New Holland Dealer Change

James Leahy and Mick O Mahoney started in a small building in Cloyne village doing up Dextas and Majors imported from England. They would give them a test run up the Kilva hill road which runs past the home farm. As a boy l'd see them most days at full pelt, the wind blowing in their hair giving them a wild look (no cabs then)
and l recall my father and grandfather giving out about them going too fast.
They became successful and in the mid 70's moved to a new bigger premises at Churchtown North near Midleton.
Whenever my father had to go there for parts etc l would always go so l could check out the long lines of 4,5 & 7000's and later 66's & 76's. They must have brought in hundreds of them over the years.
They were 99% Ford but you'd see the occasional MF there and in the 90's started on the JCB stuff right in time for the start of the building boom later in that decade.
At their peak l'd say there must have been a dozen or more working there.
They probably did export some of their trade ins to Africa etc but l am not sure on that. They were really importers of tractors l would have said.

My father would hire a tractor from them in the busy springtime period and over the years bought 3 tractors from them, a MF 178, a Ford 5000 and loader, and a MF 575. Here they are.
(@Soissons a blast from the past)
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The 575 was a beauty.
That's lovely soil . Nearly tilled when ploughed.
 
Thinking back on it wasn't there a lot of lads back then too dotted around the country bringing in tractors from the UK.

Not main dealers , but sols a lot of Ford Tractors and New Holland combines in the 80s . Buttles Wexford . A neighbour bought a Ford 8100 there in 1985 .
 
T.P.Waters in Kildare brought in a lot of stuff, mostly tractors and combines, he had a great location on the old Dublin road, a sort of grandstand that you couldn't miss.

Yes , it was a very good hi visibility location, from the old main road . Several other yards on that road sold s/h tractors , and had a good stand because of main road outside the gate .
Chris Ryan in Kildare Town , used to have nice Ford 5610 etc , later had Ursus dealership selling 4512 , or as UK members would have known them , Lightforce. Site probably built on years ago . There were disused stables in the yard .
Another man in Ballybrittas, no idea of his name , but think he died 20 to 25 years ago , used often have MF 2640s , PZ haybobs, and Ifor Williams cattle boxes .

The old Fordson Dexta here was sold new in 1961 , by Aldritts Garage in Portlaoise , where Hughes Toyota is now .
Ossie Bennett Snr, later had the Ford dealership in Portlaoise , out beside what is now Downeys Ford car dealership .
 
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Yes , it was a very good hi virility location, from the old main road . Several other yards on that road sold s/h tractors , and had a good stand because of main road outside the gate .
Chris Ryan in Kildare Town , used to have nice Ford 5610 etc , later had Ursus dealership selling 4512 , or as UK members would have known them , Lightforce. Site probably built on years ago . There were disused stables in the yard .
Another man in Ballybrittas, no idea of his name , but think he died 20 to 25 years ago , used often have MF 2640s , PZ haybobs, and Ifor Williams cattle boxes .

The old Fordson Dexta here was sold new in 1961 , by Aldritts Garage in Portlaoise , where Hughes Toyota is now .
Ossie Bennett Snr, later had the Ford dealership in Portlaoise , out beside what is now Downeys Ford car dealership .
My father bought a mk.1 escort from Ossie in Portlaoise, he moved down to Johnstown, departed this world a few years now but afaik his son or sons still do a business selling mostly lawnmowers.
 
My father bought a mk.1 escort from Ossie in Portlaoise, he moved down to Johnstown, departed this world a few years now but afaik his son or sons still do a business selling mostly lawnmowers.

Ossie was in or around 95 when he died . A Hardy man in his time . I think he boxed professionally in his youth.
He had a huge interest in steam engines, and had DeDion car from the very early years of the last century.
Ossie Jnr is a Husqvarna and Echo dealer . I have bought several chainsaws and a couple of lawnmowers from him , last one just before Christmas.
 
Leahy and o'mahony weren't involved a big lot in export . They retired about 4 yrs ago the last of the founders died last yr .mostly jcb stuff they delt with in the end .one of the brothers bought a 530 70 from them
We bought this from them in 1999. It was an insurance write off after being rolled badly. I used to love going there for parts and stuff. In fairness Jim Leahy called my father in one day and told him to make sure I didn’t end up in the trade and kept in school!
 

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Who would want the agency and compete with Shaw.
Hopefully nh will see sense and change their mind.
Good to hear Shaw was going to do combines.
 
He has a very narrow product offering. Any time I’ve been there was only t7.180 to t7.230. No point going there looking for a handy loader tractor. Even the t6.s were few and far between. Wouldn’t touch combines either wouldn’t help with NH
 
It wouldn't be unprecedented for a dealer to lose a main agency like that and continue to supply the same product line from alternative sources, albeit not the same scale as Shaw's. Stranger things have happened.
 
It wouldn't be unprecedented for a dealer to lose a main agency like that and continue to supply the same product line from alternative sources, albeit not the same scale as Shaw's. Stranger things have happened.
For the volume of parts shaws supply I’d expect new holland should be able to see which dealers are routing them to shaws easy enough.
. Two dealers will need to get a margin off the parts shaws will be supplying in the future so that will impact on their competitiveness.
Also if new Holland felt strong enough to terminate the dealership they may not be overly inclined to be facilitating shaws supply chain.
 
For the volume of parts shaws supply I’d expect new holland should be able to see which dealers are routing them to shaws easy enough.
. Two dealers will need to get a margin off the parts shaws will be supplying in the future so that will impact on their competitiveness.
Also if new Holland felt strong enough to terminate the dealership they may not be overly inclined to be facilitating shaws supply chain.
There's no guarantee anything would come from another Irish dealer.
 
For the volume of parts shaws supply I’d expect new holland should be able to see which dealers are routing them to shaws easy enough.
. Two dealers will need to get a margin off the parts shaws will be supplying in the future so that will impact on their competitiveness.
Also if new Holland felt strong enough to terminate the dealership they may not be overly inclined to be facilitating shaws supply chain.
The amount they would be supplying they could go direct to the parts manufacturer
 
Who would want the agency and compete with Shaw.
Hopefully nh will see sense and change their mind.
Good to hear Shaw was going to do combines.

Reading the article above, would anyone expect that New Holland management would already have some dealer or dealers lined up to take on the agency or is that expecting too much from these management types in their ivory towers?
When Wexfords New Holland dealer decided to quit a few years ago it seems no others were interested in taking on the franchise and we were left with a dealer covering our area who was based 2 counties away, which obviously severly impacted on new sales.
 
Not main dealers , but sols a lot of Ford Tractors and New Holland combines in the 80s . Buttles Wexford . A neighbour bought a Ford 8100 there in 1985 .

Every second combine at that time must have come from Buttles too. It's a big change to broadcast radio!

Ossie was in or around 95 when he died . A Hardy man in his time . I think he boxed professionally in his youth.
He had a huge interest in steam engines, and had DeDion car from the very early years of the last century.
Ossie Jnr is a Husqvarna and Echo dealer . I have bought several chainsaws and a couple of lawnmowers from him , last one just before Christmas.

I assume that is the same Mr Bennett who had the fine mobile organ setup.
 
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