The history of International Harvester dates back to 1830, when inventor Cyrus Hall McCormick further developed his version of a horse-drawn reaping machine. In 1847, he moved with his brother to Chicago, where they founded the McCormick Harvesting Machine Company. After his death, his son Cyrus McCormick Jr. continued to run the business.
In 1902, McCormick merged with three other agricultural machinery manufacturers to form the International Harvester Company (IHC). Tractors that had previously been sold under the name McCormick-Deering were branded as McCormick in Europe, while in the United States they were later primarily marketed under the name International.
In 1956, IHC introduced the McCormick D-Series tractor line, consisting of the D-212, D-217, D-324, and D-430 models. This series was a further development of earlier models such as the Farmall DED-3. One notable change was that the headlights were, for the first time, fully mounted on the front of the tractor.
The D-Series was also visually distinctive due to its angular hood and grille featuring the IHC logo. In addition, the tractors could be recognized by their elongated chrome side panels bearing the inscription “McCormick International Farmall.” Production of this series continued until 1966.
