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From 1941 thru the '60's, my dad and grand-dad sold Farmalls. While grand-dad didn't talk too much about the business--"you boys don't need to worry 'bout that stuff" [my brother and I were always "you boys"..as in, "Did you boys leave my tools outside again?"]--dad told me a little bit about what the war years were like. Farmers were ecouraged by the government to grow as large a crop as possible, because, with most of the younger men being drafted into the military, SOMEBODY had to feed both the nation AND the troops...ever hear of "victory gardens"? But it wasn't just the gardeners, it was also the large-scale farmers (not like today...that came along later). Sure, gasoline was rationed...but while your personal car might get an "A" card (tightest restrictions), farm tractors (and even little garden tractors) often got "C" cards (unlimited), at the discretion of the local rationing board. And to make things easier on the farmers who might not get as much fuel, IH built the kerosene and distillate engines for the H and M, since supplies of these fuels weren't as tightly regulated. Rubber tires weren't easy to get, but they could be had. Dad always told me that one way to identify a stock 1944 H or M was to look for a cast-iron shift knob, as rubber supplies, tight throughout the war, were extremely controlled that year. (They sold tires, too...and they were also rationed throughout the war...farm tires, although bigger and using more rubber, were a little easier to get because agriculture was considered an industry which contributed to the war effort.) Dad also told me about a customer who, in 1945, bought a tractor, making his downpayment with a porcelain chamberpot full of dimes he'd saved during the war years (talk about your tractors costing a $h1+pot!!!)...but that's another story entirely.
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