Cultivating a Legendary Image
Raymond Loewy gave International the look of future success
of the H represented the tractor’s tires viewed head-on. In his book, Industrial Design, Loewy describes the inspired way that the logo came to him: “In view of the power and prestige of International Harvester, I thought their trademark was frail and amateurish. The firm’s executives asked me to show them what I had in mind. I left Chicago for New York and sketched a design on the dining-car menu, and before we passed through Fort Wayne, Interna- tional Harvester had a new trademark. It was reminiscent of the front end of a tractor and its operator.” Loewy also created a fresh look for the company’s dealerships with modern architectural cues. Widely placed print advertisements promised customers on-site service and support
with a smile as well as fast repairs and
overhauls at well-equipped dealerships
staffed by technicians knowledgeable
about the “Farmall System.”
The actual impact Loewy’s designs had
on International Harvester is immeasurable, but the tractors bearing his streamlined profile and company logo are among
the best selling of all time, and remain
hugely popular today. The H alone sold
390,000 copies and was produced from the
1939 introduction until 1953, when it was
replaced by the similarly styled Super
H. Culti-vision remained a feature of IH
tractors until 1979.
WORDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY MIKE McNESSOR
International Harvester’s letter series tractors are a perennial favorite with collectors and boast streamlined styling that was revolutionary in its day.
Realizing early on that snazzy packaging could make or break a product,
IH hired legendary industrial designer
Raymond Loewy—the man behind such
instantly recognizable icons as the Lucky
Strike logo, the Studebaker Avanti,
Air Force One’s paint scheme and the
Pennsylvania Railroad’s awe-inspiring
S- 1 locomotive—to give the company
a unique look. Loewy’s company, Raymond Loewy Associates, penned not
only a design for International Harvester’s new line of tractors, but a futuristic design for IH dealerships as well as
a company logo that would become an
American cultural icon.
IH gave America a sneak peek at
Loewy’s handiwork in the second half
of 1938 with the hulking TD- 18 crawler,
which boasted a rounded hood and the
signature horizontally slotted Farmall
grille. The radiator, fuel tank and the
top of the engine—all exposed previously—were now wrapped in a streamlined enclosure. Though the mechanicals were virtually unchanged, suddenly
the big crawler went from looking like
an antique to looking like a glimpse of
farming’s future.
“A tractor, whether light or heavy in
actuality, should convey an impression
of solidity and strength,” was Loewy’s
maxim throughout the design.
Just a few months later, in 1939, IH
introduced the Farmalls A and B, the
mid-sized H and the big dog of the
group, the M. All of the tractors shared
Loewy’s handsome cosmetic design. The
A boasted a radical layout that Loewy
called “Culti-Vision,” which offset the
engine to the left of the driver, giving
him an unobstructed view forward. The
Culti-Vision layout would also be used
on the Farmall B and, later, the Cub.
“This clear-vision feature,” International boasted in its sales literature,
“permits you to see all front-mounted
implements at work as well as the row
ahead. You can travel swiftly down the
row—even a row of tiny seedlings —and
do a close-up job.”
IH also commissioned Loewy to
design a new logo, and Loewy dreamed
up the now-famous red lower-case I in
the center of a black capital H. The dot
over the I was supposed to represent a
driver’s head looking over the hood of
a Farmall—the black upright columns
