AgriLand paid a visit to Co. Westmeath to meet the owners of a pair of very fetching Fiat (Fiatagri) ‘classic’ tractors – a 110-90 DT and a newer-generation F140.
The tractors – alongside a couple of more modern New Holland machines – are owned by a family-run (plant hire) contracting business.
In this video (below – shot by AgriLand’s own Kevin Farrell), Eddie Donoghue – Donoghue Plant Hire – explained: “We have two Fiat ‘classics’ that are restored.
“The 110-90 was bought in Wexford two years ago. We had it for a few months…and we got it sprayed in Omagh [Co. Tyrone] – by Hamilton Bros. It’s been doing light work since we got it back.
“We’re going to keep her for the moment anyway; I’m going to get wide tyres for it…and a ‘turbo’ and a few other bits. But you never know; if I got a good price for her, I’d sell it.”
Eddie (pictured above) added: “I just like them; I like the noise off them…and the look of them. It’s a nice tractor to drive; with a good ‘lock’.
“It’s easy [to] do small jobs with it.”
Eamon Donoghue (Eddie’s father, who is also involved in the business) explained how the bigger F140 – from Fiatagri’s ‘Winner Series’ – came into their sights.
He said: “We were working in Ballymahon one day – in ‘Center Parcs’. On the way home, Eddie spotted this tractor. We bought it that day…and brought it home the next.
“I find it very powerful; I’d put it before a new tractor. It’s easy to fix; it’s easy to access parts for; and you still can get bits for it.”
He went on (in the video) to describe some of the jobs that the tractor now does, adding that it’s “very nice to drive”.
‘As good as new tractors’
He explained: “Anything that we want a big tractor for, it’ll do it.”
He concluded: “It’s as good as a new tractor. Spanners will fix it, but with new tractors you need a genius.”
