David Brown (10 May 1904 – 3 September 1993) was born in
Huddelsfield, Yorkshire, England. He was born into the family business of gear
making.
Pre David Brown as we know him:
Let’s rewind a little to the start of the David Brown Engineering
Company. The David Brown Engineering Company was started by David Brown (Grandfather
of Sir David Brown) as a pattern manufacturing company in 1860. By 1873 David
Brown Senior started focusing on gear systems and by 1898 was focusing on machine
cut gears. David Brown died in 1903 and his two sons Percy and Frank took over
the business. This started the era of complete gear units, gears, shafts and
worm units. The young David Brown’s passion for design and build became
apparent when he started as an apprentice in the family business in 1921. In 1931 David Brown took over as chairman from
his uncle Percy while his father Frank remained chairman.
The start of Ferguson-Brown:
In 1933 Harry Ferguson needed a set of gears to finish his
iconic Black Tractor. Meanwhile, David Brown had just become the managing
director of the family business and it was this set of gears that brought two
great innovators together for the first time. This set of gears started the
love interest for David Brown to start manufacturing tractors.
An agreement to manufacture and market a Ferguson System
tractor built by David Brown and Harry Ferguson was reached in 1935. The
agreement involved two companies; one managed by each. David Brown controlled
the manufacturing while Harry Ferguson took control of the engineering and
marketing.
Like most people David wanted to make an informed decision.
His father advised him not to get involved in the manufacturing of tractors. One
of the reasons for this was that the British tractor industry had a
discouraging record of commercial failure; with very few having any long term
success despite a splendid record of innovation. Despite this, David decided to
pursue his new interest.
Leap of Faith:
Production began in 1936 with space that David rented from
the gear factory. The tractor that was been built was known as the Ferguson
Type A; and more commonly as the Ferguson- Brown. Ferguson’s name was above the
radiator and a small plate just above the starting handle had the name David Brown
Tractors. The David Brown Company built their own engines for the tractors.
As predicted, sales were very slow even though the Ferguson-Brown
out-performed heavier and more powerful tractors with its new Ferguson System
and movability. A barrier for the marketing team was the cost of the tractor
(which was almost double than that of the Fordson) and the additional costs of
its implements. These needed to be purchased additionally because of the rear
linkage of the Ferguson-Brown (while the Fordson conventional drawbar worked
well with the equipment already on farms).
A 1936 Ferguson-Brown tractor with
plough
As the stock of unsold tractors started to build up, the
company started to face financial problems. David and Harry decided to form another
joint venture as a measure to increase sales but this failed as well. The
relationship started to take strain. Harry suggested cutting the price to
increase sales while David wanted a new model with a stronger engine and an additional
4th gear ratio.
David Brown runs solo:
Predictably, the partnership ended in 1939. Harry had a
successful trip to the USA where he met Henry Ford. Simultaneously David went ahead with
development work on a new tractor without the approval of his partner.
The Ferguson-Brown was a flop with only 1350 units been
built between 1936 and 1939. The only two positives that were achieved was the
success of the Ferguson system and beginning of the David Brown Tractor
Company.
The first tractor designed and manufactured by David Brown
at their new factory in Meltham near Huddersfield in Yorkshire was the VAK 1
and VAK 1A. The tractor was painted
bright red and launched with success at the 1939 Royal Show.
A 1946 David Brown VAK 1
Reaction to the new tractor was favourable but unfortunately
the timing was terrible as the Second World War had now started. During the war
the David Brown factory started on government contracts such as the VIG series
tractors for the Royal Air force and tracklayers (crawler tractors) for the
British Army.
Post war manufacturing was so successful that the Canadian
company Massey-Harris approached David Brown to expand their production
internationally. This partnership was turned down.
Post War:
The styling of the David Brown was based on the 1939 VAK
tractor up until 1956. This new styling lasted till 1965 when the new white and
chocolate colour was introduced.
A 1966 David Brown selectamatic showing
the new colour combination
In 1960 David Brown signed a 3 year agreement to manufacture
the tractors with a green and white finish as well as a slight styling change.
This helped with the economies of scale and more than 2000 units were exported
to the USA to be sold under the name of the Oliver Corporation.
David Brown’s Automobile Love:
David Brown always had a passion for motor cars and this
could have been inspired by his mother who was the first women driver in
Huddersfield. In February 1947 David Brown acquired the Aston Martin brand and
factory that was, by now, showing major financial problems.
Within 18 months of purchasing the Aston Martin motor
company David Brown had taken Aston Martin to victory at the Spa 24 hour race
in Belgium beating dominant teams like Ferrari, Simca-Gordini and Talbot-Lagos.
Aston Martin went on to build the DB1 to which he attributed his initials.
In 1948 David Brown acquired Lagonda and later in 1955 he
acquired the coach builder Tickford.
In 1971 Sir David Brown was removed from executive control
of the David Brown Company. Then in 1972, through restructuring, David Brown
Ltd sold off all the car brands to Company Developments and the tractor division
to JI Case. This sale was due to a slump in worldwide tractor sales, increased
costs of research and development, increased measures for health and safety as
well as increased competition from international brands.
Today David Brown Ltd is a supplier of heavy transmission
systems for industrial, defence, marine and railway applications.
Concluding thoughts:
David Brown was knighted by the queen in 1968 and he became
Sir David Brown. He was an amateur race driver, motor cyclist, polo player,
tennis player, hunter as well as race horse owner. He fit the profile of a post
war industrialized society perfectly. He built on the family business and built
tractors and cars that were good enough to challenge even Ferrari.
After being introduced to tractors by Harry Ferguson, Brown
went on to buy a sports car company that turned out to be Astin Martin and his
initials became part of Astin Martin.
Let’s highlight a few of Sir David Brown’s memorable moments:
1904 David Brown in born
1921 He starts as an apprentice in the
family business
1933 David met Harry and the interest
and idea of a partnership was sparked
1935 A partnership is formed
1936 The partnership was kicked into
action and the Ferguson Brown is built
1939 David Brown builds his own tractor
the VAK1
1947 Astin Martin is bought by David
Brown
1968 David Brown is knighted
1971 Sir David Brown is removed as an
executive of David Brown
1972 The tractor and automobile
divisions are sold off
References:
Great Farm Tractors
by Michael Williams; Page 82, 83 and 85
Massey Ferguson
Tractors by Michael Williams; Page 64, 68 and 72
http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/David_Brown_(1904-1993)
https://www.classicdriver.com/en/article/classic-life/cometh-hour-cometh-man-sir-david-brown
