Instead of being orange, these new tractors wore a new blue and silver colour scheme.
Reliability issues and a perceived need to update the ageing Nuffield brand were two of the reasons that these tractors, built in a factory at Bathgate in Scotland shared by the production lines of the Leyland small and medium-sized truck ranges, were phased out in 1969 with a range of three Leyland-branded tractors replacing the old order. This range, painted orange, had slowly evolved over the years and, in 1967, comprised three new models: the little 4/25 derived from the earlier BMC Mini tractor, the 3/45 which was the only three-cylinder-powered tractor in the range, and the flagship 4/65 model. and Leyland join forces as the British Leyland Motor Corporation Ltd., known simply as British Leyland.īritish Motor Holdings Ltd., itself the result of a merger, included the Nuffield tractor range that had originally been created in 1948 by Morris. While the Leyland name itself came from Leyland Motors, based in the Lancashire town of Leyland, various mergers during the course of the 1960s led to lots of other British companies being absorbed, until the mega-merger at the end of the decade, which saw British Motor Holdings Ltd. So, how did it all start?īack in 1972, Leyland was still a very new name when it came to agricultural tractors. In later years a big revamp would occur, but that was pretty tame in comparison with what happened in 1972 – when the company decided to go all out to compete with the big players in the tractor market.ĭespite the Leyland name only being placed on tractors three years before, the new models that appeared during 1972 would pave the way for the rest of Leyland tractor production beyond 1980. It was half a century ago when British Leyland made its biggest ever launch of new tractor models.
The safety cab was brought across from the 344 model that the 255 replaced, and was capable of being tipped backwards to gain access to the driveline. Leyland’s new tractor range: A weathered example of the Leyland 255, the smallest of the new 1972 Leyland range to feature the new 4/98 engine.
0 kommentar(er)
