Old Pond publishing days

Tracks, Tyres and Skid Units new DVD on Ford Tractor Conversions from Tractor Barn no available

Tracks, Tyres and Skid Units: The Story of Ford Tractor Conversions, part 2, 1964-1994 (DVD) is now available on www.oldpond.com.

Part Two of Tracks, Tyres and Skid Units takes the story of Ford tractor conversions forwards from 1964 right up to 1994.

As with Part One we take each Ford tractor model and look at what conversions were based on that particular model. This means that a comprehensive overview of these conversions builds in the actual order in which it happened giving a unique perspective on these superb machines.

Four wheel drive conversions really steal the show in this programme as the new Ford 1000 Series 6X range arrives and numerous different conversions appear based on it and subsequent ranges, from companies such as County, Doe, Muir-Hill, Northrop and Roadless.

The culmination is the big County 1884 which marks the last days of the conversion specialists, but the story does not end there as the Moffett MFT was based on the Ford 40 Series from 1991 and the rubber tracked Caterpillar Challenger 35, 45 and 55 machines were based on the Ford 70 Series that first appeared in 1994. This brings the story to a neat end and the two programmes tell the complete story from 1917 to 1994.>

A special feature also looks at some of the smaller conversions built over the years such as drainage machines, tricycle conversions and other uses to which Ford skid units were put.

Using mostly recently filmed footage, this programme is a superb record of the Ford conversion story and certainly gives it a whole new perspective.

 

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Tractors, Tyres and Skid Units new DVD on Ford Tractor Conversions from Tractor Barn advance information

Ford Tractor Conversions - news of a new DVD from Tractor Barn

The David Brown Story Part 2 Now available

The David Brown Story Part 2 is Stuart Gibbard's history of The David Brown agricultural tractors from 1949-1964.  With 360 pages and over 500 illustrations this is a must-read for David Brown enthusiast.  The book is now available at www.oldpond.com 

 

Reiff Contractor DVD now available on oldpond.com

Accompany the Reiff contractor team from Troisvierges in Luxembourg through the whole year in their work along the borders of Belgium, Germany and France. See the exciting and rarely seen machinery on the fields and get to know the Reiff family and their workers.

The year begins with the first municipal work and winter road clearance. In spring, grass silage will start soon in addition to cultivating the soil, fertilising and sowing seed. In the warm summer months the cereals are harvested with numerous combine harvesters. Harvesting maize in the autumn is one of the most stressful tasks of the year.

A narrator guides you through the film and explains interesting facts about the work and machinery shown.

This DVD is now available on www.oldpond.com

Trailer

Old Pond Publishing joins 5m Publishing

International media business, 5m Publishing – part of Benchmark Holdings plc – today announced their successful acquisition of Suffolk-based agriculture and machinery specialist Old Pond Publishing. The acquisition sees Benchmark continue to strengthen its position as an established leader in the supply of knowledge transfer, market analysis and e-commerce to the global food chain.

Old Pond Publishing specialise in DVDs and books focusing on land-based industries. OP Publishing will be incorporated into Benchmark’s Technical Publishing division, strengthening the range and scale of the company’s publishing service.

Commenting on the development, Benchmark’s Managing Director of Technical Publishing, James Banfield, said:

“We are thrilled to announce our acquisition of Old Pond Publishing to the Benchmark group. Our Technical Publishing division serves over 6 million users across three continents. We are constantly looking for ways to build and expand the service we offer our customers. Today’s acquisition increases our digital catalogue and ecommerce service and brings the potential for further growth.”

 

 

Ford Tractor Conversions - news of a new DVD from Tractor Barn

Tracks, Tyres and Skid Units Part 2 – Pinnacle 1964 to 1994, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD approx. 100 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-91-1. Available in April from Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT. 

Following on from Part One, this programme continues the story of the conversions built on Ford tractors from 1964 to 1994. Looking at each type of skid unit in turn, we see how the various manufacturers converted them – mostly to 4-wheel-drive form. With famous names such as County, Doe, Roadless, Muir-Hill and Northrop all included we get a unique chance to see how these machines developed in relation to each other. 

To bring the story of the Ford conversions fully to life the Tractor Barn duo use recent film in which the majority of the tractors are at work, reaching a climax with the iconic machines of the early 1980s. After that, competitive models from the major manufacturers saw the need for conversions decline until they almost died out completely. However, in this programme the Challenger rubber-tracked crawler of 1994 finishes the story in style.

Graham Davies. Life after Juggernaut - Trucking to Saudi Arabia with Robert Hutchison

Following the publicaton of Robert Hutchison's Juggernaut in paperback, Graham Davies's daughter Angela has kindly supplied the following notes about her father, the Whittle International trucker who in 1986 took Robert on his fact-finding trip to Saudi Arabia.

Graham continued to travel until 1989 on international long-haulage journeys to countries such as Greece, Athens, Yugoslavia (before the conflict), Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Morocco and Turkey. His favourite trip was to Athens, from where he often brought back black pottery of ancient Greece.
 
In 1989 Graham decided to settle more at home and returned to Radio Cabs as a taxi driver, the job he did prior to becoming an international lorry driver in 1974. He also worked in his garage until all hours of the night as he loved to take on challenges of renovating minibuses and cars with finesse.  He was often called upon by other taxi drivers to repair their vehicles.
 
During the later years at Radio Cabs, Graham had endless pleasure from his school runs every day with Woodland’s Special Needs school children and he was loved and respected by all at the school. 
 
In 1997, Graham and his wife Madeleine planned for their future and sold their long-time family home in the middle of Blackpool and moved to a bungalow in the Bispham area to be near the promenade. They bought and toured in their caravan to various locations in England getting fulfilment from each and every one of their holidays.
 
Graham retired in 2001 at the age of 65, although after a good few months was bored and returned to work part-time with Lancashire Ambulance, escorting patients to and from medical appointments.  His retirement was hindered and short lived due to ill health. He was diagnosed with a lung disease related to asbestosis from working as motor engineer in the 1950s, and this was followed by a diagnosis of prostate cancer.  Graham got his affairs in order and built his dream – extending his garage and building a train track in the loft. He mended the side of his house and even changed the cylinder head gasket on his car a few weeks before he passed away in June 2003 aged 66. Graham had a passion for trains and his car which he sadly missed in his last days. He also loved to listen to the birds chirping away in his back garden.
 
Graham was a great husband, father of five children, father-in-law, doting granddad to 12 grandchildren including one great grandchild.  He was loved and respected by all who knew him.  He was a man of strong character who enjoyed his family and time at home in his bungalow. 

Three new titles in stock at Old Pond including Juggernaut paperback and Fendt DVD

Old Pond Publishing now has three new titles in stock.

Juggernaut: trucking to Saudi Arabia is Robert Hutchison's acclaimed acount of his 1986 10,000-mile trip to Saudi Arabia and back with trucker Graham Davies. Now in paperback with previously unpublished photographs. Details and online ordering are here.

The Tractor Barn film-makers Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam have now filled a big gap with a new programme on Fendt tractors. Details and online ordering for their 110-minute DVD Fendt Tractors: a power on the land since 1928 are here.

Finally, we now have in stock the sixth instalment of Ax Men. See here for details and to order the 14-hour, 5-disk DVD set: Ax Men: the complete Season Six.

Cranes Etc praises the Hymac book

An informative YouTube appreciation of Jeremy Rowland's Hymac book has been made by the Cranes Etc website people is here.

Other details and secure online ordering for The Illustrated History of Hymac are here.

Old Pond - where the name originated

We are sometimes asked about the origin of the company name ‘Old Pond’ and its frog logo. It isn’t because we have a pond outside the building, even after all these days of rain.

The name comes from one of the most famous short poems by the Japanese writer Matsuo Bashō (1644-94): Furuike ya  kawazu tobimoku  mizu no oto.

In his springtime volume of Bashō’s collected haiku, R H Blyth put this into English:

The old pond
A frog jumps in, –
The sound of water!

The late Beat poet Allen Ginsberg had a livelier version: The old pond, a frog jumps in, Kerplunk!

Our frog logo was devised in 1998 by Liz Whatling, designer of nearly all our layouts and artwork on books and DVDs.

Below is ‘Hoji, Frog’, from Picture-Album by Celebrated Artists, vol 3 (1814) reproduced in David Cobb's book The British Museum Haiku (British Museum Press, 2002).

That’s it, spring is coming.
Sayonara

A good LAMMA

Thank you everyone who visited our stand at LAMMA. After last year which for us was a 'difficult' show, this year was much better, with plenty of visitors.

Thank you, in particular, to the steward in Hall 4 who at the breakdown on Thursday monitored vehicle movement in the hall.

In the photograph the man running the stand is Old Pond's Bob Perry.