If you are not a “red tractor” person, you may be confused with the interchanging of “International Harvester” and “McCormick-Deering” in this story. The McCormick-Deering tractors were a products built by International Harvester. International Harvester was formed by the merger of the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company and the Deering Harvester Company in 1902, both of which were developing internal combustion engines and tractors at the time of their merger. Both were prestigious companies with lots of name recognition, so McCormick-Deering was a name that worked to bring fans of both to the company, plus settle a monopoly issue with the government over keeping two separate companies. By the end of the 1930s, the McCormick-Deering badged tractors became fewer and International Harvester or McCormick branded tractor began becoming more prevalent. By the late 1950s, in the USA at least, the McCormick branded tractors were also gone.

The First WD-40: 1935 McCormick-Deering WD-40

You’re forgiven if “WD-40” brought something else to mind. Before that incredibly useful product was invented, there was an equally useful product with the same […]