But Henry Ford waited to reenter the market, planning to have the right new tractor at the right time to achieve a market-changing success.

In Ireland, businessman Harry Ferguson had been developing and selling various improved hitches, implements, and tractors since the 1910s.

In 1920 and 1921 he gave demonstrations at Cork and Dearborn of his hitches and implements as aftermarket attachments to Fordson tractors.

By 1926, he and a team of longtime colleagues (including Willie Sands and Archie Greer) had developed a good hydraulic three-point hitch.

It sold for $585 including rubber tires, power take-off, Ferguson hydraulics, an electric starter, generator, and battery; lights were optional.

World War II intervened and prevented this, although one explanation was that Ford UK was uninterested in the plan.

Its model name reflected a model-naming system using the last digit of the year of introduction and a letter for product type, with "N" for tractors (hence 9N).

An extremely simple tractor, the 9N was fitted with the Ferguson system three-point hitch, a three-speed transmission, and featured footpegs instead of running boards.

The 9N's relatively tall and wide-spaced front wheel design resulted in somewhat sluggish steering and reduced maneuverability compared to competing machines such as John Deere's Models A and B, and the Farmall "Letter series".

The Ferguson hitch was designed to solve some of the problems found in the earlier Fordson tractors, such as flipping over if the plow hit an obstruction.

The upper link also would adjust the hydraulic lift to use the drag of the plow to improve traction when engaged.

A few standard Ford auto and truck parts, such as timing gears and valve tappets, were used in this engine.

The 2N still came in dark grey, but now had added improvements, including a larger cooling fan and a pressurized radiator.

Since the original agreement between Ford and Ferguson was sealed with a handshake (versus a written contract) and included the notion that either party could terminate it at any time without reason, Henry Ford II didn't feel the need to continue to honor it.

Equipped with a 4-speed transmission, this model was destined to become the top-selling individual tractor of all time in North America.

Without a live PTO certain implements such as brush cutters which store inertial energy could send that back into the transmission.

In 1950 the 8N design changed to feature a side-mounted distributor, as well a Proofmeter (combined speedometer, tachometer, hour meter) located on the lower right portion of the dash.

The Funk Aircraft Company offered conversions for Ford Tractors until the factory burnt down in late 1952.

In 1953 the N-series tractor was replaced with the all-new model dubbed the Golden Jubilee, also known as the Ford NAA.

[9] Larger than the 8N, the Golden Jubilee featured live hydraulics and an all-new overhead valve engine.

[12] The tractor featured a hood styled after the 8N and a gray and red paint scheme similar to the 8N.