You’ve likely seen several Farmall M tractors. You may not have seen one that looks more like a showroom-new tractor than this one. This Farmall Super M-TA belongs to Joe Dickson and sons, Winslow, Ind.

Besides being an eye-catcher, the tractor has a history. It was purchased new by Dickson’s grandfather and has been in the family ever since. After Dickson inherited it, the tractor sat dormant for several years. A friend, Duane Blacker, Colfax, Ind., encouraged Dickson and his boys to get it running.

They not only got it running, but also had it professionally restored in 2019. Blacker knows more than a little bit about tractor restoration, having collected and restored Massey-Harris tractors himself. He appreciates a beautifully restored tractor, and believes the Dicksons’ is worth sharing with Indiana Prairie Farmer readers. We agree.

Blacker and Dickson were classmates at Vincennes University and later at Purdue University, earning degrees in ag business.

According to tractordata.com, the Super M-TA was manufactured at International Harvester’s Rockford, Ill., plant in 1954. It was the last variation in a long line of Farmall M tractors. It came with hydraulics and featured a four-cylinder, 4.3-liter International Harvester engine. The TA stands for “torque amplifier,” a feature of several International Harvester tractors that followed in the 1950s.

Manufactured at a time of transition in farm equipment, you could get the Super M-TA with an IH Fast-Hitch, and it used the IH Lift-All hydraulic system. Yet you could also still get it with a belt pulley. A diesel model was also available.

The Farmall M first appeared in 1938. It was International Harvester’s row crop version of the McCormick Deering W-6. More than 270,000 M tractors were built, including all variations, before production ended.