Benbros TV Series & Mighty Midgets
No.17 Tractor & Harrow
No.17 Tractor & Harrow saw another appearance of the crawler tractor in the Benbros TV Series. As with the previous ones, the tractor was coloured orange for the first issue with silver trim on engine, grille and exhaust pipe above the engine, and with green rubber tracks. The rollers were orange on round-head and crimped axles. There was no identification on the tractor.
The Disc Harrow was a surprisingly detailed casting and was painted a pale yellow colour. The unpainted metal tines of the harrow were at the rear on a nail-head & crimped axle, although rare examples exist of twin-crimped axles. Unlike the Hay Rake, there was no identification added.
No.17 Tractor & Disc Harrow used three different castings for the tractor. The first orange issue in the TV3 box had a driver but apparently no seat for him to sit on! Benbros corrected this soon afterwards but almost all the orange models have no seat.
When they switched to Mighty Midgets, the tractor became a deep yellow with silver trim on the engine, front grille and sometimes the tip of the exhaust. The green tracks continued and there was still no identification.
For the first Mighty Midget model, the yellow type 1 disc harrow was used but before long a red version came out for a short run before a completely new casting of the harrow was used. Like the first one, this was an attractively detailed model and was painted yellow or red without id. and fitted with the same unpainted disc harrow at the rear.
The final change to No.17 Tractor & Harrow was to the tractor when a third type was made to include 'Benbros Made in England' on the left side beneath the rear mudguard behind the track. In other ways, the tractor remained as before, yellow (though slightly paler) with silver trim and green rubber tracks.
The first issue TV3 box is rare because so few were issued. As a result the Tractor & Harrow in orange is quite hard to find. The yellow tractor is common but all the harrows, especially the red colours, are scarce or rare.
Variation 1: orange tractor without seat, yellow type 1 harrow, TV3 box
Benbros No.17 Tractor & Harrow
Variations
(1) ORANGE tractor without seat, YELLOW type 1 harrow, TV3 box
(2) ORANGE tractor with seat, YELLOW type 1 harrow, TV3 box
(3) YELLOW tractor without id., YELLOW type 1 harrow, MM box
(4) YELLOW tractor without id., RED type 1 harrow, MM box
(5) YELLOW tractor without id., YELLOW type 2 harrow, MM box
(6) YELLOW tractor with/without id., RED type 2 harrow, MM box
Variation 3: yellow tractor with yellow type 1 harrow
Variation 4: yellow tractor with red type 1 harrow
Variation 5: yellow tractor with yellow type 2 harrow
Variation 6: yellow tractor with red type 2 harrow
Harrow types and colours : type 1 (left), type 2 (right)
Underside views (type 1 harrow)
Orange tractor without seat, yellow tractor with seat
Tractors : no identification (left), with identification (right)