The IMT 560 is a wheeled agricultural tractor of the 500 series built by Industrija mašina i traktora in Novi Beograd. It stands in the middle of a range that ran from 35 to 220 hp, between the small IMT 533 and 539 and the six-cylinder models of the 1970s and 1980s.
IMT 560 at a glance
| Maker | Industrija mašina i traktora (IMT), Novi Beograd, Serbia |
|---|---|
| Series | IMT 500 series |
| Range of the series | wheeled tractors from 35 to 220 hp |
| Production start of the series | mass production after the new factory opened in March 1976 |
| Engine licence | Perkins, through the Massey Ferguson licence |
| Small models of the series | IMT 533, IMT 539 and IMT 533F |
| Larger models of the series | IMT 577, 578, 579, 588, 589, 5160 and 5200 |
| Related models in the German list | IMT 560 grouped with the IMT 565 and IMT 569 |
| Tractors built by IMT, 1955–2015 | 780,000 |
| Tractors exported | 107,700, to 84 countries |
No Wikipedia article is devoted to the IMT 560 and little is published about the model itself; this page is based on the history of the IMT company and its 500 series (based on one source family, the company articles).
History of the IMT 560
The factory
IMT began in 1947 as the Central Foundry, merged with four neighbouring works in 1950 and was renamed Industrija traktora i mašina in 1954. After comparative tests of foreign tractors in 1953 and 1954 at the Institute for Agricultural Mechanisation in Zemun Polje, the state bought the Massey Ferguson licence and production of the Ferguson 20, 30 and 35 started. The plant was rebuilt in 1959 for 4,000 tractors a year, the domestic IMT 555 appeared in 1964 and the company took its present name in 1965.
The 500 series
In March 1976 IMT opened a new factory able to build several tens of thousands of tractors a year, and with it came the mass production of the 500 series wheeled tractors from 35 to 220 hp: the 533F, 540, 558, 560, 577, 578, 579, 588, 589, 5160 and 5200. The German Wikipedia lists the 560 together with the 565 and 569, between the 551, 555 and 558 group and the 575 to 585 group. The series was the backbone of the company’s output: in 1988 IMT built 45,000 tractors and 35,000 machines and employed 9,800 workers, and between 1955 and 2015 it produced 780,000 tractors in all.
What the records say
Published descriptions of the individual 560 are scarce: the Croatian and Serbian articles on IMT describe the 500 series as a whole, and the archive photographs show 560 De luxe tractors working with mounted implements on Serbian farms. From the 1970s the tractors were sold with a wide range of IMT implements — disc harrows, rotary cutters, ploughs, cultivators, seed drills and trailers — and 107,700 tractors with about 11,950 implements went to 84 countries.
The end of the line
After 2000 production fell year by year, until the plant built barely a hundred tractors in 2015. Production stopped completely in August 2015 and the remaining 360 workers were laid off; the bankrupt factory was bought by the Indian group TAFE in April 2018. Before that, IMT had presented the IMT 2000 series in 2009 and, at the 79th Novi Sad fair in 2012, the S series with 42 to 52 hp engines, polyester engine covers, ten-speed gearboxes and hydraulic power steering.
Design and features
- Part of the 500 series: a range of wheeled tractors from 35 to 220 hp built from 1976.
- Perkins-licensed engine: IMT engines were built under the Perkins licence inherited from Massey Ferguson.
- De luxe versions: the 560 was sold in a De luxe trim, as the archive photographs of working tractors show.
- IMT implements: the factory also made the ploughs, harrows, seed drills and trailers the tractors were sold with.
IMT 560 versions
- IMT 560: the model described here, one of the middle sizes of the 500 series.
- IMT 565 and IMT 569: the models the German Wikipedia lists next to the 560.
- IMT 533 and 539: the smallest tractors of the same series.
The 560 sat above the IMT 533 and IMT 539 in the same series; more models are in our IMT collection.
Video: Imt 560 branje po blatu
Video by Josif92 on YouTube.
Sources
- IMT, Croatian Wikipedia: 500 series list, factory history, export figures
- ИМТ, Serbian Wikipedia: 500 series, production figures, end of production
- Industrija mašina i traktora, German Wikipedia: model grouping of the 560
