This Massey 44-GS is one of the alphabet soup of models produced by Massey Harris in the early part of the 20th century. Designed as a field tractor, the 44 was outfitted with a 4.3 litre 4 cylinder continental overhead valve engine producing a tested 42 belt HP. There were four engine choices, gasoline, diesel, distillate and propane. This example, a GS model was a gasoline burner. Its serial number of 4603 indicates a year of manufacture of 1949.
Massey Harris
The firm was founded in 1847 in Newcastle, Ontario by Daniel Massey as the Newcastle Foundry and Machine Manufacturers. The company began making some of the world's first mechanical threshers, first by assembling parts from the United States and eventually designing and building their own equipment. The firm was taken over and expanded by his eldest son, Hart Almerrin Massey, who renamed it Massey Manufacturing Co.
Alanson Harris, a farmer and mill owner, founded his implement business in 1857 at Beamsville, and was later joined by his son, John, in partnership in 1863. Using some good American designs, such as the Kirby mower and reaper, business flourished, and the company became keen competitors to the Massey company, moving to Brantford in 1872.
In 1891, Massey merged with the A. Harris, Son & Co. Ltd. to become Massey-Harris Co. and became the largest agricultural equipment maker in the British Empire. In 1910, the company opened a factory in the United States, making it one of Canada's first multinational firms.
The Massey-Harris Company decided that they needed a tractor in their range, so in 1917, they introduced Bull tractors built in the U.S. and branded them as Massey-Harris for the Canadian market. When in 1919 the Bull Tractor Co. failed, Massey-Harris then sold tractors based on Parrett designs that were built over the border in Chicago.
[For two years prior to 1928 Massey Harris had been marketing] Wallis tractors, built by the J.I. Case Plow Works of Racine, Wisconsin, USA. In 1928 Massey Harris bought the company, and gained a tractor to add to their line up. They then sold the J. I. Case Plow Co. name to the J. I. Case Threshing Machine Co., effectively bring back together the Case company that had split years earlier. The Wallis tractor was then developed to form the Challenger and Pacemaker models in 1936.
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