The “hidden” tractor wheel in the Shevchenko monument is one of Kharkiv’s favorite legends.
Tour guides say that visitors to the city should look for this wheel among the figures of the monument in order to find love and stay in Kharkiv forever.
Some people also claim that this wheel comes from a Kharkiv tractor. But that’s not actually the case—it’s a wheel from a Fordson Model F tractor, which first went into production in the United States in 1917; production was later established in Ireland and England.
The wheel is really hard to spot; it’s hidden behind the figures of the woman with the book and the miner
The concept behind the tractor was modeled after the Ford Model T—it was designed to be as simple and lightweight as possible, mass-produced on an assembly line, and affordable enough to become the first tractor for hundreds of thousands of farmers. That’s basically how it turned out—the Fordson featured a frameless design (essentially, all components and assemblies were mounted directly to the 20-horsepower engine and transmission). By 1928, approximately 850,000 original Model F tractors had been produced; later, production of the improved Model N and E27N versions was established, and these models were manufactured until 1953. The Fordson F became the most widely produced tractor in history.
Between 1921 and 1927, the Soviet Union purchased 25,000 Fordson F tractors, and by 1927 they accounted for 85% of the Soviet Union’s tractor fleet.
Another 36,000 vehicles were produced in Leningrad under an American license from 1924 to 1931, this time under the name “Fordzon-Putilovets.” Incidentally, the sculptor Matvey Manizer, creator of the Shevchenko monument, was from Leningrad.
In the foreground of the “group photo” are models of tractors that drove the mechanization of agriculture in the USSR during the 1920s and 1930s; all of them were modified versions of American tractors:
- On the left is the first model produced by KhTZ, the SKhTZ 15/30 (McCormick-Deering 15-30);
- In the center is a Fordson-Putilovets (Fordson Model F);
- On the right—Universal tractor (Farmall Regular).
In the background is Kharkiv’s first tractor, the “Kommunar.” It was an unlicensed, modified copy of the German Hanomag WD-50.