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www.ploughmyfield.co.uk

Samuel Wilson & Son, LTD

BACKGROUND

So how did I get to know there was a Ferguson dealership in Sheffield which existed years before I was born? Well a chance encounter with a man on the Ferguson Club stand at Newark show back in October 2007. The man in question was Brian Pickering the membership secretary for the club. He told me of another member whose family used to own the Ferguson Dealership in the centre of Sheffield. Brian said he would pass my details on to that person and let him get in touch with me if wanted to.

LOCATION

125-137 WEST STREET

This map shows the position of the Ferguson showroom on West Street. The old hospital is to the right. The showroom is on the ground floor with Inland Revenue offices above and shop fronts to the left.

This was the Showroom in 1952.

The picture can be blown up to show first the shop front then the tractors in the showroom.

Detail of the shop front including drive in petrol pumps (left) one of the company's vanguard vans and several tractors in the showroom.

Zooming in a little closer an industrial and Diesel model can be clearly seen.

The following pictures show the showroom in its 2008 condition, waiting for a new owner.

Looking from the corner into the showroom. The tractor in front is mine. The doors in the blue area on the left was a drive in section for filling up out of the rain. this was also how you accessed the showroom.

A closer look at the entrance to the Service section

The inside looks a little sad. I would have loved to have wondered round in its hay day say 1954 when my tractor was manufactured.

DAY TO DAY

Wilson where Agricultural and Industrial stockist, not all dealers where. This meant they also supplied lots of tractors to the local councils as well as farmers.
An example of every implements that Ferguson produced must be stocked/available at the dealers. If a customer wanted a demonstration Then the item was available to show and demonstrate to the customer. The customer could purchase the item and take it away to use immediately.
All the parts to make a complete TE, TEA, TED, TEF had to be stocked as spare parts.
Many items where offered as exchange items, Radiators, Starters, Dynamos etc. These where then refurbished in the Hillsbrough service centre (upstairs)
A customer could phone up in the morning and the part could be out to the customer that day whilst the engineer was on his rounds.

Name Plate

Below are shown two examples of the name plate added to the Ferguson tractors that left the Wilson showroom.

This first example shows a black and white smaller plate on the dashboard

The same tractor from the front if correct it can be seen that this is an early model 1949. So I would assume the black and white one was the first type fitted to tractors

This second type of plate is located on the bonnet. I like this as a position much better than on the dash.

This Third design sees another design on the dash again. At this stage I'm not sure if this is later than the one above or vise versa.

HISTORY

The majority of this section has been gathered from the Kelly’s Business Advertisement directory for Sheffield and Rotherham.