990 (Implematic and Selectamatic)

The story

The 990 was introduced in October 1961 as the biggest of David Brown's Implematic range and was built at Meltham, near Huddersfield. It was updated in 1963 with a longer wheelbase, a stronger front axle and better hydraulics, and a 12-speed gearbox with a crawler-like bottom gear became an option.

In October 1965 it was relaunched in the new Selectamatic range, painted in the brown and white livery known as orchid white. The name came from the hydraulics: a single selector let the driver choose depth control, position control or external services.

A multi-speed PTO and differential lock were standard, a four-wheel drive version followed in 1970, and the model gave way to the 990 of the 1971 range with its synchromesh gearbox.