I bought a Pony a couple of months ago just because I've been wanting one for a bit. On the surface, it didn't appear to be anything special, but yesterday I spent a little time looking things over and I am scratching my head.

The Serial number is PGA 19331 which indicates 1952 production, but....

The tag says: Massey-Harris-Ferguson, the front axle braces are of the Pacer style with the added plate, there is grey paint visible under some of the flaking red, and when repainted, they put the Pony decals on the sides of the hood, where the Ferguson versions were.

I would shake the grey paint off as primer if it weren't for the axle and the tag supporting the idea that this may have been a grey one.

Everything that I have read says that grey Ponys did not appear until late '53 into '54, any thoughts?

Massey Harris and Ferguson merged sometime in 1953 and as I'm sure you know it became Massey-Harris-Ferguson (MHF for short). Any tractor built after that time your serial tag or any other part for that matter would be stamped with MHF. Again just a little background in case you didn't know.

 From what I have learned, the Grey Ponies were built from '53 and I believe into '57 roughly. If yours is a '52, I can't see how it could be a grey one unless something got changed out at some point in its life, which is also a distinct possibility. I had that happen to me on one of my tractors, the serial number on the tag didn't match the serial number stamped on the transmission housing, which in turn the number stamped on the trans housing was the true serial number. So that might be something you could look at. Thats my two cents, Gary Emsweller (or MasseyH as he is known on here) could tell ya more about it, as he had a grey Pony at one time. Hope I helped a little.

   Cheers,
              Dakota

 

Where is the serial number stamped on the trans? I'll check that out as well. A question that I have is were all M-H Pony's tagged with a M-H serial plate or did they also have the M-H-F plate at some point? An interesting mystery however it turns out.

It should be stamped on top of the trans housing so it would be near the shift lever on one side of it. I know sometimes those numbers can be hard to read. To my knowledge they were all stamped with MH serial plates and then after the merger (1953) they were stamped with Massey-Harris-Ferguson. Someone can correct me if I got something wrong.

Hi Kurt,
I typed up a nice little response to you last night about the Ferguson Ponies and it disappeared so I will try again.
 
My first question to you is the tag an original tag or a reproduction tag?  I put a lot of faith in the original tags.  If, in fact, it is correct then you have a MH Pony painted gray.  Several of the MH Ponies were compromised when Ferguson Ponies got hot in the 1990’s. There was no problem replacing the front end of the Pony with a Pacer or simply welding a gusset on the support rod going to the center of the tractor. Some red Ponies had a primer paint that was gray as well, so folks got excited that it was a Ferguson Pony.
 
The Ferguson Ponies were made in 1954 and 55. The serial numbers started in 1954 with 23,149 and finished 23,853.  I have always heard there were just over 700 made and that number is close to the 1954 production numbers.  There have been a few Fergusons found with a 24,XXX number that rolls them into 1955 production numbers.
 
I would question if you have a Ferguson Pony.  Yes, the tag says Massey Harris Ferguson so that is why I questioned you if it was a reproduction tag.  MHF in 1952 would create some questions since the merger did not begin until 1953.
 
The bigger challenge is you can never say “never” when it comes to Masseys.  They were just not good at keeping factory production records. 
 
I went to a Ferguson auction back in November and there was a gray Pony being sold.  I got caught studying the tag!  A couple guys behind me knew what I was doing.  When I straightened up, they both said at the same time “It is not a Ferguson Pony, is it?”  I was surprised they knew what I was doing but we all agreed it was a MH Pony very nicely painted gray. It brought $2500 so we were not the only ones recognizing it wasn’t a Ferguson Pony!
 
Looks can sometimes be deceiving especially when you get into limited production items.
 
By the way, almost all Masseys do have their serial stamped in the transmission cover.  Unfortunately, Ponies don’t have a cover!  I have seen a few with the number stamped in the top of the flange connecting the drive to the transmission. Again, someone might have done that on their own but most Ponies do not have a the number stamped anywhere on the tractor so that tag is all the more important!
 
These are just my thoughts and my humble opinion.  I am sure others can chime in.
 
Show us some pictures!
 
Thanks for asking!
 
Gary
 

Gary,
Thanks for the thoughtful response. I'll shoot some photos and post them. 

Posted Phtos

Kurt,

Very interesting and even further interesting to me is it has the Woods mower deck with it. I cant say I have seen that many with that setup. 

Just my personal opinion, I still say parts were changed on that tractor at some point in its life and whether or not it's a early grey Pony, I say it's not likely.....but stranger things have happened. Regardless, seems to be a solid tractor and hope you enjoy it.

The mower is actually a Sun-Kutter by Sun Mastr of Olathe, KS

I stand corrected, cant say I have heard of that name before....still cool nonetheless!