One of the joys of vintage rallies is coming across the unexpected, and there was no more a delightful surprise than finding an International Harvester 3588 tucked away in a line of larger classics at Blodelsheim, the tractor that will forever be referred to as The Snoopy.
It was the mid-70s and John Deere was on a roll with its Generation II tractors which were introduced 1972.
These were new tractors that brought new levels of comfort and the now famous Quad-Range transmission that is still with us over 50 years later.
IH was somewhat agitated, they had some big reliable articulated tractors, and they also had standard two wheel drive models such as the 1066 of 140hp, but it was felt that nothing in the range could go against Deere’s new cabbed tractors in this power segment, so something had to be done.
Yet, that something could not cost money to develop, basically the engineers were told to design the new tractor without spending on any radical new elements.
The 3588 is born
The answer took shape when it was suggested that an 86 series back end be attached by an articulation point to a 466 series front end, the idea was immediately adopted and so this legendary series was born.
Besides being relatively inexpensive to design and test, the new tractor marked a radical departure from the standard format of the day in that it brought four wheel drive down to smaller tractors, making them lighter and less damaging to the soil.
The first 36 models were assembled with great secrecy at IH’s Farmall Plant in 1978 before being shipped out to Phoenix, Arizona, still covered up so that the competition, especially Deere, would not get wind of them.
It was dealers from the southern states who were first treated to a view of the new tractor as being a row crop tractor, that was seen as its biggest market.
To begin with, the reaction was understandably muted, it was, after all, a revolutionary looking machine, but hearts were soon won over and while the original plan had been to build 6,500 examples, the company eventually sold around twice that number.
The original 3588, as pictured above, produced 170hp while the largest variant, the 6788 had 200hp to offer. Production continued up until 1984.
