The amazing career of David Brown!! The man behind the David Brown tractor company. 

We live in Ontario Canada and own 2 David Brown's. A 1961 David Brown 880 Implematic and a 1971 David Brown 880 Selectamatic.

My dad was a mechanic for 70 years. He always said that David browns were the best of the smaller tractors made.

We had two David Brown tractors on our farm, one was a 1959 model 900 and the other was a 1963 model 880 both red with yellow trim. Well made tractors very reliable.

Thanks. I was contacted by an old farmer here in Ontario Canada. He was the first employee of David Brown Canada in the middle 50s. Other company's had imported DBs prior to that but David Brown opened up here in Canada. Long story short this old guy had a huge collection of David Brown tractors and Chrysler vehilcles. He was retiring and decided to have an auction of all his antique tractors and cars. I organized it for him and we did a huge auction in which we sold 34 David Brown's. The smallest a 2D through 20d's 30d's right up to modern. It was a great day.

Awesome background on David Brown.

We had a David Brown dealer in our town, many farmers had DB tractors in our area. My dad had a 770, 885 , 990, 1210 he is 90 years old now and still uses the 885. I had the newer ones 2090, 2294 ,and a 930 comfort king, still have a mx 150, magnum 7230, Steiger 335 and a David Brown 995 Brown and White (1971}

Excelente repaso por la historia del Sr.David brown , resido en Toledo ,España y tengo seis modelos DB actualmente trabajando y al dia de todo, muchas gracias por compartir esta bonita vida, un saludo..

yep they were a top tractor we had on the farm, 950, 990 1 td30, 1 td40, 2 td50 s mark 2 all down here New Zealand

I bought a used 1390 Case-DB in about 1990 (I'm in New York State). It is now 33 years later and I'll never part with that tractor. The engine is still original from the factory. Whenever I work on it, I think of the people in UK that built this magnificent machine. I suppose they are all dead and gone, but what a great job they did on those tractors. Congratulations and thanks to those DB workers!

Fab story/ history....started restoring vak 1 some 25years ago...sadly never finished

I was fortunate enough to get onto a factory visit at Meltham while it was still running , in the mid '80s , it was a fascinating place , built on several floor levels , with partly assembled tractors either coming up through trap doors in the floor , hanging on chains , going on to the next stage , or going down again for final track assembly . As tractor factories went it was a small-ish site , but as Lord Nuffield ( William Morris of Morris Motors ) once said "they kept the walls bulging" . It was very steep down a hill into Meltham , & by then everything was pulled in or out again on artic trucks , all Volvos . We asked why & were told "they,re the only ones ( trucks ) that can stand it holding the trailers back down here then back up out again loaded lads " As an aside this is testimony to the toughness of Volvo trucks . I have come into ownership of an old 1490 , bearing in mind I,m actually a fairly devoted Massey - Ferguson & Leyland man this is a venture into new territory , although my best farming friend ran 2 D.B.s , a 1212 then a 1412 , I loved the Hydrashift gearbox , a real timesaver , & the engines are surprisingly good on fuel taking into account their capacity , but when you have been used to other makes , they are initially a nightmare to work on , as D.B. never went metric , & the hydraulic ports are either SAE or JIC depending on location , not BSP . The hydraulics on a D.B. must be kept clean , this definitely includes the oil , & use the correct grade , or all sorts of problems arise due to the intricate complexity of the hydraulic system , when it,s O.K. it,s one of the best , highly versatile when you understand it , & run return oil back in at the correct point as this is used to lubricate the back axle bearings . Those of you having problems out there please take time to watch the videos put up on here from D3Sshooter in Holland , he has a marvellous knowledge of these systems , also videos from Barry = AKA Man From The Mist , he is somewhere in Northumbria , both these guys have done terrific work on old D.B.s & understand them well as a result . I,m re-purposing an old front loader onto my 1490 , & these guy,s knowledge is being priceless in achieving it . Happy Spanners to all .

Glad ya posted this...have heard talk David Brown machines were (and are) well thought of, and was interesting to learn of the man and company a bit more that made them so.

A very informative video, I knew most of the info because Sir David Brown was some sort of hero of mine. We farmed in the Yorkshire Dales and had a 25D, 900, 950, 770, 990, 880 and a 996 over the years. They were very good tractors and we loved them because they were built in Yorkshire.

I had a 990 ( white one ) on the farm in the 70s ( Ontario Canada ). Very nice machine with great pulling power.

Great video I drove a David Brown 880 and I believe a David Brown 995 red with yellow wheels and a front loader in the Yorkshire Dales , memories from the seventies.

David Brown gear systems still going in West Bromwich drove past not long ago thought the name was long gone. 995 selectermatic favorite as a kid

Used to work for David Brown Pumps Ltd in Penistone. Good bunch of people, highly skilled and an excellent test center. They had a foundry and machining center in Penistone. Now unfortunately closed. They also manufactured gears in Huddersfield. They manufactured transmissions for not only the military but for Formula 1. Sir David Brown’s office was kept as a memorial at that facility. They also manufactured the first DB cars on the second floor of the manufacturing building and then lowered them down to the first floor. Interesting guy. Thanks for posting.

My family were Rootes Group, Chrysler and David Brown dealers in NZ. The DB’s came as semi knocked down kits in ply wood crates. It was always exciting to see a new DB being unboxed and assembled in the tractor bay at the dealership. Great memories as a young fellow. I don’t have DB tractor, but I do continue the connection by way of my DB9😊

My father had 2x red 990’s bought in late ‘60’s He bought a new 990 in 1972 and a s/h 1212 in1976. I bought a 1390 in 2010 and restored it. Great tractors for sure. Tenneco owned Ji Case when they bought David Brown in the early ‘70s and bought International Harvester in 1985. David Brown tractor genetics lived on in the 51 series Case tractors which are still hard at work.

Great video lad 🤙 we had 780, 996, 1490, 1394 and 5140. As someone said above the maxxums are db with a 6.8 Cummins engine, unreal machine! Pity all those brands got swallowed up by the conglomerate machine

I remember back in mid 1970,s Lough Egish co op growing peas between Kells and Athboy.They had a reverse drive David Brown that they had converted themselves with a fingerbar mower and a combine-like real cutting the stalks before the harvesters came along behind picking them up and seperating them from the pods.The pods were then hauled to Lough Egish,outside Carrickmacross on Seddan single axel trailers behind Ford 5000s,nearly 40 miles

I drove David Brown 880 mounted on a standard solo beet ,a 990 , 1200 ,1412(my favourite),1490 then we converted to Case Agri King. Mind that was over 20 years ago.

1979 when i first left school worked for a contractor, driving a DB 1412 brilliant. I wish i could find one to but now.

Very interesting, didn't know the early history of DB 👍☘️🇮🇪

The first tractor i drove was a 1947 David Brown cropmaster, I was ten years old i was in good hands the chap that let drive it was twelve. The first tractor I owned was a 1964 David Brown 990 selectamatic, it still runs.

Very interesting indeed thanks for that , ive had a few in my time , some red and some white !

My father bought a new 996 in the 80's great memories.

My Uncle had a couple brand new David Brown tractors in the 70's that he worked in the Louisiana hay fields. I remember the first time I saw one. They looked nice and beefy but I never worked on one. The tractors he had were in the Ford 4000-5000 range so they were not little but not huge either.

We just bought an 880 a few months ago. Very good tractor.

Absolutely fascinating, thank you😊

I am a Farmer from the US.Almost all of the equipment we have are made by John Deere,so I guess I could be called a John Deere snob as well. There are alot of great tractors from around the world,with great stories about their origins. Keep making great videos

My Uncle Jim started farming in 1968 with a little 780 UBU 777G Absolutely brilliant tractor and he provided his 1210 for my wedding day in 1976!!. Additionally, he arranged a tour of the factory in Meltham - an awesome day out never to be forgotten!!!

In 1967, my parents purchased a farm in New South Wales, Australia. At the same time, they purchased a David Brown 990 tractor with an underslung dozer blade, and it was customized for use on the steep hills of the farm. It was a fantastic tractor that I learnt to drive on.

GREAT VIDEO OUTSTANDIND OFTEN WONDERED ABOUT DAVID BROWN BECAUSE I HA A 995 MADE IN 19 74 GREAT TRACTOR GOIN PERFECT GREAT LIFT DOSENT BURN OIL AND GREAT POWER BODY BIT ROUGH BUT GREAT TRACTOR . THANKS FOR ALL THAT WONDERFUL INFORMATION BEST OF LUCK FROM WEST OF IRELAND

Thanks for the history lesson. We had a 995 David Brown on my Grandfather Beef farm. I have a lot of seat hours on that tractor. The 995 was my favourite tractor on the farm. We had lots of different tractors on the farm over the years. My Grandfather was a farmer equipment dealer. He started selling Cockshutt in 1953 then White , Kubota, and New Holland implements among other popular brands. 18:33

Nice one Very interesting and informative video

Interesting information sir, well done.

I worked as a millwright in a Veneer Plant and we had David Brown gear boxes.

I loved growing up with David brown tractors here in NZ, awesome video. One thing to mention in brief, it was my understanding that JI Case (Owned by Tenneco at the time) purchased David brown and started badging tractors as Case - David Brown then a few years later Tenneco purchased IH and formed CaseIH dropping the David brown name completely but still continued building the 94 series badged as CaseIH until production was stopped. In reference to the UK devision of CaseIH only what would resemble the original International harvester models continued production and were updated several times first with the continuation of the 85 series then forming the 95 series and onto the 32 and 42 hundred series which would be the last models to resemble its international roots, here on out it would be complete new models and series and later would become McCormick. German and American built International models continued under the CaseIH brand name for a period but would eventually be phased out and only completely new American models would be formed. The Nuess factory in Germany was closed which ended production of the tractor range and the renowned 3, 4 and 6 cylinder nuess engines. This led to various new engine suppliers including perkins and Cummings to name a couple. CNH is another whole story for another day lol. Keep up the good work really enjoying some of your other videos, cheers

My husband worked for Gibbs brothers in Somerset big DB dealers in the 1970s in the workshop, he is one of the few people left that knows how to strip and repair them even the hydraulics .

David Brown made excellent tractors

That was interesting. We used to see a lot of them in Canada.

I worked for a Lt Col in the British Army during the 1990’s who was also called David Brown, myself being from a farming family background and having used DB 850, 780, 885 and an 1190, And having seen a photo of Sir David, I thought could he be related , so finally asked him one day and yep he was his great Nephew, on reflection the family resemblance with out the moustache was obvious, he took no offence when I asked, in his military role he was a very driven man, clearly a family tradition 😊

We had a 990, 995 and a 1212 back in the 70's in Hespeler Ontario Canada. Great tractors. We worked them so hard that the red mufflers would turn purple.

Lagonda wasn't a "fledgling engineering company" after WW2 when David Brown bought it. They started building cars in 1907. Similarly, Aston Martin didn't just build one car when DB bought it. AM began in 1913 and raced at Le Mans in the 1930s.

With your coughing and wheezing.... God love you. I wouldn't be mistaking this for a Hollywood production! But captivating nonetheless, even someone who's never sat on a tractor since he was a kid. Fascinated to finally learn what the DB stands for in relation to Aston Martin.

Great video, thanks for posting. I've had a 1962 db 990 implematic for about 37 years. As was mentioned before with basic maintenance they will run forever. Mine would sit for over 6 months without being used , throw a battery into it and it would start up no worries. They are a very solid tractor and very good on fuel. I've since bought a kubota but kept the db and it has rescued the kubota a few times. There are still plenty of them around in Australia.

As a schoolboy in the 1950's I remember waiting for the morning bus on the Leeds ring road in Yorkshire and hearing the growing whine as the Aston Martin factory test cars were put through trials. In those days you could get way with it on public roads if it was early enough. The DB2 and DB3 were the most visually appealing cars ever in my opinion.

Very interesting. I learned lots. Thanks for the video.

Well done , great information .

Interesting video, I used to drive a 995 many years, was very light on diesel,.

There are still some old David Brown tractors in service here in Ontario, Canada where I live. Nuffield, Leyland, Ferguson, can still be found on the odd farm or rural property as well.

Father was at Rossall school with David Brown; they shared the same birthday - 10th May 1904.

I live in the U.S my uncle had two David Brown tractors on the farm was the first vehicle I learned to drive, was maybe 10yrs old

Another very enjoyable video.When I was a young lad in primary school and agri contractor near me had 3 red Davy,s,a 770, 880 and a 990 all without cabs,they were bought in Smiths Garage in Canon Row Navan who were main agents.Few years later he bought a 1212 and a Ford 5000.Today his grandson is a haulage contractor with about 20 lorries..On a side note,the first ERF lorry built in early 1930,s had a David Brown gearbox..

67 years old and family had them back in the 1950s. Still got two 1490 and 1494.

Good video interesting history of David Brown

JC Banford still in business with a production facility just down the road from where i live in Pooler, Georgia.

I seem to remember an article in Popular Mechanics from the mid 90's about the world's largest gearbox that was made by David Brown and was used to lift ore out of a mine.

I walked to junior and infant school between penistone and springvale. Walked by David browns daily. Recall walking up an down rail lines dis used abandoned rail lines regullally passing tank ranks, concrete ramps to equip rail trucks with weapons of mass destruction. Also as children at school we also found around the area tin hats and gas masks. I was born in 72.

We needed tractors in upper Canada as well so Daniel Massey a direct ancestor begat one.

Interesting story I only knew about the gearboxes having worked on many and Rubicon boxes .

A very interesting history. Never knew that David Brown was such a large company or that they were involved in the motor industry. I always knew the tractors and thought that white was a very impractical colour for a farm machine. Then again, white may have made the dirt more visible and helped with keeping it clean. The cab looked very tall compared to other tractors. David Brown tractors were rare enough in West Donegal. It was mainly Masseys.

I remember David Brown tractors as a young lad in the 70s and all ways wondered what happened that they just weren't seen anymore never realised they were taken over

Great video. It’s commonly written in Ferguson Tractor history books that 1,250 Ferguson Brown tractors were built… I can’t vouch for the accuracy of that number. VAK1 stands for Vehicle Agriculture Kerosene 1, again as far as I understand. I really enjoyed the video, very refreshing subject. I did know DB on the cars was David Brown of the tractor fame but l presumed he was the son of the original David Brown. Keep up the good work.

I drove a 1210 great tractor

I remember in the late 50's as a 9 or 10 year old going with my brother in co tyrone for a load of firewood in the little red david brown with the bench seat which I believe you called the vac 1 or similar.I remember it being a really pokey tractor in speed and pulling.

..I worked for a market gardener that had more David Browns that workers...

Never had a David Brown tractor, I know their tractors are quite well build. I'm more of a Deere guy to be honest always have run Deere tractors till now but i sure would like to get my hands on a David Brown tractor. Not only for collecting but just for putting work on it and restoring it a little.

Friends had a brand new David Brown tractor with a front end loader, around 1972 at their ranch in British Columbia. I can't remember the number.

hi,I have what I think is a pre ww2 David Brown. but what I would really like to know is how much is it worth it does need quite a bit of restoration . but it still runs, I'm almost certain it's a vac 1 series. thanks

Grew up in Ireland. Father Always had DBs. 990s & a 1200. Fond Memories. I live in Pennsylvania Now. Have a 770A. And a 1212. Eventually I will get them back to Showroom Condition. Great Everlasting Tractors 🚜. We in America should start a David Brown Tractor Club. 🧐🤔

Great video

Aston Martin!

It was a sad and depressing day that Tenneco took over David Brown for the paltry sum of £12M My sister in law was secretary at Lloyds bank in Huddersfield and handled the actual cheque prior to depositing it the David Brown account, They were, are still, great tractors free of complicated electronics. It is a crying shame that bad management destroyed the company after "BLACK JACK" Thompson retired. What happened to David Brown tractor company? David Brown Ltd. - Wikipedia In 1972 the tractor operations were sold to Tenneco of America, who owned the JI Case tractor company. The sale was due to a combination of a reduction in the UK tractor market, increased product development costs, the need to meet new regulations on health and safety, and increased competition from imported machinery.

They were a basic enough old tugger but holee fock,,, the whirr of the transmission would do the head in.

So a friend of David Brown met him at a lunch. The friend was excited to hear about the DB5 Aston and asked David if, as a favour, he would sell him one at "cost" price rather than "list". Sure said David. He invoiced him for £7500 when list was £4500, i.e. Aston Martin was losing £3000 on every one sold. Was it ever thus.

Good video 👌

Great video. My late father had a David Brown Cropmaster TVO, a 25D and an 880 Selectamatic in the 1960s. While my understanding is that the gearboxes were mechanically very efficient, they sure were noisy and whiney as I remember them. Our tractors were secondhand and we didn't have any manuals, so operating what was for the time a rather complex hydraulic system on the Selectamatic was a bit of guess work. Stuart Gibbard's two books on The David Brown Tractor Story covering the period up to 1964 are historically definitive. Herbert Ashfield, David Brown's chief engineer in that period also published an account of his work with the company.

My Uncle had a David Brown Cropmaster, it was a good little tractor and there were plenty of them here in Australia. There are a lot of similarities between David Brown and Bob Chamberlain. They were both into fast cars and were successful tractor manufacturers. Bob Chamberlain had no formal engineering qualifications but designed and built his own tractors, engines and drivetrains. He also built several racing cars for his own use. His 9G prototype went in a couple of the famous Redex rallies with a 60mph diff, it was a master marketing ploy as it stole the show. It still exists. David Brown tractors were well respected in Australia, I remember my old boarding school taking delivery of a brand new white 990 in 1974 and I thought it looked pretty good. There was also a couple of Nuffields and Massey Fergusson 135s. Because it was a dairy farm there weren’t any Chamberlains, they were for real farms. Jeff

I still have a db990 1967 frist of the white and brown , dont forget aston martin DB cars

Got my welding and playing apprenticeship at David Brown's in Penistone back in the 80's. Edit: should read 'plating' not 'playing'. Was going to correct it but the former is more apt.

I still use my dads 1968 DB 880 Selectamatic!

Aston Martin

David brown, leyland, county,

very good tractors made in england .... why the english farmer buy usa and bosschh tractors ... it is crazy !!!! poorcountry !!!!

I guess my Dad ran a David Brown in the mid 60’s to the mid 70’ s here in Alabama, don’t remember the number of size, but was roughly 40 horsepower and it was a great tractor for years and then the Gentleman he worked for bought two Deutz tractors. I don’t think there were as good as the David Brown.

Are you telling me that a bloke from Huddersfield invented the Aston Martin!

Lamborghini made his money making tractors as well.

Wooden peg gear wheel makers (mill type) shafting and related gear( pun intended) that is how I understood how DB kicked off in the days of yore!

You should show more pictures of his factory and workshop too much of talk .

How much did sir david brown make from the sale of david brown tractors.