1953 Farmall H

Both H and Super H's were built in 1953. Anybody know how many of each were produced? Fellow has an '53 H he claims is very rare because they built so few that last year. Appreciate your response. Dick Davis

I don't have the actual production numbers in front of me, but H's are so common, that the tractor you are looking at is worth no more, or no less than the condition that it is in. It sounds like the seller is just trying to up the price some to get as much out of it as he can. The only ones that are more valuable in some eyes are the 39's and very early 40's that had the channel in the transmission casting.

I don't know how many Hs were built in 1953, but I don't think I would consider a '53 H to be rare by any means. I've seen at least 4 '53 Hs just in the last 4 or 5 years.

There may be something to it.

Just going by Guy Fay's Data Book, 1953 DOES look a little odd, as the records he uses show exactly the same number of Hs and Super Hs made in 1953, that number being 21,916. So that's a little suspect, and Guy acknowledges, in the production numbers for the H, and in the serial number ranges for the SuperH that some Hs may have been Supers and vice versa. The number of Hs is further suspect in that the serial number rnage for Hs in '53 only spans about 1200, which would be pretty consistent with the fact that production of the H was discontinued in late January of '53.

That said, I don't know that anything about a '53 H would be especially rare unless one places some value on it being among the last few produced. Other than that it would be pretty much the same tractor as the '52 or the '51 or . . . These weren't like Chryslers where the tail fins got bigger each year. IH could just have easily made the break between Hs and Supers on January 1, instead of continuing production for a few weeks just to use up the odd components for Hs they had left in inventory.

Interesting, maybe, but in my view not something that adds to the price of the tractor unless it is the last known one produced and still existing.

I wouldn't call it "very rare". I don't know exactly how many were built, but the first 1953 H would have serial number 390500 and I think the last H was 391*** (can't remember the last 3 digits).

You can go to the link below find what you need. Click on reports on the left side.
Wisconson Historical Society

Randy

1953 serial range is 390500-391730. No reason why they should bring much more that earlier ones. Disk brakes were on 391358-391730. A restored 1953 H with disk brakes brought $16250 at an auction on Sept 6 in Danbury, IA. Page 26 of the latest issue of Red Power Magazine. Also a Super HTA for $14500. My guess is that some of the deceased collectors friends upped the price out of respect for him. Not an every day occurrence -- only my guess.

Thanks Scotty appreciate the confirmation to my thinking. Dick