This decorative 4CX is the one millionth JCB backhoe loader to leave the line.
Decorated in graffiti art by London-based artist and illustrator Dave Smith, it was presented to Lord Bamford at the celebratory event to mark the backhoe milestone.
“I am the only person in the business now who can remember the early days when we first started to make backhoes in what was a former cheese factory in Rocester,” said Lord Bamford. “Looking back at that time, I could never have imagined that we would make one million of these diggers after such humble beginnings. Looking back is a fun thing to do but it’s always been JCB’s way to look forward and I’m looking forward to the production of the next one million backhoes.”
The first JCB backhoe rolled off the production line in Rocester, Staffordshire in 1953, was the Mark One. In the first full year of production in 1954 just 35 of the machines were built and it took more than 20 years for the first 50,000 to be made. It took 59 years for the company to make the first half million backhoes – but less than 13 years for the next half million to be produced.
To mark the occasion, hundreds of backhoe loader employees lined the road outside JCB’s World HQ, to watch a cavalcade of 16 backhoes from down the ages. These spanned a 1954 Mark I through to a 2025 3CX model.
JCB now manufactures backhoe loaders in the UK, India, Brazil and it remains of the most versatile and productive machines in the world. Still one of the biggest selling pieces of construction machinery, it remains the world’s fourth most popular machine in the construction equipment sales league table.
Also joining in the celebrations was retired JCB employee Ken Harrison (right), aged 100, who joined the company as a welder in 1952 when only 29 people worked on the shop floor. Ken, one of the last known survivors of the production team that built the first JCB backhoes, retired 36 years later in 1988.
The company sells them in 120 different countries. Royalty, prime ministers, politicians and TV stars have all been photographed in the cab of JCB backhoes over the years.
The JCB backhoe was even the subject of a song which made the top of the UK charts. And it was a JCB backhoe which robbers used in a failed attempt to steal £350 million worth of diamonds from the Millennium Dome in 2000.
For more up-to-date farming news click here and subscribe now to profi and save 47%.
