My all time favorite tractor is the 1976 International Harvester 1566. The  161 hp model had great styling with its red paint and International Power  Stripe decal. I enjoy collecting all brands and types of tractors but the  1566 really stands out because the farm across the street from me has one.  Growing up in the late 1970's and early 1980's watching this tractor work  was great.  It would pull a 6 bottom John Deere plow, a Rome offset disk,  fill in for a Case 2470 on a 25 foot IH field cultivator, and use a big  New Holland 1600 chopper along side an IH Loadstar dump truck. The 1566  always looked right at home in the field and 24 years and one re-painting  later it is still working strong today. I had the 1/16 1972 1466 and 1977  1586 but always wanted the 1976 version of the 1566. One of my best  memories of collecting comes from searching for this model when one afternoon with my Dad at our IH dealer, Rochester Tractor. We were at our  local IH dealer and the parts man said he would see what he could do  handed me the 1/64 1466 with the hook hitch and die-cast stack from behind  the counter. When Ertl released the 6 piece 1/16  66 series collectors set  in 1990 I was glad to see the 6th model would be a 1566.  The 1566 was a  July 1991 collectors edition.

In 1991 and 1992 the 1975 and 1976 150 hp V-8 powered 1568 with natural  aspiration mufflers were also offered by Ertl. I found a place for those  models on my IH shelf as well .  V-8 engines were met with moderate  success in the International 2 wheel-drive models of the 1970's but did  not prove to be popular or reliable  enough for long term production .  This type of engine had disastrous results in several manufactures 4 wheel  drive models like the IH 4786, Case 4994, Allis-Chalmers 4W-305 and John Deere 8850.  No matter what the opinion of V-8 engines use in agricultural tractors, the IH 1468  and 1568 models really stood out in the field with their hot rod looks.

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