Jalandhar’s scrap find turns internet sensation; German Lanz Bulldog vintage tractor sells for Rs 1.25 crore
Lanz Bulldog - a symbol of German agricultural engineering and mechanisation – is among the earliest German tractors manufactured by Heinrich Lanz AG in Mannheim, Germany, from 1921 onwards
A rare piece of an iconic German agricultural machinery, which had lain abandoned for decades like a piece of scrap, at a busy Jalandhar market, has suddenly become a worldwide internet sensation.
A 105-year-old vintage Lanz Bulldog HL 12 German tractor (said to be manufactured in 1921) has just been sold for a hefty Rs 1.25 crore to a US buyer.
The Lanz Bulldog - a symbol of German agricultural engineering and mechanisation – is among the earliest German tractors manufactured by Heinrich Lanz AG in Mannheim, Germany, from 1921 onwards. The Bulldog series, manufactured from 1921 to the 1950s, is especially rare and expensive – sought after by vintage agri machinery collectors worldwide.
The rusted, yet sturdy tractor lay at an abandoned site near a dilapidated building at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk for decades. The tractor’s side panel bore the words LANZ, and a plate on its back read – ‘Heinrich Lanz Mannheim’.
Councillor Puneet Vadhera, neighbour of the tractor owners, says the now transported machine has become a pride of the market, with people still coming in to witness the place where it lay. Vadhera’s videos intimating residents of the machine’s sale have also gone viral.
The find is also being celebrated among vintage farming forums and organisations the world over.
Speaking to The Tribune, Puneet Vadhera said, “The owners of the tractor and the house where it stood moved to the US over 40 years ago. We have all grown up watching it lie there for ages. My neighbour, an eatery owner, climbed and played on the tractor as a kid. The commotion around the machine started about two and a half months ago when an Instagrammer took a video. After that, there was a barrage of calls, even to us. We have heard the tractor originally belonged to the British but was won over by Punjab farmers. The ancestor to whom the machine belonged is no more. Hence, its complete provenance is still a mystery.”
Vadhera added, “A Mumbai-based firm had called another neighbor of mine, starting with an offer of Rs 2 lakh, offering Rs 28 lakh by the next night. However, the property and machine belong to its owners. On February 17, some people made a video call with the tractor to US-based buyers, and we learnt that the US-based owners had sold it for Rs 1.25 crore.”
The tractor was lifted via a crane on the morning of February 18 and transported via truck to a Mumbai port, from where it will be shipped to California, US, Vadhera informed. Incidentally, California also hosts the California Agriculture Museum, home to the Heidrick Tractor Collection. However, Vadhera has no clue about the tractor’s buyer.
