcade implement is the thresher which came in machinery gray with red trim.  In comparison to the Arcade tractors which are 1/16 scale, the thresher was slightly undersized  and probably closer to 1/24 scale.  Arcade also made a smaller version of the thresher for the general toy market and these came in several colors.

Complete line of early International toys, made by Arcade, from a 1929 Farm Mechanics magazine.

Arcade changed the IH toy line in 1940 introducing a cast iron Farmall M and a Farmall A.  Both tractors used the same solid rubber wheels but the Farmall A was closer to 1/12 scale since it was a much smaller tractor in real life than the M.  All of the Arcade tractors had chrome or nickel plated drivers and the A and M had chrome drawbars.  The 10-20 is the most common of these International tractors and the Farmall’s are much more scarce.  Production of Arcade’s cast iron toys ended when Arcade joined the war effort to make machine parts.  There is a good selection of parts to repair and restore Arcade toys.

Later cast iron Farmall M and A and International cabover trucks by Arcade from the 1940 Arcade catalog

Rest of the Arcade line of International toys.

Product Miniature cornered much of the IH toy market with their plastic Farmall M which came out in 1946.  It was an extremely popular toy with more than a million sold by the end of 1947.  Although the plastic M didn’t have an M model number decal, it was very clear that it was an M.  Young farmers could stretch their imagination and call it an H.  There was a minimum of detail on the M but it was surprisingly sturdy for a plastic toy.  The hitch was steel wire which took the rigors of pulling an implement.  Most common variations of the plastic M have either “International Harvester “ or “McCormick-Deering” on the hood decal.  There was also a variation with spoked front rims and another that was a white demonstrator model.  Product Miniature also made a nice plastic flarebox wagon with automotive steering to hitch to the M.  This wagon came with either “McCormick” or McCormick-Deering” decals.  Carter Tru-Scale made a pressed steel two-bottom plow, manure spreader, and a drag disk to pull behind the plastic M.  There were several versions of the plow and spreader but the ones with the solid rubber wheels were the early ones to go with the plastic M.  There is a good selection of plastic parts to repair broken plastic M’s and steel parts for spreaders, plows, and disk

By the end of 1947, more than one million plastic M’s, by product Miniature had been sold.  This picture from a 1948 employee’s magazine shows both the assembled and kit versions.

Complete IH toy line, in 1948, from a 1948 IH magazine.

Cover of the 1948 IH magazine showing a toy crawler that was never produced.

Reuhl marketed a very detailed and fragile Farmall Cub when the real one was introduced in 1948.  Design Fabricators and Saunders also marketed the Cub so you will find them in several forms of packaging.  The Cub was a model and not a toy as it couldn’t withstand the rigors of young farmers.  Cubs came assembled or in kit form.  Because they were so fragile, few survive today.  Major variations of the Cub are with smooth or lug rear tires.  No parts are available to repair Cubs so you have to use broken ones to salvage parts..

Ad for the plastic Farmall Cub marketed by Reuhl

Ertl made two sandcast Farmalls but neither was licensed by IH and the short run now makes them very scarce and pricey.  During the era of the closed flywheel John Deere A, in the late 1940’s, they made a Farmall H which had a cast in driver and solid rubber wheels and was closer to 1/20 scale just like the A.  In the early 1950’s, they made a Farmall M which was very similar to the techniques used for the John Deere hipost B.  It had yellow tin rim wheels and is often confused with the early Tru-Scale M’s.  From a distance, both look similar but they have many different features which you will notice quickly on a closer inspection.  Both of these early Farmalls are rare and the starting price is $400 even for a repaint or a well used one.

Original Sandcast Ertl Farmall H from Jason Skillen's collection of IH toys. 

Coverage of early IH farm toys is not complete without mentioning the pedal tractors.  The earliest one was the open grill Farmall H which was the small size which persisted until 1953 when the large Farmall M’s and large John Deere 60 started a new trend.  Most cast pedal tractors were made by Eska which also was the primary marketing arm for toy tractors and implements until 1963.

Farm newspaper ad the open grill Farmall H pedal tractor by Eska.

TTT August 2003 Page 8

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