Happy 70th JCB… and happy holidays!

Today, in celebration of 70 years in business, JCB is giving its staff worldwide an extra day’s holiday.

The construction machinery giant is also launching a limited anniversary edition of its iconic 3CX backhoe loader.

Chairman, Lord Bamford, son of JCB’s founder, the late Sir Joseph Cyril Bamford CBE, said: “Seventy years is a long time, but the past is the past and while we are proud of it, our engineers are really only interested in the future and the products of tomorrow. You cannot rest on your laurels in business; you have to be thinking of tomorrow, the changing world markets and the products our customers need. That is what makes me and all our people tick.”

Since JCB’s first backhoe was produced in 1953, the company has sold a total of 600,000 and has, for the past 15 years, been the world’s biggest backhoe manufacturer.

The ‘platinum’ edition of the 3CX, to be built at JCB’s world HQ in Rocester, will hark back to the firm’s original livery, with red buckets, full white cab and red wheels. Yet, fulfilling the more sophisticated demands of today’s market, the new machines will come complete with in-cab coffeemakers.

Fitted with 109 hp JCB Tier 4 Final Ecomax engines, manufactured at JCB’s plant in Derbyshire, the backhoes will have a top speed of 40kph.

Lord Bamford, who was born on the day his father founded JCB, said: “The backhoe loader was the building block for the success of JCB and while we now produce many other different types of machines for construction, agricultural and industrial machines, it remains one of our most important products.”