What happened to Massey Ferguson?

[paulsharvey]

If money wasn't a primary driving factor, u would have bought a MF 1760M power shuttle in a heart beat. The smaller frame 25 hp was pretty competitive price wise, but was smaller than I wanted. The E models are pretty basic, and the M ones are pretty nice, but the M's are a priced in the same neighborhood as the other 3 of the big 4, Kubota, Case/Newholland, JD.

I would have zero hesitatation with buying a MF.

 

[mo1]

Bankruptcies in the 90s killed all Massey dealers near me. Old iron I see ,not much of the new stuff.

They basically evaporated in this region too. I see plenty of the old 100 series and sometimes a few of the 6 and 8 cylinder 1000 series of the same vintage around, but rarely anything newer. I saw one 4700 series tractor moving hay about a year or so ago, and somebody was cutting hay with a newer one that I couldn't see all that well about 10 years ago, those were the only ones made since the '70s that I'd seen in the wild. Basically everything here from the mid-70s through about the 2000s is Deere or IH/CaseIH (mostly Deere), and the very occasional Ford. There was one dealer in the region that still sold Massey-Ferguson during that time period, they sold Ford and New Holland mostly but sold a few Masseys as a sideline. They then went out of business around 2000 or so and it wasn't until about a year ago that somebody else started a little independent dealership that sells Massey-Ferguson again. However even that dealership mostly sells cattle-handling equipment and trailers and not tractors.

 

[paulsharvey]

So, around here in north FLa, for 75-125hp machines; I would say it's clearly, #1 John Deere, #2: Kubota; #3: Massey; and #4: New Holland/Case. For Right of Way mowing (I mean roads/highways, not powerlines), I see same 1-3; farms, same deal; the one place I see New Holland seems to dominate is with the brush series tractors for powerline heavy mowing, with the special forestry package. Within 45 minutes of me, there is a Massey dealer that seems to be primarily sub 100hp; and another, about 1 hour NW, a primarily Ag Massey dealer.

For the smaller sub 60hp machines; I see a fair number of Masseys used as grading tractors, finish mowers (schools/parks).

When I was younger, it always seemed where I lived, the Clear #1 was Ford, then #2 was Massey, and #3/4 were far behind with John Deere and International/Case.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hard to understand why. I find the AGCO’s to be great. I would easily buy another and probably will. They are modern, loaded with features, have Cummins, SISU or Cat/Perkins diesels in them, plenty of dealer support and not bad looking tractors!

 

[can do]

Hard to understand why. I find the AGCO’s to be great. I would easily buy another and probably will. They are modern, loaded with features, have Cummins, SISU or Cat/Perkins diesels in them, plenty of dealer support and not bad looking tractors!

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View attachment 840942

 

[can do]

Those are some Mighty-Fine tractors.

 

[can do]

M-F= Mighty-Fine Tractors.

 

[can do]

Mighty-Fine tractors.

 

[Peter 315]

Looks like a big Cub Cadet/Yanmar LOL

 

[gckshea]

Well, my question prompted some interesting comments. My initial intent was to address why Massey seems ghostly in the current CUT foray of Kubota, JD, Kioti, TYM, New Holland, former Branson, and a number of less known. Massey hardly makes their list.

Yes, in the ag world, Massey has a little more handhold. And many of you see older Massey iron and call them present, but I'm speaking of today's market. Their apparent distance sure doesn't help their cause to remain competitive.

I have an LS. It's great. But it was and still is lesser % in the market. Massey is less than that!

Happy New Year, y'all.