JCB is celebrating the firm’s 750,000th backhoe loader rolling off the production line.
The milestone machine was produced at the manufacturer’s factory in Rocester, Staffordshire – the same location where the first ever JCB backhoe was made almost 70 years ago.
It was in 1953 that company founder, the late Joseph Cyril Bamford CBE, conceived the idea for the JCB backhoe, which created the first single machine to combine a front shovel and rear excavator arm. In its first full year of production, only 35 were produced and it took more than 20 years for the first 50,000 to be made.
JCB now manufactures backhoe loaders in the UK, India, Brazil and the USA.
JCB chairman Lord Bamford said, “Some of my earliest childhood memories are of watching our first backhoe loaders being produced at Rocester and it’s incredible to think we have now manufactured 750,000. What’s even more incredible is that the backhoe remains one of the world’s most popular pieces of construction equipment almost seven decades after the first was produced. It really is testament to the versatility of the machine that its popularity continues to endure and will see it continue to prosper in the future.”
The 750,000th model is a special edition of JCB’s latest 3CX backhoe, bearing a unique livery and ‘comprehensive’ specification.
