Engine:

New Holland’s 40 series was highly successful, and the 75,000th example was built at the group’s plant in Basildon, England, in 1996. Also from that year, it was sold as the Fiat S. series in some European countries, just as the 70 series was badged as a Fiat G. series are some markets.

In fact 1996 was a busy year for the Fiat/New Holland group (now named NH Geotech). A new smaller tractor, the 35 series, was announced. This was Italian built, and covered with 65 to 95 hp range – as Fiat, it was the L-series, as a New Holland, the 35. As if that wasn’t enough, 1996 also saw the launch of the 60 series 100/160 hp range, this time built in Basildon.

Once again, it came with either Fiat or New Holland badges, and was sold as the 60 or M-series. It came with the modern low-nose look that many tractors adopted the late 1990s, notably dramatic looking Deutz Agrotron. All the 60 series were powered by a six-cylinder 7.6 litre diesel which was capable of meeting the latest EPA emissions regulations – pollution control was now extending from road vehicles into the field.

As for the 7840 shown here, it was the best-selling model of the 40 series – in fact, in Britain it was the best selling tractor of any type. But even bestsellers get replaced eventually, and in this case that came in early 1999 with the TS115.

It’s odd that New Holland has become the badge on so many tractors, and lives on today as part of CNH Global, the result of the merger between Case and Fiat/Ford/New Holland. Odd, because Holland itself never built tractors at all, but implements and (later) combine harvesters.

New Holland was originally founded in Pennsylvania in 1895, and specialized in nonpowered implements. A change of ownership came in 1940 (after which it produced one of the first successful automatic pick-up hay balers) and again in 1947, when the Sperry Corporation took over. In 1964, Sperry took a major interest in CL AAS, then the one of the largest combine manufacturers in Europe. Sperry New Holland concentrated on combines and implements until 1986, when it was taken over by Ford.

The New Holland name was evidently prized, since in the late 1990s, even well after the Fiat takeover, all tractors apart from the range- topping 70 series were badged as New Hollands, though they wore Ford’s blue/black color scheme. The 7740 pictured here was part of the mid-range 40 series, with a turbocharged four-cylinder diesel producing 95 hp.