This month I would like to look back just one year to the 1/16 models offered by Ertl and Scale Models. 2002 was a big roll out year for mid-sized and utility sized tractors. John Deere’s new 20 series 6000 and small farm 7000 tractors were big news. McCormick tractors were also big news. It is no surprise that both John Deere and McCormick offered toys of their new tractors at the company tents.

John Deere’s 6020 tractors are perfect chore tractors and can be a great top dog tractor on smaller farms. The 6320 tractor rated at 80 hp is well suited for loader work, hay mowing, round bailing and planting. The 6000 series have been reliable work horses since 1992. Ten years later the 2002 6020 models offered new horizons for Deere customers with improved forward visibility, improved ride comfort and fuel efficiency Models like the 6320 offer John Deere’s impressive AutoQuad II and new PowerQuad-Plus transmissions, offering true single-lever control. The 6320 is a truly advanced utility sized tractor.

The 2002 Fall Farm Show Edition 1/16 model from John Deere was a new 6320. This replica was made by Ertl and followed a shelf edition 6420 offered in the spring of 2002. The 6320 was the 4^th in a series of 1/16 John Deere tractors offered at Fall Farm Shows. The series started in 1999 with the brand new 8310, the 2000 model was a 9300T, the 2001 model was the new 7510 and this years model is an 8320 with ILS and front duals. Each model has been packaged in a special John Deere box only offered at the Fall Farm Shows. This series has become highly collectible. The 6320 was a fwa model and had a special seat replicating the active seat found in the 6020 tractors. The seat has John Deere printed across it. The shelf 6420 model just has a tan seat.

The 6020 literature was first offered at John Deere dealers in August 2001. It features a 6320 on the cover. The brochure is 35 pages long and covers the tractors specifications and options. There are many great pictures in the brochure showing the 6320 loading round bales, disking and planting with a 1560 No-Till drill. This brochure is still available at John Deere dealers and has remain unchanged since its release.

Special 6320 John Deere Fall Farm Show box

6020 John Deere Brochure

The brand that had everyone talking in 2002 is McCormick. In 1999 when Case Corp and New Holland joined forces the new combined company named CNH Global had to sell off certain assets to comply with monopoly laws in the United States and the European Union. One of the product lines sold by CNH was the CaseIH C, CX and MX tractor lines. These tractors were produced in Doncaster, England. The Doncaster plant traces its roots to the International Harvester Corporation. IHC now part of CNH opened the plant in 1938 . The first IH tractor produced in Doncaster was a McCormick Farmall M. Over the years many well known IH tractors were built in the plant. The main tractor production at the plant became the IH 84 and 85 series tractors which became the CaseIH 85 series, 4200 series and C models. CaseIH also produced its well known Maxxum line at Doncaster starting in the late 1980's. In 2000 the Argo Group of Italy purchased the CNH Doncaster plant. The tractors produced at the plant remained red but were re-branded under the McCormick Tractors International Limited. This name for the tractor line is fitting tracing its roots back to the original tractors produced at the factory and the patriarch of IHC and McCormick reapers Cyrus McCormick.

In November 2001 The CaseIH MX Maxxum tractors became the McCormick MTX tractors. New features introduced into the MTX range include the Speed Sequencer Transmission and Front Axle Braking. The MTX range includes 118, 132, 147, 163 and 176 hp tractors. Maximising comfort, economy, reliability and durability, the MTX tractors are designed to meet a wide variety of customer applications. Proven, powerful turbocharged engines rated at 2200 rpm are ISO mounted on a cast steel chassis prolonging engine life and driver comfort by reducing all round noise levels. A four speed powershift transmission with a combined range shift and a 4th range soft shift, allows the operator to change between speeds under full load without stopping, whilst a forward and reverse power shuttle optimises cycle times whether on headlands or in the yard.

One last historical note I would like to make is that while the McCormick brand name traces it roots to IH tractors and McCormick reapers made as early as 1831 the MTX tractors is actually a J.I. Case design. Case was developing a mid-sized tractor from its backhoe line built in France before it merged with IH in 1985. The project continued and in 1988 the case engineered tractor was introduced as a case International Maxxum. The smaller C McCormicks have true IH roots at the Doncaster plant going back to the IH 84 series.

Scale Models first offered a 1/16 MTX as a Fall Farm Show edition in 2002. This 1/16 model is a fwa and duals model representing the 147 hp MTX 140. The model has a collectors stamp on the roof and a Scale Models collectors tab around the front tire. This model is the second 1/16 McCormick toy. The first 1/16 model was a C70 McCormick offered in February 2002 at the National Farm Machinery Show in Louisville, KY. The C70 was also produced by Scale Models and the toy maker offered the casting as a C100 for the 2002 Fall Farm Shows.

McCormick has two versions of the MTX literature in North America. In Canada McCormick dealers carry the same brochure as European brochure. United States dealers have what I would call a mid-western version. The Canadian brochure has a silver cover and pictures of the MTX tractors on European 3pt equipment. The brochure is 15 pages long. The U.S. version is a fold out flyer style brochure. It pictures an MTX 125 on the cover. Inside it shows an MTX 125 pulling a Brent 644 gravity wagon in front of large grain bins in a typical corn belt scene. Both brochures are still available at McCormick dealers depending which country you live in