The New Holland 8560 is a large farm tractor of the mid-1990s, from the years when the company was in transition from Ford New Holland to the single New Holland brand. The film below shows one at work, and its owner calls it a Ford. The sources used for this page describe the company, not the model.
New Holland 8560 at a glance
| Maker | New Holland, after the Ford New Holland years |
|---|---|
| Class | large farm tractor |
| Badge in the film | a Ford-badged 8560 |
| Ford tractor heritage | Fordson Model F from 1917, N series with three-point hitch from 1939 |
| Ford buys Sperry New Holland | 1986 |
| Fiat takes 80 per cent | 1991 |
| Single brand launched | Orlando, 1996 |
| Paint scheme unified | blue, from 2000 |
| Technical data | not given in the sources used here |
| Example filmed | a working 8560 pulling field equipment |
The sources describe the company and its ownership, not the 8560; the model’s technical data is left out because it is not in them.
History of the New Holland 8560
A Ford tractor with a new name
The 8560 comes from the point where two names met. Ford had been building tractors since the Fordson Model F of 1917 and had introduced the three-point hitch on its N series in 1939; by the 1980s its tractor division was one of the largest in the world and had brought power hydraulics, pneumatic tyres and diesel engines into farm work. Ford bought Sperry New Holland in 1986 and formed Ford New Holland, and in 1991 Fiat bought 80 per cent of that business.
The transition years
For several years after the Fiat purchase, tractors of the combined range were sold in both Ford blue and Fiat terracotta red, and the older Ford names stayed on the bonnets of machines that were, in engineering terms, the first New Hollands. The 8560 belongs to that overlap: a big tractor of the top of the Ford range, sold as the brand changed. The single New Holland name was launched worldwide in 1996 in Orlando, Florida, and the colours were finally unified in 2000, when every tractor became New Holland blue.
The tractor as a working machine
At the top of the range, tractors such as the 8560 were bought for the heaviest field work: deep cultivation, big implements and long hours. The sources used here do not give its engine, power or production years, so this page does not either. What they do show is why the machine matters historically: it is a Ford tractor that became a New Holland without its owner being asked to change the name he knew.
Design and features
- Top-of-range size: a large tractor for heavy cultivation and big implements.
- Ford heritage: descended from the Fordson and the N series that introduced the three-point hitch.
- Transition badge: sold while Ford New Holland was becoming simply New Holland.
- Working survivor: the example in the film is still used for field work.
New Holland 8560 versions
- New Holland 8560: the tractor described here.
- Smaller tractors of the same family: the mid-range models sold with it, such as the 7840.
- Blue New Hollands after 2000: the same class of machine once the colours were unified.
The mid-range tractor of the same family is on the New Holland 7840 page, and the Ford-era 10 series on the New Holland Series 10 page. More machines are in the New Holland section.
Video: new holland 8560 ford.
Video by Hendrik Strokmeijer on YouTube.
Sources
- New Holland Agriculture, English Wikipedia: Ford tractor history, 1986 and 1991 purchases, 1996 launch
- New Holland, Dutch Wikipedia: Ford and Fiat colours, 2000 blue
