Harry Ferguson was born in Growell, sixteen miles from Belfast on 4th November 1884. Ferguson was born into a strict Protestant family of Scottish descent, a farming family who had farmed in County Down for several generations. Ferguson was the fourth child to James and Mary Ferguson, his parents having eleven children in total.

Leaving school at fourteen, Ferguson worked initially on his parents farm, staying there for a total of four years. He didn't take to farming and left in 1902 to become an apprentice mechanic in his eldest brother's firm. Joe the oldest brother had set up a small repair shop for motor cars and cycles, called J.B.Ferguson, the shop was situated in Belfast. Harry Ferguson took to his apprenticeship and showed a natural aptitude for tuning engines.

By 1904, Ferguson was entering various motor car and cycle races, this both vented a new found passion for racing, and also helped promote the business. By 1908, Ferguson had designed a monoplane, this was fitted with a V8 engine and developed 35HP. On 31st December 1909, Ferguson flew the monoplane 130 yards, thus making him the first aviator to build and fly his own plane, and also the first man to make a powered flight in Ireland.

Meanwhile there were disagreements between Ferguson and his brother Joe, who felt that such stunts in cars, cycles and aeroplanes were a waste of time. The disagreements were probably more personal as both brothers were trying to court the same local girl. It was time for Harry Ferguson to strike out on his own.

In 1911, Ferguson left his brother's employment and set up his own garage in May Street, Belfast. This was made possible by the financial support of two friends, one of which was a local landowner. The garage was initially called May Street Motors, but was changed to Harry Ferguson Ltd during 1912. His new garage acted as agents for Maxwell, Star and Vauxhall makes, it wasn't long before Harry Ferguson Ltd was achieving a good rate of sales. In part the racing that Ferguson had taken part in had made a bit of a name for him within the local community, this must have elevated sales.

Although there had been the disagreements between Harry Ferguson and his brother, their relationship improved after he left. In fact the two brothers collaborated on a project to build a car with minimum maintenance. The car was affectionately called the 'Fergus' and was based on Vauxhall running gear.

With the start of the First World War, the call up had seriously deprived farms of both men and horses. There was an urgent need for agricultural mechanisation and Ferguson was ready to take up the challenge. He acted as an agent for the American company Waterloo Boy Tractors, which were being sold in Great Britain under the Overtime name. Ferguson initialised a series of demonstrations showing the Overtime working with a Canadian three furrow cockshutt plough. The demonstrations brought Ferguson to the attention of the Irish Board of Agriculture, who in turn asked him to tour Ireland on its behalf. During Spring 1917, Ferguson travelled around Ireland for the Board of Agriculture, instructing farmers on the correct operation of their tractors and ploughs, no doubt picking up some business for himself at the same time.

The demonstrations highlighted to Ferguson obvious failings with the tractors and their equipment. Ferguson set about designing a plough that operated as an integral part of the tractor. The first 'Ferguson Plough' appeared in December 1917. The following year Ferguson started designing a plough for the Fordson.

By 1919 an advanced version of the plough was designed to fit the Fordson, which by this time was being manufactured at the new Ford plant at Cork.

In a bold move, Ferguson travelled to America to meet Henry Ford, in an attempt tp persuade Ford to manufacture the new plough in America. The meeting did not go as intended, Ford simply offered Ferguson a job; which was declined; and then offered to buy the plough patents, this was also declined and Ferguson returned to Ireland.

Further refining of the plough eventually led Ferguson to enter into a business agreement with Eber & George Sherman in America, they were the American distributors of Fordson and agreed to manufacture the plough. At long last some returns were coming back to Ferguson for his research and patenting of plough systems.

By 1928, Ferguson's motor business had become quite successful, however the plough business wasn't going so well. Designed to solely fit the Fordson Model F tractor, Ford had decided to end production. Although Ferguson approached other tractor manufacturers, none were willing to commit themselves. Ferguson was left with the decision to build his own tractor. Drawings for a Ferguson tractor evolved during 1932 and a protottype assembled during 1933.

David Brown & Sons Ltd were a long established engineering firm. Brown had been impressed by a demonstration of the Ferguson tractor and entered into an agreement with Ferguson to manufacture the tractors. David Brown Tractors Ltd was created for the purpose.

The prototype tractor had been painted black, this was considered to austere, Ferguson decided that the production tractors should be painted in a battleship grey. The 'little grey Fergie' was about to make its debut.

By the later 1930's Harry Ferguson Ltd had started to run into financial difficulties. The company merged with David Brown Tractors Ltd, with Brown and Ferguson as joint Managing Directors.

The Ferguson - Brown alliance wasn't a particularly happy one. By 1938 the partnership was at breaking point. Ferguson travelled to America once again to see Henry Ford and this time managed to secure a deal for Ford to build a Ferguson tractor in the USA.

On 1st February 1939 Ferguson - Brown Ltd was changed back to David Brown Tractors Ltd. Brown would carry on his own line of tractors.

The Ford 9N tractor, often referred as the 'Ford Ferguson', went into production with Ford and had evolved from the Ferguson Type A, that had been built by Brown to Ferguson's design. The 9N bore the Ford badge and a plaque underneath stating 'Ferguson System', this plaque was to satisfy Ferguson. Ironically issues over badging would take place much later on the Jensen FF.

Back in Ireland and with the outbreak of the Second World War, Ferguson's motor business was left with no cars to sell. This part of Ferguson's company immediately moved into armaments manufacture. Ferguson remained in America distributing the 'Ford Ferguson'.

By 1945 Ford's son, Henry Ford II, took control of the company. Ford senior had been unwell and the company had been losing money. In an effort to control losses, Ford II announced in November 1946 that the company was terminating its agreement with Ferguson, a further announcement stated that their tractor production would only be distributed through Ford. Ferguson was furious, and things got worse when Ford II brought out a new tractor, the '8N', which was controversially stated as having a new 'Ford Hydraulic System'. The system was the same as the 'Ferguson System' apart from a few very minor changes.

Ferguson was left with an American distribution organisation and no tractors to sell. In January 1948 Ferguson filed a lawsuit against the Ford Motor Company for alleged ruination of Fergusons' business and also patent infringement. The claim was for $251 million in damages and costs. The legal battle was prolonged and lasted until April 1952, when Ford agreed to pay an out of court settlement of $9.25 million and also to stop using Ferguson patents.

In private Ferguson was disappointed with the settlement, however much publicity had been generated from the court case, which would assist his latest project - a Ferguson tractor manufacturing company based in Coventry, England.

A new alliance had been made with Sir John Black, the Managing Director of the Standard Motor Company. An agreement was signed on 20th August 1946, with the Standard Motor Company agreeing to manufacture Ferguson tractors for an initial period of ten years. Ferguson set up an independent company to undertake marketing, design, research and development of the tractor and associated implements.

Ferguson left America and purchased a mansion near Stow-on-the-Wold in Oxfordshire, England. The mansion named Abbotswood was set in 600 acres of grounds and was within easy commuting distance of the tractor factory. The new Ferguson tractor was designated the 'TE-20'. The letters signifying 'Tractor-England' and the '20', the approximate horsepower. The first demonstration of the tractor was held in September 1946. The 'TE-20' was hugely successful, and by 1949 over 100,000 had been manufactured.

The success of the tractor was not only due to its excellent design. Ferguson had set up an excellent dealer network and gave well prepared demonstrations. Harry Ferguson Ltd even ran its own sales & service training schools, to train dealer personnel, and in 1949 the Ferguson School of Mechanical Farming was established.

During 1953, Ferguson decided to sell out to Massey-Harris. The meeting with Massey-Harris's President James Duncan took place at Abbotswood. The agreement reached stated that Ferguson would receive $16 million worth of Massey-Harris shares in exchange for the operating Ferguson companies.

By the time Ferguson was deciding to sell to Massey-Harris, he had tractor related interests in many countries. It would seem that during the closing stages of the deal that lawyers putting together the agreement had left out Ferguson's interests in France. He was due another $1 million, however Duncan was already at his limits with the offer of $16 million. Ferguson not wishing the whole deal to fall through, put forward to Duncan that they toss a coin over the $1 million, Duncan agreed and Ferguson lost. On the 17th August 1953 Massey-Harris and Harry Ferguson Ltd merged as 'Massey-Harris-Ferguson Ltd'. Duncan offered Ferguson the position of Chairman of the Board. Sir John Black meanwhile, had concerns that their contract to manufacture tractors would be renewed. Black met with Duncan and the outcome was a new agreement for a further twelve years manufacturing contract.

Once again relationship problems developed, this time between Ferguson and Duncan, especially over the pricing structures of tractors. On the 7th July 1954, Ferguson resigned from Massey-Harris Ferguson Ltd.

Ferguson was almost seventy when he retired from Massey-Harris-Ferguson Ltd, he had already started a new company 'Harry Ferguson Research Ltd in April 1950, with the idea of creating a safe family car with a four-wheel-drive system. His passion for motor vehicles had been re-kindled during 1948, when he agreed to back the development of a four-wheel-drive vehicle nicknamed the 'crab'. The design had been put together by racing drivers, Freddie Dixon and Tony Rolt, they joined Ferguson's new company as joint Directors.

As the 'crab' project progressed, Ferguson brought in Claude Hill, an ex-Aston Martin engineer, to join the team at Redhill in Surrey. Dixon felt that Ferguson was taking over the whole project, became disillusioned and left Harry Ferguson Research Lts shortly after its conception.

The original Dixon/Rolt 'crab' design was basically discarded and a prototype 'R2' four-wheel-drive vehicle created, an 'R3' with further improvements quickly followed. Various advanced safety features included a hydraulic torque converter mated to a normal gearbox allowing a semi-automatic transmission along with the Ferguson-Maxaret anti-lock braking system developed with Dunlop.

Ferguson became actively involved in the 'R' projects after resigning from Massey-Harris-Ferguson Ltd, and was to oversee the 'R4' prototype, which was completed in 1954. By July 1956, the company moved from Redhill to Toll End Bar in Coventry.

The 'R5' Estate prototype was completed in 1959, it was with this car that Ferguson hoped to get a major car manufacture interested to take on the rights. Unfortunately for Ferguson no manufacture seemed interested to take up a four-wheel-drive system. Richard Jensen, one of the brothers of Jensen Motors Ltd had taken an interest in the 'R5' project, although no agreement was reached, Jensen maintained contact with Harry Ferguson.

Ferguson was still unable to detach himself from the tractors that he had so long been associated with. In 1960 a division of Harry Ferguson Research Ltd was created, Harry Ferguson Tractor Research Ltd. Their brief was to build a new light weight tractor incorporating the hydraulic torque converter. Meanwhile Ferguson began the development of a four-wheel-drive racing car code-named 'Project 99'.

On the 25th October 1960, Ferguson suddenly collapsed and died. He would not see the debut of the 'P99' or indeed his dream of a four-wheel-drive system incorporated into a production car.

The 'P99' made its debut at Silverstone on the 8th July 1961 and later won the Oulton Park Gold Cup Race with Stirling Moss at the wheel. Immense publicity followed the 'P99' win and Harry Ferguson Research Ltd received various enquiries about their four-wheel-drive system. An unofficial agreement had already been reached between Ferguson and Jensen, resulting in the two companies working together to perfect the system for production. It would take until 1964 before Jensen Motors and Harry Ferguson Research signed a formal agreement.

JENSEN MOTORS LTD

TWO BROTHERS WITH VISION

Richard & Alan Jensen

In 1964 Jensen Motors Ltd entered into an agreement with Harry Ferguson Research Ltd, to use the Ferguson four-wheel-drive system in a production car. By 1965 the first prototype Jensen four-wheel-drive vehicle had been completed, the glass fibre bodied CV8-FF, but how had the company first started.

Alan and Richard Jensen were born in Moseley, Birmingham. Alan Jensen was born in 1906 and Richard in 1909, their father was provisions importer of Danish descent. Both brothers entered into the motoring trade, Alan as an apprentice with Serck Radiators and Richard as an apprentice with Wolseley Motors.

The two brothers decided to build their own specially bodied car. Their father bought them a 1923 Austin Seven Chummy and not long afterwards, the body was removed and a sleek low sports style body fitted in its place.....'Jensen Special Number One' was born.

'Jensen Special Number One' had come to the attention of Arthur Wilde, Chief Engineer of the Standard Motor Company. This led to a meeting with Alan and Richard Jensen, the outcome of which, was 'Jensen Special Number Two' built on a Standard Nine chassis.

'Jensen Special Number Two' received some publicity, through which, Alan Jensen was introduced to Avon Bodies, they asked Jensen if he would design a production model for them based on the 'Jensen Special Number Two'. Meanwhile Richard Jensen left Wolseley Motors and joined Joseph Lucas.

During 1931 Richard Jensen was introduced to J.A.Patrick, the Chairman of Edgbaston Garages Ltd. The outcome of their meeting was Patrick offering both Alan and Richard Jensen positions within his company, where they were given 'carte-blanc' to re-organise Edgbaston Garage.

It wasn't long before the two brothers had re-organised the entire garage, creating a coach building department and up-dating the service department. Although it was against the personal wish of Patrick himself, the two brothers were voted onto the board of directors. Once on the board they managed to have the business renamed 'Patrick Jensen Motors Ltd'.

Joe Patrick wasn't entirely happy with the company re-naming, but the situation was made worse when he overheard two customers talking, one had asked the other if he knew either of the Jensen brothers. The other customer replied that he did know one of them...well enough to call him Pat.

Patrick could have been amused by this conversation, but he wasn't, he was furious that a customer had taken his surname to be nothing more than the first name of one of the Jensen brothers. An extraordinary meeting was called the next morning, which became so heated that the Jensen brothers left in the afternoon.

The Jensens' next door neighbour introduced the brothers to George Mason, whose father had an interest in a long established coach building firm, W.J.Smith & Sons. The company was not doing well and Mason asked the brothers if they would be interested to step in and re-organise the business, they agreed and assumed the positions of joint Managing Directors.

Most of the business was the construction of commercial vehicle bodies. Richard Jensen set about re-organising the business side of the company, while Alan Jensen dealt with the practical side of commercial vehicle building.

When the commercial side was operating smoothly, the Jensen brothers set up a small car building department in one area of the factory. By 1934, W.J. Smith & Sons underwent a name change, becoming 'Jensen Motors Ltd'. Under the new Jensen name, the car building department started producing small sports bodies fitted to Wolseley Hornet, Singer, Standard and Morris Eight chassis. All suitably emblazoned with the Jensen badge.

Further commissions were soon coming to Jensen Motors Ltd, including the famous off set bodies for Ron Horton, based on the MG Midget and Magnette. Both cars became record breakers at Brooklands and helped put the Jensen name into the public eye.

Clark Gable was interested in having a special sports car built, a colleague had mentioned the Jensen name to him and outlined that they could make something quite special for him. Enquiries were made to Jensen Motors Ltd and it was agreed that a Ford V8 chassis would be sent over to West Bromwich for the commission. A beautiful and very elegant sports body was fitted to the chassis, which was exhibited at the 1934 Ford Motor Show stand held at the Albert Hall before being shipped out to Gable.

This was turning point for the Jensen brothers, who were suddenly inundated with enquiries for Gable car replicas. A stumbling block for the brothers was that Ford never gave permission for other manufacturers to use their components for production models, however Ford had the chance to drive the Gable car and was extremely impressed, he gave the brothers permission to use Ford chassis, engines and spares. Approximately twenty replicas were built and sold through Bristol,Street Motors, the Birmingham based Ford dealers.

It had been an ambition of the Jensen brothers to build a truly Jensen production car. The Gable car had allowed the brothers access to the Ford parts bin, which made the vision of a Jensen production car a distinct possibility.

The design for a two door sports tourer named the 'White Lady' began in 1934 and this led to the building of a four door version named the 'S Type', which was completed in 1935. The 'S Type' was receive much acclaim with Sir Malcolm Campbell giving much praise to the quality of workmanship and superb drive. By 1936, the two door sports tourer was also put into production.

As much praise as Jensen Motors Ltd were receiving for their motor cars, it was still the commercial vehicle side of the company that kept the order books full. With the outbreak of the Second World War, Jensen Motors' commercial skills led to contracts for specialised military vehicles such as ambulances and fire-tenders. The brothers even came up with a solution to convert Sherman tanks for amphibious use, ready for the D-Day landings.

After the war Jensen Motors Ltd returned to passenger car production, announcing the 'PW' saloon in 1946. The 'PW' saloon prototype was shown at the Jubilee Cavalcade of the British Motor Industry in July 1946. Production of the 'PW' saloon would be a problem as the Jensen brothers were struggling to obtain sufficient engine units.

During 1947, Austin brought out their 'Sheerline', the car was an exact replica of the 'PW' saloon. Richard Jensen was livid and went to see Leonard Lord, head of Austin Motors. After an initial row over replicating the 'PW' saloon, the matter was resolved with Lord agreeing to supply Jensen Motors with engine units for the 'PW' saloon.

A long lasting association developed between Jensen and Austin Motors, which led to Lord asking Jensen Motors if they would like to submit designs for a new Austin sports car. A design was prepared and accepted, with Jensen Motors receiving the contract for the building of the sports bodies. The completed car was named the Austin A40 Sports.

The Austin contract generated much needed income for Jensen Motors and led to them designing a new car, the Interceptor Cabriolet, which was announced in 1950. As with the 'PW', this car was to be powered by the Austin 4 litre engine.

In 1952 Austin and Morris merged and became the British Motor Corporation. Donald Healey had developed a new sports car named the 'Healey 100', this striking car was a star attraction at the 1952 Motor Show. Healey suddenly found that he was completely unable to build enough cars for the growing order book. Lord offered to build the Healey car at his Longbridge factory with a price for the finished car £100 cheaper than that set by Healey. An agreement was reached and the 'Healey 100' quickly found itself re-named the 'Austin-Healey 100'.

It transpired that Tickford, who were going to build the bodies for Healey would be unable to cope with demand. Lord contacted Jensen Motors and asked if they would like the contract to build the bodies, the Jensen brothers were more than keen to accept the lucrative contract.

Once again the 'Austin-Healey' contract had allowed Jensen Motors to develop a new Jensen car. In 1953 the Jensen 541 made its debut at the Earls Court Motor Show. The new car was the first four seater production car to be made from glass fibre. The brothers had used the material before in a limited way, but on the 541 it allowed them to produce body shapes far more cheaply than if they had been manufactured using metal. Once again an Austin engine was used along with Austin components.

The 541 series continued until its replacement, the CV8, in 1962. Meanwhile a new factory was commissioned at Kelvin Way, West Bromwich, allowing everything to be built under one roof, rather than the three separate factories that they had been working from.

By the late 1950's neither of the Jensen brothers were in the best of health, this was exaggerated by over work and industrial disputes. In 1959 the brothers contacted John Sheffield who had founded the Norcros Group. They had become successful, purchasing family businesses with healthy growth prospects, but potential death duty problems. The brothers were willing to have Jensen Motors Ltd placed under the financial control of the Norcros Group, this would give the company financial freedom and also would give the two brothers a good personal deal in terms of shares. An agreement was reached and the two brothers agreed to stay on at Jensen Motors for a period of five years. Each brother alternated as Chairman on an annual basis.

With new financial security, Jensen Motors managed to win the contract to complete the Volvo P1800 Sports Coupe. Bodies came from Pressed Steel and painting and trimming was completed by Jensen Motors. The contract was cut short over quality control disputes, Jensen Motors blamed Pressed Steel for the quality of their bodies, but Volvo decided to move the entire operation back to Sweden. Jensen Motors received compensation for the loss of the contract.

Jensen Motors continued work in the background on the 541 replacement, meanwhile Harry Ferguson Research Ltd had been working on a four-wheel-drive system for a car. Various prototype cars had been assembled and tested but unfortunately no car manufacturers showed any interest. Richard Jensen had heard about the Ferguson four-wheel-drive system and had seen one of the prototypes on demonstration. Excited by the concept, he maintained contact with Rolt at Harry Ferguson Research Ltd, which led to the two companies coming to a formal agreement in 1964 for Jensen Motors to build a four-wheel-drive production car named the CV8 FF. The 'FF' stood for 'Ferguson Formula', the name given to the four-wheel-drive system by Ferguson.

The CV8 made its debut at the 1962 Earls Court Motor Show. Once again the CV8, like the 541, was largely manufactured using a glass fibre shell. Instead of the Austin engine, Jensen Motors were now fitting the American Chrysler 5.9 litre V8 engine. The Cv8 would also be the first production car to be fitted with an alternator as standard. Further sub-contract work continued in the background, including the building of the Sunbeam Tiger.

Alan Jensen retired as an executive director in 1963 following illness, but remained on the board. Neither brother was well and Norcros decided it was time to bring in a Managing Director. The first was Michael Day, he took up the position in 1963 but having no specialised knowledge about the motor industry it was found necessary to replace him. Brian Owen took over as Managing Director of Jensen Motors shortly afterwards. With the Jensen brothers still in overall command, Owen often found himself clashing with the brothers over his methods of running the company.

Richard Jensen was still keen on the four-wheel-drive project, but work on its development was slow due to the workload on the Sunbeam Tiger contract. A Jensen FF based on the CV8 wasn't completed until 1965.

As well as work on the prototype CV8 FF, a CV8 chassis had been re-bodied in aluminium as a two seater convertible, and later a hard top prototype was produced. The Jensen brothers wanted to revive the name Interceptor for the possible CV8 replacement, meanwhile it was code-named the 'P66'. As well as the CV8 and new CV8 FF, the Interceptor P66 was made ready for the 1965 Motor Show. The four-wheel-drive CV8 FF immediately found acclaim from the motoring press and with customers wishing to place orders. However the CV8 FF was hardly ready for production and customers were told they would have to wait.

Meanwhile an argument had developed within the Jensen board. The Jensen brothers were keen to go ahead with production of the Interceptor P66 as a CV8 replacement, while Kevin Beattie, the Deputy Chief Engineer of Jensen Motors proposed a new body styled in Italy to fit the CV8 chassis. Beattie found a compatriot in Jensen Motors Managing Director Brian Owen.

Much against the wished of the Jensen brothers, Beattie and Owen won the day after receiving the backing of John Boex, the new head of the Norcros Group.

Beattie and Owen went out to Italy visiting Ghia, Touring Superleggera and Vignale, asking them if they would like to submit designs for a body to fit the CV8 chassis. Touring cam e up with the preferred design but were not able to build the initial bodies. Jensen Motors purchased the designs outright and Beattie took them to Vignale, who were more than happy to build the bodies. By 1966, the new Italian bodied two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive cars were on their way back to West Bromwich. The two-wheel-drive version was named the Jensen Interceptor, while the four-wheel-drive version was named the Jensen FF.

Both cars were shown at the 1966 Motor Show. Jensen Motors would end up with a full order book for the beautiful looking Jensen Interceptor. The four-wheel-drive Jensen FF was to receive much praise and publicity from the motoring press and likewise Jensen Motors found themselves with full order books for its initial production.

Jensen Motors Ltd had come far from its humble background. The Italian bodied Interceptor catapulted the company into the limelight with the wealthy clambering to purchase the eye catching luxury car. The FF, meanwhile, pushed the company into the vanguard of motoring technology.

The world's first production four-wheel-drive car was born. Harry Ferguson's dream had come true and Richard Jensen's 'pet' project was finished. With deteriorating health, Richard Jensen resigned from the Jensen board in 1967, Alan Jensen followed.