The Ole 760 Massy 

i am 80 years old and this video made tears come to my eyes. when i was young , my father started with a massey 82 to a super 92 than a 410 then a 510 than a 760 than an 860. in 1957 dad worked with massey and mounted a 2 row corn head off of a massey sp corn picker. it dropped the corn on TOP of the cyl. this was on the massey 82. i started work with massey in 1965 as a service man. worked 41 years for massey until they din't keep up with the times. i than went with case/ih.. i live in west central iowa but have a small wheat/soybean farm 9 miles south salina.. love to go down there and show the young guys how to harvest wheat ha ha. i have been known to stop at a harvest and ask if i can run a combine and they say get in and stay 2 to 3 days. when done they say how much do we owe you and i say nothing .these are salt of the earth people, same as you guys. i love your channel and would to see your operation swap harvesting stories

Luv how Mike asks himself questions for us. Thanks Mike

One of the best combines ever made, and didn't need a service truck at the end of the field like new ones.

Those 6 cyl. Perkins engines were real workhorses.

Helped with Lethbridge area amber durum harvest in 1975 as a 20 year old. When I arrived the boss put me in a super 92. We started most days at 7a.m. and combined til midnight. When the 92 blew a head gasket after about 6 weeks I was put in one of the 750’s. I was in heaven running that combine.It got late that year (Nov.) so a custom combine gang with 6-760’s was hired to help finish. This gang had started in Texas in April and moved north as the crops ripened-about 100 miles/week they said.

We used to run Gleaner L2’s against the 760’s every year custom cutting at a friends who cropped 7000 acres net Thief River Falls Minnesota. He had 5- 760’s and we had 2 L2 all running 24’ headers in heavy spring wheat up to 70 bushels per acre. We had the same capacity. Once we ran across the fence from an 8820 with a 36’ Macdon and we were all going the same speed. Back up closer to Winnipeg we ran against a 760 with a 24 ‘ head in a thin stand of wheat but it was yielding 40 bushels. We were both going 7 mph but on a half mile run we could lap the Massey after a while because we could boost the speed to 9 mph on the turns and use the wheel brakes to spin the machine on a dime. We were 10000 pounds lighter and that really made a difference. Then in the mid 90’s working NW of Winnipeg my buddy had 10” of rain in August. Water everywhere. I ended up equipping my machine with custom built steel rice paddles like a riverboat bolted to the wheels. I still got stuck 18 times that fall and my buddy 12 lol. He put on RWA because his L2 had Hydro and duals but had to take the duals off because they became a 6’ wall of mud he couldn’t get through. One day he buried his machine to the frame in the middle of the field. We brought out a Steiger and got it stuck. Then a second Steiger got stuck trying to pull out the first. Then a long cable attached to the neighbors Versatile got the Steigers out and finally 2 of them to get the combine out. 9 men 8 hours to get that machine out. Fun times lol!

Man this video brings back memories. The sound of that Perkins is music to my ears. My Dad bought a 750 new back in the 70s before I was born...the old red cab with the small auger, non-hydro, no radio...but it did have A/C. The cab actually stayed kind of clean if you kept the blower speed up, and it gave you a gentle rain on the really humid days of wheat harvest. We mostly grew corn and soybeans, with only a little bit of wheat...so the tiny little heater got more use that the A/C did up here in MN. We ran a pickup head on it for wheat (also experimented with mustard a few years), a 15-ft flex head and 6 row 1153 corn head. I can remember my Dad jumping out of cab and then walking alongside and behind while it kept going down the field, so that he could see how everything was running and if he needed to make adjustments. I grew up riding in the back of the cab until I was too big to sit up straight without hitting my head on the roof, shortly after that I learned how to drive it. We didn't need alarms, you just listened for noises and felt for vibrations that were different...and they always growled if you were pushing them too hard. Cutting short beans on dry sandy (and hilly) ground with no height control was a stressful experience...you couldn't afford to leave any beans on the ground and Dad made sure we got as much as possible or else we weren't allowed to drive combine. We ended up getting several more used MF'ers over the years and ran them up until 2001 I think.

I just love the older equipment... I dunno what it is.. its just cool!!

Hahaha me and my older brother sat on the roof of our dads 860 with .22s picking off coyotes as kids. Hahaha the purrr of that Perkins brings back some memories

I loved how at the end you can see an ideal on the road star struck at the old girl.

The old girl is cutting more than the JD X9 did

I grew up with a whole series off Massies, 300, 410, 510 then 760. Always worked, just ruggedly reliable. Thanks for the memories.

I grew up on Classey Masseys , grandpa had a 300, then a 410 ,then my dad kinda took over and we had a 510, all that in late sixties to mid seventies then I got involved and we had a white cab 750 then a gray cab 750 then my wife died and I gave up the farming ! Always wanted to have a 760 or an 860but never had the opportunity !! We had a really good Massey dealer in our area and he had I would say a majority share of the market at the time , everybody wanted to have the biggest and Deere and IH were behind !!! Great to see you're hanging on to a little of the past everyone needs a reminder every now and then of where they came from !!!

Massey combines didn't throw much grain out the back . They were good combines.

Love seeing old equipment , reminds me of a little boy growing up watching my uncle farm

Hi Mike, Could you do "a history of the farm" someday? With old images etc.

My dad started with a super 27, upgrade to a new MF 300, which we still have and it works, and finally dad last combine was a 1977 MF 510 Western special, with air conditioning, I sure miss dad.

We built our little farm with a 1965 Massey Ferguson. Having it restored now. She is small but mighty.

I ran a 760 in corn and soybeans in the early 90's when I farmed just out of high school. Did my first combining with a 410 in junior high. Brings back some good memories and a few bad ones with breakdowns. Thanks for the video Mike!

When I was a kid, my dad bought a WI dairy farm which had 2 Massey Harris 50 Clipper pull-type combines. One worked and the other was for parts. You had to get close to the gravity box (250bu) because it did not have an unloading auger, but just a 3' flip-down chute! Then my dad just hired the neighbor combine our oats / barley with his JD 7800 (?)

It's always good to look back, to see where we came from and to appreciate it. Thanks for posting this video

Brings me back to my childhood with my grandfather in his MF 760, 850's, and 860's. Lots of summers spent repairing them, one year watched one burn. Oh how fun it would be to run one again.

Fantastic vid mike!! Absolutely loved watching thee ye olde Massey churn through the crop! You got just about every conceivable angle of that machine and the detailed look at the workings, just left me gobsmacked. Well done sir!!

What a beautiful old Massey, and sounds absolutely awesome. Great that you keep some of the old stuff around must bring back some great memories. Got to say the straw chopper looked ahead of its time.

Love anything Massey Fergerson. We have two old Massey tractors and loved seeing and hearing about the old combine. Thanks Mike!

awesome to see those old machines work

Mike, I like how you appreciate the old stuff yet. Yes, new stuff has to step up; but the old stuff still has a place in our hearts. They're still part of the family.

An old 860 was the first combine I ever ran . Cutting wheat. Me and a friend spent alot of time riding on top of that cab. The interior smelled like cigar smoke my friend's dad was never without one. I can smell the diseal. Thanks for sharing mike

I cut my teeth on 760 Masseys working for a cutter in 1976 - ours had yellow wheels. They had four machines with 24 foot headers and we thought we were a big outfit cutting 96 feet of summer fallow in MT. LIke the video - keep up the good work

Ohh that engine noise !! Love it. The clackety sound from the side of the combine takes me back to the days with the little 500 series combine we used on the farm I worked on. Days that seemed endless, hot and dusty. Wonderful video of what was a bedroom poster combine for sad nerds like me !!

Thank you for this video Mike! Really cool that you guys keep that thing around-AND functional!!! The old combines are so simple.

Sure nice to see old equipment working

Mike thanks for sharing! Oh the memories - as I grew up around the ‘sassy masseys’ as well. First was the 510, then on to the 750 riding along as much as I could in that little cab alcove behind the operator. The first I got to operate for any length of time was one of a pair of 760s which stayed on the farm till I left for college. They were quite popular units in SK back in the day, and probably one of the reasons I went into a professional career in grain harvesting. So it’s great to see ‘Em run again!

I remember when I was a kid my uncles neighbor showed up with his brand new Massy 760. We all thought it was the biggest thing we had seen. There were a lot of them that guys kept going around here since they used them for grass seed. They still like a conventional for grass seed. I agree about the straw walkers. Crawling on those things was torture!

Great video! I worked on a farm in NB with Massey 750 and I can remember that Perkins engine blasting out like your video.

Love the old masseys they were a great machine. We ran two 750s when i was a kid. Still run a conventional combine now so that we can bale up straw

Nice! Reminds me of my dad's MF 750 and grandpa's MF 510. First thing I ever combined with was a MF 750 and we kept using it until 2 years ago!

My first experience driving a combine on the farm was a John Deere 55 with no cab on it and no power steering. I was 10 years old and when I had to turn a corner, I had to use all my body weight and yank at the steering wheel to turn the rear wheels. I think the tank held 50 or 60 bushels. LOL !!!

Great stuff Mike, glad to see the old lady still getting to take a swing in the field

We still run a 850 in Ontario here. Does a great job and you cant beat those perkins engines, just peers away all day on 30g of fuel and no government juice !

I learned on an old Massey 300. Those were the days.

Hi Mike.. Thank you very much for the informative tour of the 760..I remember when the combine was new as well... It was massive when it first came out... I think I dated myself.. Grin.. Have a marvelous Monday ❤️❤️❤️

That's so cool to still have your grandpa combine. What a change over the years. Looks like a clean sample!

That was awesome Mike. Thank you for showing us that vintage combine.

Sometimes the older equipment seems to work better than the new stuff, just slow and steady

10:52 "told us the key to success in life" xD

That was cool seeing the old combine at work

Our first combine was a Massy 21, then we graduated to a Versatile 420 (I think it was), finally upgraded to a Massy 510 Western Special, then a 750 Massy. The Perkins sounded the same on the 750, a nice roar! Good times! Thanks for the memories Mike!

super kool mike to b so humble about ur progress from a boy to aman as well as to keep an old girl whom clearly has many more crops to eat she just aint as fast as the the new stuff however she can still dance.this is the history of farming and how we as people eat.Thanks my freind for sharing ur time and passion with us Peace my freind

Grew up in massey’s. Had a 760 then a bunch of 860’s, like 6 at one time even. Had several belt drive and many hydro’s. Has special tools and brackets to remove belts under the cab and removing big gear box. Etc etc. one we had the ol straw storm!!

Best part of the 760/860 combines was the Perkins diesel. You could see it coming over the crest of a hill even by the exhaust smoke!!!

A fine teacher as always. Love the Massey rollin’ coal too!! Thanks Mike!!

Weeellllll, actually: That header uses Sight and Sound and Steering. If you see smoke it's on fire, if you hear REEEEK REEEEK REEEEK you've bent it and if you feel the steering wheel in your gut you've hit something.

Wow awesome video Mike that took me back to my childhood memories back home in England and fine memories they were the first combine I ever worked with was a Massey Harris bagger we filled burlap sacks with barley stitched them up and passed off to a person on the trailer took 4 to 5 people for a two man operation now they where definitely different days back then we also had a thatcher in the village and every year my family would help out on the thrash and tackle and cutting wheat with a binder we had a steam engine running the whole works being a thatcher he had to cut with a binder and run it through the thrashers for the straw cause you can’t run through a combine my Dad brought us up the hard way lol hell we used to have a tin bath tub back in them days I think I was 7 years old before I seen a real bath tub wow the good old days that called it lol 😂 that was a joke

Nice to see the old girl out working. Thank you for a trip down memory lane. 👍

the last shot was good the new dog in town coming over the hill to see what has imvaded its territory, glad to see you respect the old girl in letting her still get in on the harvest.

The sound is awesome👍 I remember when I was a kid, in the 70s Dad drive a Volvo BM 7 foot header without a cabin🤔😄👍

Nice to see these old girls still running, can't beat a classic

My father had the same Perkins engine on an irrigation pump (i think a 6-354), i recognize the sound at the exhaust !

Thanks great reminder of old iron. Had a 510 and 750, ended up with a New Holland. (dealer support) I believe New Holland makes a conventional combine, the CX series.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh,.....the beautiful smell of DEF free diesel exhaust!!!

The Mighty Fine 860 corn grain bean v8 hydro was the combine I learned on. My grandpa bought it new in 1988. I think it was a hold over. He also had an older 860 with the straight 6 and variable belt. He still has it on the farm but it hasn't been used in 10 years. I'd like to fire it up like you did but it don't have a chopper or chaff spreader and that don't work in no till very well.

Awesome sound & great old Combine!!

The sound of the engine and that exhaust is mental ! 🙌

used to run an 860 brings back memories

great to see you still bring the old iron out, nothing better then the smell of rich burning diesel! Thank you for sharing your videos rock!

You you explain everything very good teacher. And I thought of having a school? Great video. God bless you all.

Mike your enthusiasm for farming is awesome. I dread the day when family farming is just a memory and global corporations control all means of production. Keep up the good fight!

I also learned to drive combine on a 760 and too have spent many an hour piloting one....with the door open because the air con give up😂 brilliant machine for thier time!

We still do 800 acres a year with 2 860 combines

love them old combines

This is a really awesome video, Mike!! This is the kind of equipment we farm with here in Iowa. I sure love all of your videos.

Brilliant Combines engine sound is awesome.

Nice to see the old girl working, Like to see the older stuff out doing a bit.

Nice old 760

I remember those combines and used the older one the super month two

I had a 760 in the Netherlands, loved that machine, not a hydrostat, with gears.

Love this old gal!! Need more vids of her!!! Look after yourself!

Reminds me of my youth good times. I ran a john Deere 6600 for a number of years. Thanks Mike keep these vids coming.

Love these good old machines. They go forever and.get the job done.

Brings back memories of riding with my grandpa in our gleaners. Good times gooooooood times....

Flat lander`s live in a different world. I run a case 1470 I like fields that are so steep you cannot see the other side. I feel the pain of getting the header polished it took me 2 days to get my combine to feed this year. It my experience machines with straw walkers all cleaned better. Thank you for a nice video

That Perkins still sounds sweet

Very informative. Thanks for the upload, man. Much love

Massey ferguson are the best!!!!!!! I am a massey ferguson nut so I loved the footage of the old combine hard at it!!!!

love this video. sounds just like the MF850 i learnt to drive when i was a young fella thanks mike.

Pretty awesome to see the old girl can still do it 👍

If almost all modern combines are rotary, then by definition, aren't they conventional these days... :-) Great to see you still keeping this old beauty running and cutting a few acres with it to keep everything moving.

Great roar from that perkins

Love the old Massey!!! We still run two if them!!

I put a lot of hours on old 760s and 860s. Ours where hydrostats with regular choppers, but we only used 24ft headers though.

Great video Mike nice old combine

I remember having to crawl onto the straw walkers if they ever became plugged. Worst job ever. Dusty, dirty and as Mike says they ripped the crap out of your knees. I still have a couple scars on my knees from doing it when I was a teenager and I'm 60 now. We plugged them twice when the straw chopper belt broke a couple of times over the years. Terrible, terrible job.

I LOVE these combines!!!

That auto steer is still working perfect.....looks like the calibration has held over the years and is still running strong!

Nice video Mike! It's good to see that the Massey does some harvesting!

The auto generated captions translate the exhaust noise as “music”. Nice!!!

great video. love those old machines.

got a 760 in 1979 and had it 91. had only a few breakdowns. water pump.etc the paddle feeder was a great system rethrasher not so. thanks for video.

I used to drive a 1984 Massey 865 which was an 860 with a few extras and the Perkins V8 engine. That thing would smoke when you pushed it on. We ran an 18ft powerflow header on ours, they were by far the most popular header for that combine. Happy days