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Canada Agriculture Museum

Tractors - "The Champion" in Farm Production

Tractors

“The Champion” in Farm Production

By the late 1960s, many farmers in western Canada found that to remain profitable they needed to increase their acreage. This boosted the market for large tractors capable of pulling the 39-foot (9-metre) wide cultivating and seeding equipment necessary to get the job done quickly. Most tractors were now being manufactured by a few large companies located in the United States and some Canadian farmers expressed concern that their needs were being ignored by those companies.

Versatile flyer, ca 1969

Although in colour, this flyer was printed on newsprint. Versatile flyer, ca 1969
(CSTM L02130)

Peter Pakosh started work as a tool designer in Massey-Harris’s Toronto plant in the 1940s. In 1963, after a stint manufacturing grain augers and self-propelled swathers, he and his brother-in- law, Rob Robinson, incorporated as the Versatile Manufacturing Company and relocated to Winnipeg to be closer to the western Canadian market that they were servicing. The principle behind their line was to keep the product as simple and inexpensive as possible. They purchased diesel engines from Cummins, which already was supplying the transport and construction industries, and much of the company’s promotional material was printed on newsprint rather than glossy paper. Versatile remained the only independent Canadian tractor manufacturer until its 1998 sale to New Holland.

© 2006 Canada Agriculture Museum