The last harvest | 3x Claeys/Clayson M103 & M80 at work

During the end of the 2021 wheat harvest season some oldtimer friends came together to cut the final field of the year using their classic Claeys and Clayson combine harvesters. The M103 was the most popular model of combine in the Netherlands during the 60s. In total 27.510 machines were build by the Leon Claeys factory in Zedelgem, Belgium. This is the same factory as where New Holland Agriculture is producing combines, forage harvesters and balers today.

Today most of these machines are in the hands of collectors and some are restored, as the 2 examples seen in this video. The 2 machines in this video are owned by farmer/contractor Ko Brasser and collector Bo de Kam. The third machine is a somewhat rare M80 machine. This combine was offered by Clayson from 1961 and followed 5 years later by the upgraded M89. It was a smaller version of the M103 aimed at small farmers whereas the M103 was for the big farmers and contractors.

The model number M103 stands for the size of the sieves which are 103cm. It has a 100x60cm threshing drum (the same as Claeys' first model the MZ, which was the first SP combine harvester build in Europe). The grain tank has a capacity of 2.300L and it is powered by a Ford, Deutz or Perkins engine. Header sizes varied from 260 to 300, 350, 400 and 450 cm working width. Its maximum capacity was around 7T/hr.

Production of the M103 started in 1958 and ran until 1967 when it was replaced by the equally popular M135. In 1962 the name was changed from Claeys to Clayson, as it was more easily to write and speak worldwide and because it sounded a bit to similar to the German CLAAS for comfort. Its big rival in Europe. In 1964 the US Sperry Rand Corporation purchased Clayson and the name New Holland Clayson was introduced until the TF and TX line-up, when the Clayson name was finally dropped.

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