The show exhibit card that was laying on the seat read, “Early 50’s Farm King”. Was that the model name or the name of the manufacturer? Since that was what the owner called it, that was where I decided to start looking. There is a company using the Farm King name, but they manufacture agricultural machinery. I found no indication that they had ever built a farm or garden tractor. MTD sold a garden tractor branded as Farm King but I couldn’t find any mention of one of theirs that dated back to the fifties.
Only one corporate name , Crosley, can be found on this tractor and it is prominently displayed on two locations. Cast into the cylinder block, and again on the multi-instrument display. This might lead you to conclude that this tractor was a Crosley product, on the other hand, tractors of this type have always used outsourced components.
Powel Crosley Jr. was an American businessman and industrialist in the early years of the 20th Century who was invested in a number of ventures. He owned the Crosley Broadcasting Corporation, and the Crosley Radio Corporation, which during the 1920’s was the largest manufacturer of radios in the world. Even today you occasionally see reproductions that carry the Crosley name. His companies also manufactured home appliances.
It seems that his real passion however, was small cars, very small cars. From 1939 to 1952 Crosley Motors Inc. located in Cincinnati, Ohio churned out a steady stream of subcompact vehicles that delight car buffs and show goers to this day. Crosley automobiles came in a variety of flavors, but I only found one effort to enter the tractor business.
The Farm O Road was intended to be a multipurpose vehicle that is hardly what most people think of as being a tractor. It looks more like something that wants to be a Jeep when it grows up. The idea was that a near destitute farmer could plow with it all week and then drive it to town for a weekend of debauchery. “It goes to town,'' as a contemporary ad proclaims. I don’t know if it was a success or not but it appears to be the only venture Crosley made into tractor production.
The third possibility is that it was produced by the Jaques Power Saw Co. of Denison, Texas. This is the hypothesis that I favor because of the strong family resemblance it shares with the Jaques Mighty Mite and the Ottawa Mule Team tractor. You can judge this for yourself by taking a look at the Iron Mule post from July 1, 2017 and Sept. 15, 2017.
Beyond that, there’s not a lot to support that position. A Bing search produced results that ranged from things like Maine sex offender registry to “Jacques Ze Whipper - Home / Facebook”, ( probably don’t want to go there. ). I did manage to find a couple of references to a Jaques Farm King on chat room sites frequented by collectors. They were discussion threads started by owners who were looking for more information about their tractor but not a lot was produced. So that’s where it stands with this inquiry at this point. Maybe someone out there in readerland can supply some documented information.
This tractor belongs to Bradley and Candy Richey and was exhibited at the 2019 Foothills Antique Power Association of NC. Show at the Hickory American Legion Fairgrounds.
Sources:
www.gardentractortalk.com
www.mytractorforum.com
www.gasenginemagazine.com
www.yesterdaystractors.com
www.barnfinds.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/crosley
Update May 6, 2023
Lucas Hunter e mailed some photos of his uncle's Farm King and an interesting period advertisement from The National Farm Equipment Co.
Thanks Lucas.
P.S. Here is a full size PDF of the Ad.
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Hello my name is Derrick Hambleton I live in Maine I do to have a jacques farm king with the 4 cylinder crosely its is the cobra motor to be exact im also trying to get in information on it and also what it might be worth. Any information would help thanks
ReplyDeleteSent one message. Just incase it didnt go thru. I have several Jaques made tractors but not a Farm King. Several brands were made on Jaques chassis. I may be interested in the Karm King it would fit in my collection nicely.
ReplyDeleteMark Winne
mark_winne@hotmail.com
Phone:7xero6 45five 0zero3zero
Derrick,
ReplyDeleteAs the blog states, there is so very little known about the Farm King tractors. I agree with The Iron Mule in that the most logical scenario is that the Farm King was produced by The Jaques Power Saw Company from Denison Tx in some sort of collaboration with Crosley.
If you see a Farm King and a Jaques Mighty Mite from behind, you could easily mistake them for being identical: They use the same attachment lift levers\attachment rail, same rear bull gears,a similar rear end etc. The big differences with the Farm King is that the frame's U Channel has the smooth part facing out. (a reverse of the Mighty Mites, where the ends of the U Channel face out)
The Farm Kings use a Borg Warner T92 whereas the Mighty Mites typically used a T96 or T98. The hood on the Farm Kings is also more refined- and more like an elongated cylinder- whereas the Mighty Mites was a simpler angular thing. The biggest difference of course is the engine- The Farm Kings had the Crosley Cobra engine whereas the Mighty Mites used a Briggs ZZ or a Jaques engine (which was a rip-off of the Briggs with an external magneto).
Myself and other have posted in some of the forums sites such as gardentractortalk and mytractorforum and you should find some other pictures and additional info there.