TRACTOR TALK
RED HEAVYWEIGHT
1966 INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER FARMALL 1206
BY JIM ALLEN
Don William’s 1966 1206 Farmall is loaded for bear! It’s wearing a hefty set of weights, 1000 pounds up front and 1,800 pounds in the rear. At 2,800 pounds that’s still almost 500 pounds less than the tractor tested in Nebraska carried. Don’s tractor is unrestored and showing some patina, but is well maintained and ready to work.
The Farmall 1206 was International’s first over-100 horsepower tractor as well as being the first over-100 horsepower rowcrop tractor on the market period. It was also their first turbocharged tractor. On top of that, history has judged it one of their best and it became the gigantic cherry on top of the very successful 06 series tractors that pulled International Harvester out of the doldrums created by the ill-fated 560 final drive fiasco of the late ‘50s-early ‘60s.