BMC Nuffield Tractors made by the LONG company - An American rebranding of the Nuffield tractors.

Nuffield tractors were made by Nuffield here in the UK, in Bathgate Scotland. However, these same tractors have been rebranded by different companies throughout the world under different names and it is these different names, particularly the models that were exported to USA, that I am going to explore today.

This blog all started because we have boxes and boxes of literature for the Nuffield, Leyland, and Marshall tractors in boxes upstairs at our house – brochures, leaflets, glossy flyers, workshop manuals, service bulletins, technical updates, workshop posters, service guides you name it we probably have it in there. I need to go through these boxes and sort out what we have multiple copies of and see what we can put for sale – I am sure that a lot of it would be of interest to the Nuffield enthusiast.

One specific single piece of paper sparked the idea for this blog and that is an advert from The Progressive Farmer magazine from March 1968. The Progressive Farmer is a publication in USA which is still published 14 times a year.

After the Second World War, America saw a period of great economic growth and many discoveries made during the war were now being used to push the country forward. In 1946, Congress passed the Research and Marketing Act of 1946, which allowed the Department of Agriculture to focus on marketing, transportation and distribution of farm products. This gained momentum and private companies invested into these same areas, and there was a burst of new and innovative machinery that built off older technologies.

The Long Manufacturing Co.

The Long Manufacturing Co. of Tarboro, North Carolina was established in 1941 by William ‘Bill’ Long. Long Manufacturing Co.  made its first tractor in 1948 in an attempt to claim its place in the booming agricultural markets. This model was the Long Model A, which was loosely based on the Farmall H. A few hundred of these Long Model A tractors were built before the Long Manufacturing Co. moved to importing BMC and Nuffield tractors under the Long brand instead.

These BMC Nuffield tractors were all built in Bathgate but were exported to the United States and were badged with both the Nuffield and the Long branding. You can see this on the pictures in the advert where the Nuffield badge and the BMC Diesel badge still remains on the front nosecone of the tractor. There are stickers printed with the Long branding down the side of the bonnet where it would have had the words Nuffield. Below is a stock picture of a Long Nuffield 4/25 and you can see the LONG branding on the silver stripe down the side of the bonnet.

28 horsepower BMC Mini or Nuffield 4/25?

Below is a larger version of the advert from the Progressive farmer which shows the Long BMC Mini tractor. You can see from the advert that Long were boasting about their 28 horsepower, 4 cylinder petrol (Gasoline) engine. At first, I assumed that this BMC Mini must have been fitted with the 948-cc petrol engine, as we see in the parts book, but the advertised 28 hp got me questioning this. Therefore, I am wondering if the tractor that is being advertised in the poster above is a Long Nuffield 4/25 and not actually a BMC Mini tractor. But does the time of the advert in March 1968 match this?

Speaking to Cynthia from Northwoods Tractor based in Gleason, Wisconsin she tells me that there are not many of the BMC Mini models in the USA, but quite a few of the Long Nuffield 4/25 models, which would match with the advertised horsepower of 28hp. The ‘Gasoline’ model Nuffield 4/25 was fitted with the 1622 cc BMC Petrol engine, and this had 28 horsepower, which fits nicely.

The thing that I question then is the date of this advert. The advert is dated March 1968, which was close to the end of production of the BMC Mini. According to the records that I hold the BMC Mini was produced from 1965 until October 1968. In October 1968, so 7 months after this advert, the BMC Mini was replaced with the Nuffield 4/25 with the larger engine being fitted with the 1622 cc petrol engine or the 1500 cc diesel engine.

Dates and serial numbers of the different model ‘BMC Mini’ tractors

This table shows the serial numbers of the BMC Mini tractor and Nuffield 4/25 throughout production. This information was given to us by Adrian Bentley of Wirksworth Tractors who in turn got the information from a publication by Mid Norfolk Tractors. We have added the last serial number of the 4/25 from data we have gained.
Neither of these companies are still trading, and Tractor Spare Parts Ltd purchased the stock from Wirksworth Tractors when they ceased trading.

We know that Long Manufacturing Co. imported the Nuffield 4/25 as we still see many examples to this day. If anybody can enlighten us on these small details about the horsepower of the exported BMC Mini tractors I would be pleased to learn. It is, however, quite common for people to call the Nuffield 4/25 model a ‘BMC Mini’ because it is a small tractor, even thought it is not actually a BMC Mini tractor.

So, who knows if this is actually a BMC Mini that was being advertised or a Nuffield 4/25. Answers on a postcard please.

The 948 cc diesel engine was more popular in the UK home markets where diesel became the normal fuel for agricultural machinery. Only a small number of the diesel BMC Mini tractors were made, perhaps 2000, and therefore we expect very few to have been exported to places like the USA.
This Long BMC Mini tractor has adjustable rear wheel track, 9 forward and 3 reverse speeds and a two-speed PTO and 3-point standard hydraulic lift, so it was a well-equipped small tractor for the time and would have appealed to many farmers who were in the market for purchasing a smaller tractor.

Long Nuffield 3/45 and Long Nuffield 4/65 models

The Long Nuffield 3/45 and Long Nuffield 4/65 are the larger model tractors being offered in this advert, and below is a picture showing the Long Nuffield 3/45 branded with the Long branding. These diesel models boast the following:

‘Who Gives You The Most Tractor For Your Money?

After you’ve seen the line of LONG BMC tractors, we believe you will agree they are mighty hard to beat. They are easy to operate and easy to service. Clutch, PTO and hydraulic system can be serviced right in the field. Clutch easily removed without dismantling tractor. Easy service features mean lower maintenance costs – more operating time in the field. Extra low fuel consumption cuts operating costs, too!

Other features include rugged diesel engines, power adjustable rear wheels, power steering, independent PTO, disc brakes and 12 volt electric system. Bolts and bearings, standard American. Manufactured by world-wide known British Motors Corporation for Long Manufacturing Company, Inc. Be sure to check these tractors before you buy.’

Supporting parts for the Long Nuffield tractors in USA and Canada

While Tractor Spare Parts Ltd do not ship direct to USA or Canada, we work closely with Cynthia from Northwoods Tractors in Gleason, Wisconsin- https://leylandtractorpartsusa.com/ . I would like to thank Cynthia for her contribution to this discussion on the horsepower of the BMC Mini vs the Nuffield 4/25 models and which models are seen in the USA. There are a lot of the Nuffield 4/25 parts that we export to Northwoods Tractor, and a lot of these must be branded as Long tractors.

As far as I am aware the Long Manufacturing Co. imported the BMC Mini, Nuffield 4/25, Nuffield 3/45, Nuffield 4/65, Leyland 344 and Leyland 384 models, although this particular advert only shows the Nuffield brands and not the later Long Leyland 344 and Long Leyland 384. Maybe I will find some archive documents about the Long Leyland tractors when I work through the boxes in my upstairs junk room.