After the split with Ford, Ferguson took the opportunity to have the
Standard Motor Company of the
UK produce a new design, the
Model TE20. The model name came from Tractor, England but is affectionately known as the
Little Grey Fergie. There were several variants of the TE20; the first tractors were designated TE20 Using an imported Continental Z120 engine. In 1948 the TEA20 was introduced with a Standard brand
petrol engine, following the introduction of the TED20 which ran on TVO (
tractor vapourising oil, similar to
paraffin). Later a
diesel model was introduced, the TEF20. There were other variants with narrow
tracks for working in
vineyards and
orchards, such as the TEB20 and TEC20. Over 500,000 Little Grey Fergies were built between 1946 and 1956, and many survive today. So successful was the TE20 that Ford nicknamed it the "Grey Menace" as sales of the tractor spread across the world. Some were used on an expedition to the South Pole in 1958 by Sir
Edmund Hillary, a testament to the durability of the machine. Ford ultimately settled the legal proceedings with a multimillion-dollar sum that allowed Ferguson to further expand his own manufacturing interests. There is a monument in
Wentworth on the junction of the
Darling and
Murray Rivers in commemorating the time in 1956 when both rivers flooded and a fleet of Little Grey Fergies was used to build defensive banks to save the town. ==Ferguson Park==