Massey-Ferguson 65 Tractor

A nice tractor and the first one issued by Corgi. This is from my own collection and has survived well. I suppose we didn’t race tractors around the floor as much as other models!

There are several variations of this first tractor: the wheels can be metal or plastic, the steering wheel black or grey plastic or silver metal and there are silver or red bucket seats. There are also variations in the shade, mostly of the white parts which can be cream, pale pink or fawn.

From what I can gather, this version, with metal wheels and a red seat and black plastic steering wheel is one of the scarcer types. Nearly all those for sale have silver seats.

My example is one of the very earliest. The tyres are original and excellent but the wheels wobble a little on their axles. There are a few chips on the red paintwork but these don’t detract from the general impression of a really nice model.

This also has that extra value as the first item in the lists. It appears first in the 1959 catalogue with a red seat, then in 1960 is shown with a silver seat. A driver doesn’t actually appear in very late in its life - around 1965 in Gift Set 7 with the trailer.