Junked 105-year-old German tractor in Jalandhar rakes in Rs 1.25 crore

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. The 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 1950s, is rare and expensive — sought after by vintage agriculture machinery collectors worldwide.

The rusted yet sturdy tractor lay at an abandoned site near a dilapidated building at 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, a 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, 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 lay 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 influencer 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 whom the machine belonged to is no more. Hence, its complete provenance is still a mystery.”

Vadhera said, “A Mumbai-based firm had called another neighbour of mine, starting with an offer of Rs 2 lakh, offering Rs 28 lakh by the next night. However, the property and machine belongs to its owners. On February 17, some people made a video call with the tractor to the US-based buyer and we learnt that the US-based owners had sold it for Rs 1.25 crore.”

The tractor was lifted using a crane on the morning of February 18 and transported on a truck to a Mumbai port, from where it will be shipped to California, US, Vadhera said. Incidentally, California also hosts the California Agriculture Museum, home to the Heidrick Tractor collection. However, Vadhera has no clue who the tractor’s buyer is.

Vintage Heinrich Lanz tractors are extremely rare and considered “blue chip” collectibles due to their historical significance, engineering and extreme durability. They are celebrated as symbols of German agricultural industrialisation. Introduced in 1921 by Dr Fritz Huber, the Lanz Bulldog was the world’s first successful crude-oil-burning, hot-bulb tractor. It was treasured since it could run on any fuel — from vegetable oil to waste oil. The Heinrich Lanz company had presented the Bulldog HL 12 for the first time at the German Agricultural Society’s travelling exhibition on June 16, 1921. The Bulldog got its name from the machine’s hot-bulb engine’s cylinder head which bore a likeness to a dog.