Hagen Brothers farms,Goodrich ND | There were a few in my area, I owned / used a pull type model 42 for a few years. Those 60's Versatile implements were ugly because any part installed, served a purpose. If it did not have a function on the machine, it did not exist. No decorative panels on them. The "beauty" of those old machines was that they sold for at least 1/3 -1/2 less than a comparable machine from JD or IH and did the same job.
They were simple to the point of being crude, but that simplicity made them easy and cheap to repair.
Back in the 60's most crops were cut with a swather to allow them to dry,then harvested with a pickup attachment on the combine. For a while my area was awash in Versatile 103 swathers, they were a simple air cooled, belt drive machine that could be bought new for $1800 if you shopped around.
The combines were not all that popular here, but the 103 and later the 400 liquid cooled hydrostatic swathers were, and the simple cheap articulated 4 wd tractors pretty much built and owned the heavy 4wd tillage tractor market. |
Versatile Combine
