The tractor & plough Gift Set is kept up to date for years to come. This is the first incarnation. The tractor is the early Fordson Major with the three-point linkage and the fixed tin tow hook. It also has the headlamps on the sides of the radiator grille and a solid swinging front axle. The plough is the early one too, not plated and with a top-linkage, no driver yet.
I wasn't aware of this set. I had the Ford 5000 and the plough as a kid and friends had the Super Major. I only learnt that there was an early and completely non-compatible version produced earlier when putting this collection together. The three-point linkage is more authentic, but attaching and detaching the plough is not easy or remotely realistic and because it needs an amount of force will risk damage to the quite fragile components. It was a brave first attempt at a lift-arm linkage but one can see why it was re-thought.
Tractor & Plough Gift Set - GS18 were:
I'm not sure of where Britains were in 1961 but Corgi were probably ahead of them in this area and at a smaller scale. In my rather faulty memory they may have had a Fordson Major with a two-furrow plough, but that was about it.
This set remained in the range until 1963. In 1964 GS13 was released with the newer version of the tractor (parallel wheel steering lift-up hitch, lights in the grille) and the blue and silver plough. GS13 seems to be valued more highly than GS18.
