The Marshall 702 is a farm tractor that began life as the Leyland 702 and continued under the Marshall name after 1982, when the Marshall company bought British Leyland’s tractor business. It was built at Gainsborough in Lincolnshire from Leyland engines and parts. The sources used for this page describe the two companies and their ranges rather than the 702 on its own, so the page keeps to what they say.
Marshall 702 at a glance
| Maker | Marshall Tractors Ltd, Gainsborough, Lincolnshire |
|---|---|
| Original model | Leyland 702 |
| Class | farm tractor |
| Marshall name | from 1982 |
| Engine | Leyland 98-series diesel |
| Gearbox | 9-speed 3×3 synchro with flat cab floor |
| Leyland livery | harvest gold |
| Marshall range | 502, 602, 604, 702, 704, 802, 804 and 904XL |
| From 1986 | production moved to Scunthorpe under Bentall Simplex |
| Later engines | Perkins 4.236 in the renamed 752, 852, 754, 854 and 954XL |
| Technical data | not given in the sources used here |
The sources describe the Leyland and Marshall ranges rather than the 702 alone; model-specific technical data is left out rather than guessed.
History of the Marshall 702
A Leyland tractor
The 702 was one of the last tractors designed under the Leyland name. Leyland Tractors had been formed in 1968 when the British Motor Corporation merged with Leyland Motors, taking over the Nuffield tractor business that Lord Nuffield had started after the Second World War. Production was moved to Bathgate in Scotland, the old Nuffield skid units were replaced by Leyland’s own 98-series engines — the 4/98 and the 6/98, named for their number of cylinders and bore — and the ten-speed gearbox gave way to a 9-speed 3×3 synchro unit with a flat cab floor. The later Leyland models, among them the 302, 602, 604, 702, 704, 802, 804 and 904XL, were painted in the “harvest gold” livery.
Marshall takes over
British Leyland decided to sell its non-core businesses in 1979. The Marshall part of its special products division went to the businessman Charles Nickerson, owner of Marshall, Son & Co., and in 1982 he acquired the British Leyland tractor business as well. Tractor assembly was moved from Bathgate to Marshall’s works at Gainsborough, and the tractors were sold under the Marshall name, although the deal obliged Nickerson to keep buying engines and other parts from the Bathgate factory for at least three years. The Marshall range of that period — the 502, 602, 604, 702, 704, 802, 804 and 904XL — was a continuation of the corresponding Leyland models, so the Marshall 702 was the Leyland 702 with a new badge, built in a different factory.
Later years
The venture was successful at first but did not generate enough capital to fund new models, and the company began to lose market share. In 1986 Marshall changed ownership and came under Bentall Simplex, which moved tractor production from Gainsborough to its factory at Scunthorpe. There the tractors were increasingly fitted with Perkins engines: the swap from Leyland 4/98 units to the Perkins 4.236 produced the 752 and 852 in two-wheel drive, the 754 and 854 in four-wheel drive and the 954XL, with six-cylinder 100-4 and 125-4 models at the top of the range. By 1989 Marshall was building tractors from 22 to 125 hp and running a large spare-parts business for the 120,000 Nuffield, Leyland and Marshall tractors then in use around the world.
Design and features
- Leyland engineering: a Leyland 98-series diesel and a 9-speed 3×3 synchro gearbox with a flat cab floor.
- Gainsborough build: assembled at Marshall’s Britannia Iron Works from Leyland engines and parts.
- Familiar range: one of eight Marshall tractors that carried over the corresponding Leyland models.
- Shared parts: its Leyland and Nuffield ancestry kept it inside a fleet of some 120,000 tractors served by Marshall’s spares business.
Marshall 702 versions
- Leyland 702 (to 1982): the original model, one of the harvest gold Leyland tractors built at Bathgate.
- Marshall 702 (from 1982): the same tractor assembled at Gainsborough and sold under the Marshall name.
- Scunthorpe-built Marshalls (from 1986): later tractors with Perkins 4.236 engines, sold as the 752, 852, 754, 854 and 954XL.
The 702 belongs to the Marshall range of the 1980s; more of the marque’s machines are in the Marshall section.
Video: Marshall 702
Video by Jonny Kerr on YouTube.
Sources
- Marshall, Sons & Co., English Wikipedia: company history, 1982 takeover, Marshall tractor range
- Leyland Tractors, English Wikipedia: the 702 in the Leyland range, engines, gearbox, livery