Hey guys, I wanted to give you a brief history of IHC from 1903 to 1905 so you know why I am always talking about my Famous.

In 1903, JP Morgan merged several small companies including McCormick-Deering to form the International Harvester Company also known as IHC and today known as Case IH. In 1904, IHC produced its first stationary engine. It resembled a Famous, but wasn't called that. The first ones had a funky design. I know a guy with a 1904 and his looks pretty much like mine. Here is a video of the oldest known Famous. And a video of mine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VglvzpgHSr4. If you'll notice the data tag on mine, it is cast brass and has the HP on it twice. On the later 1905s up until the end of their production in the teens, they had a rectangular data plate with just the HP stamped in them. Mine also has a few unique traits of early production. Mine is also serial number JA116. That means it was the 16th one produced in 1905.

Mine isn't also quite a true Famous. Famous engines, both stationary and portable units, had the fuel tanks in their bases. Mine has no access holes for one. There were 2 other variations of the Famous, the Titan (not to be confused with the Titan tractor) and the Victor. Titan engines were sold through McCormick-Deering dealerships. Now the special thing about the Victor is it had its fuel supply piped outside of a building, like mine was originally. So does this mean mine is actually a super early Victor? I would say yes. I do not know when the Victor name came about. The early IHC records were lost in a fire.

Also, one unique thing about IHC is they gave their engines and tractors names instead of letter designations like all the other manufacturers did. Actually I should say all, Fairbanks-Morse had one call the Jack of all trades, but it had a letter type also. The names include:

- Famous
- Titan (stationary engine)
- Victor
- Mogul (stationary engine)
- Tom Tumb
- Titan Jr. (1HP hit and miss)
- Mogul 8-16 (tractor)
- Titan 10-20 (my tractor)

In 1922 when the Titan 10-20s stopped production, IHC dropped all names and went with letter types. Why? I do not know. I prefer the cool names. 

I don't know about you guys, but I find this stuff to be very interesting. I thought it would be great to share with everyone and show you just how early my Famous is. 

Quote:

And how Famous your Famous is.  

I also find this kind of thing interesting.
I find all kinds of old machinery fascinating. Especially old tractors as I'm an old Iowa farm boy stuck in the big city all of my adult life.

Keep the stories coming.