{"id":431153,"date":"2026-05-16T22:16:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431153\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T22:16:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T22:16:08","slug":"rare-1917-titan-tractor-keeps-working-life-alive-on-bay-of-plenty-farm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/431153\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare 1917 Titan tractor keeps working life alive on Bay of Plenty farm"},"content":{"rendered":"

At the time, it was the family tractor and was lent out to neighbouring farms until he was old enough to take ownership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Titan has gone everywhere I\u2019ve gone,\u201d Couch said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up around it, restored it over many years, and now I just enjoy keeping it running.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tractor even made the long journey to New Zealand in 2006, when Couch and his Wellington-born wife, Gayle, emigrated from the UK and settled on a 40.4-ha property near Matat\u0101, where they now breed Red Devon cattle.<\/p>\n

Couch said the Titan\u2019s history was closely tied to global events. <\/p>\n

Around 3000 machines were sent from International Harvester in the United States to the UK during World War I, when Britain faced severe labour shortages and pressure to increase domestic food production.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were distributed around farming communities to replace draught horses,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandfather\u2019s farm received one to share between several properties.\u201d<\/p>\n

At a time when horses powered most farm work, the arrival of a 10\u2011horsepower, two\u2011cylinder, kerosene\u2011driven mechanical alternative was revolutionary. <\/p>\n

The Titan features two forward gears \u2013 described by Couch as \u201cslow\u201d and \u201cnot quite so slow\u201d \u2013 a reverse gear, and a top speed of about 3.2km\/h.<\/p>\n

\" This particular Titan was one of 3000 shipped to the UK from the USA to boost food production in the later months of WWI. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

Fuelled by kerosene, which was cheaper during wartime, the tractor is manually started using petrol. <\/p>\n

Its largely steel construction includes four solid wheels, with bearings housed in cast\u2011iron hubs.<\/p>\n

Unlike modern machinery, the Titan has no radiator. <\/p>\n

\" The Titan 1020 has a very good belt pulley system to power machines like corn mills and threshing drums. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

A large cylindrical drum mounted horizontally serves as a water tank, with the engine cooled by evaporation \u2013 a full day\u2019s work could use up to 113.5 litres.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very simple, very robust,\u201d Couch said. <\/p>\n

\" The International Harvester Titan 1020 tractor has a characteristic water tank sitting at the front and has no radiator. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no bonnet, so all the working parts are easily accessible, which makes maintenance straightforward.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tractor was eventually bought outright by Couch\u2019s grandfather in the 1920s rather than returned to the government, cementing its place as a family heirloom.<\/p>\n

\" The Titan has four metal wheels. Photo \/ Catherine Fry<\/p>\n

Today, after extensive restoration, the Titan remains fully operational and continues to captivate crowds with both its mechanical presence and its remarkable story.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s one of those machines that reflects a moment in history,\u201d Couch said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just its current caretaker.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At the time, it was the family tractor and was lent out to neighbouring farms until he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[182689,5831,33846,1561,27703,138,15364,36191,55234,44309,3233,12026,564,209721,5126,26522,9933,424,130,111,139,69,1118,90,1562,8205,48782,48877,6100,131,3179,17918,29687,19135,377],"class_list":["post-431153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-182689","tag-alive","tag-along","tag-bay","tag-born","tag-business","tag-century","tag-couch","tag-dedication","tag-engineer","tag-farm","tag-farmer","tag-food","tag-grinding","tag-john","tag-keeps","tag-later","tag-life","tag-more","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-on","tag-plenty","tag-rare","tag-shortages","tag-steadily","tag-still","tag-than","tag-thanks","tag-titan","tag-tractor","tag-working","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}