About 20 years ago, I bought a small secondhand Japanese tractor called a Hinomoto. I’d never heard of the make before, but the price was right and I needed something small to slash between the trees in an orchard. The Hinomoto came with a rotary tiller which, I was later to learn, indicated that it had once been a paddy field tractor.

The Hinomoto had a 2 cylinder, 25hp diesel engine that ran with a strange “tokka tokka” sound, but it did a good job of slashing. It had 12 gears (in 3 ranges), a 3 speed PTO, good brakes and good hydraulics. The little tractor had already been through a couple of Aussie owners and had done a lot of work. It eventually got so smokey that I had to replace the piston rings. Then the fun started, nobody else seemed to have heard of the make, and had no idea where I might find spares. 

I finally met with success at the local Massey-Ferguson dealer, who brought