Most of you probably know that Ferruccio Lamborghini originally produced tractors before turning his attention to supercars, but how many of you have seen a Porsche tractor? This one is from 1960/61 and is being offered for sale here on eBay with an asking price of nearly $10,000! Located in Belgrade, Serbia, you’ll have to dust off your passport if you want to check this one out in person.
According to porsche-diesel.com: “Between 1956 and 1963 over 125,000 Porsche-Diesel tractors were produced, many of them still in daily operation on farms and ranches all over the world. In this time frame American Porsche-Diesel Corporation…sold approximately 1,000 Porsche-Diesel tractors in North America. Most of the tractors were sold at that time on the East Coast of the USA and Canada.”
It’s a little hard to tell from the photos, but the engine appears to be a two-cylinder air-cooled powerplant. These tractors were produced with several cylinder options and horsepower ratings. There is a pretty clear shot of the VIN tag in the ad. The tag indicates a displacement of 1644 cubic centimeters, which means this is a Standard 218 model. Perhaps a keen-eyed reader can share some other important insights into this particular tractor?
You can see the steering wheel has clearly been replaced. It’s hard to tell what else may not be original. I have no idea what the availability of parts for these tractors is. There are several websites featuring Porsche/Diesel Clubs, so there has to be some sort of support for parts and/or questions. What do you think? Have you ever thought about having a tractor project? Let us know.
Just had to have a tractor on steel wheels, friend sold me an IHC-F-12. Overhauled the engine, made two laps around the yard and haven’t started it since.Scratched that itch,on to the next. Thinking about moving it out by the road, at least a few folks could look at it on the way by. I’ve heard about Porsche but never seen one. I broke out on a M-M Twin-City.
I first learned about Porsche tractors in the early 60s when Dad came home with a book that summarized all the tractors from the Nebraska tests. Porsche was just one that I had never heard of, and it built several models that were sold over here.
I have seen 2 different ones at tractor shows/meets. Both were supercharged 2 cylinder diesels. Very cool looking!
they did not make anything but naturally aspirated engines, maybe you thought the turbine style air cooling intake was a supercharger ?
Proble about the cheapest Porsche you could get ,Hey hoony i bought ya a nice red Porsche 😇
I first saw a Porsche tractor in the Smithsonian back in the late 80’s, it was quite a surprise to me as I had no idea that they existed. This year at the Rennsport festival at Laguna Seca they had Porsche tractor races, of sorts. https://autoweek.com/article/classic-cars/porsche-tractor-wins-porsche-tractor-race-rennsport
Ed, I was going to post the same article. I got a kick out of the picture when I saw it in the magazine a few issues ago.
Its an Standard 218H with 2 cylinders and 25hp.
A new steering wheel costs 65€, parts are easy available, as long you are willing to order in Germany, and also you get better examples for less money here in Germany.
Porsches and some others brands are the cheap entry into classic tractors, good examples are available from 5000€. For an Lanz Bulldog on the others side you can spend up to 120.000€.
BTW, they also had nice service trucks.
Any Serious Porsche collector needs a tractor. I have a 59 P133
Here is a pic of mine.
Wheres the Porsche freaks, it’s only 10k? Thats nothing compared to what I’ve seen rusty clapped out Porsches go for on this site?
I guess it would be nothing to those guys to have this thing shipped from Serbia to the states either? That can’t be cheap.
I thought they were all tractors.
Show of hands, who here can operate this machine ( me frantically waving), I can, I can,,,Been around tractors most of my adult life and knew about European tractors, I mean they have to farm too. You’d NEVER see one in Cowpoop Flats, Wisconsin. Farmers are VERY brand specific, and live and die owning nothing but IH, JD, or Auntie Allis. “A Porsche, let’s see”, they’d say, and they’d gather ’round and point. You’d get laughed out of the feed mill showing up on this. It’s hard to say it’s a “cool” tractor, it’s still a machine, and a dangerous one, had several close calls on tractors, one friend almost got killed on one and like KS says, the novelty wears off real quick. Don’t get me wrong, tractors are great machines, all business, and I like certain ones better than others ( Allis D17 my personal favorite) but I don’t think they’re cool.
Hi Howard. There’s definitely brand loyalty amongst tractor owners. Myself, I’m partial to traditional green/yellow, but there are lots of noteworthy makes out there, a lot of them from across the Atlantic. I would sure like to see a Porsche tractor show up at some shows out west. It seems like when you get the annual shows such as the Montana Threshers Association, you get lineups of green, red, and orange, with some A-C orange thrown in. Occasionally you’ll see a Lanz Bulldog or a Field Marshall, so there are some less common makes that show up. I really like publications like Antique Power that show something of everything. Even though I’ll always remain partial to JD, I can still appreciate what the other choices were…
Like I say, not in the Badger, or Minnesota, maybe, not sure. You’d see a Case or a Ford or Minne Mo, but the most foreign it got was a Leyland ( miserable POS) but it was all about parts. Tractor outfits had piles of IH’s, JD’s or A-C’s. You’d have her going that evening. The old saying, is true, if it doesn’t break, you aren’t using it. Breakdowns on the farm consisted of half the time a farmer was awake. You’d use it, it broke, couldn’t help it, the demands on a tractor ( or implements) are tremendous. I don’t have a lot of experience with the newer air cooled tractors, the ones I operated ( Duetz-Allis) were pretty gutless. This one sure looks overbuilt. Probably lives a pretty cushy life now. The real test, is 7/8th’s throttle pulling a chopper for several hours. Looks like this could do it.
They were big here in Upstate NY, lots of German Farmers. There was a dealer on Long Island. One apple farm near me had 4 Porsche tractors back in the day, they are now down to one, but it’s still in operation.
Waves hand… The only tractor in my fleet right now hails from the other side of the world. I have a 1970-something 2-cylinder diesel Satoh Beaver tractor from Japan. Satoh later became part of Mitsubishi. Its only purpose here is plowing snow and grading the driveway, which it does very well, to the surprise of one new neighbor who thought he mock the “little make believe” tractor.
Belarus sold a bunch of russian tractors throughout Cowpoop Flats in the 70s through early 90s. Over 20,000 by 1988. I still see one around here and there in WI. They were cheaper, but simpler — and some said at the time more rugged. Certainly there was less to break.
To me tractors can be both “cool,” and respected for the workload and personal damage they can do. Style-wise, Minneapolis Moline is a personal favorite.
A few years ago I bought out the contents of a farm supply company here in Maryland that closed in 1965. They tried selling Porsche tractors, had all the sales banners, brochures in English, warranty paperwork, repair & parts manuals, but they never managed to sell a single one, and ended up giving the 1 tractor back to the main Porsche tractor importer. [And no, I no longer have any of the sales/service paperwork, all of it sold very quickly.]
The shop owner’s son said the main reasons for a lack of sales were:
1. too expensive. 2. too noisy. 3. under powered compared to USA tractors.
Sume funny Porsche advertising featuring the tractor https://youtu.be/R8-9oIq1hxw. Good few around Europe, they are getting expensive but unless you have a farm …..
Steering wheel is from a 1980s Ford Sierra :-)
They had a perfectly restored one at “Porsche Day” at the Redmond Town Center last summer. Only one I’ve seen outside Germany
My neighbor in Finland used to have three of these, one had a backhoe. They were buying couple of new John Deeres every five or so years trading old ones in but they always kept the Porsches.Maybe they were the first tractors they bought in 50s and wanted to keep those?
I always thought the Porsches looked cool, even in their a bit beat up and used condition. When I left there mid 2000s they still had those and were still occasionally using them.
“Lamborghini originally produced tractors before turning his attention to supercars”
Lamborghini still makes tractors.
https://www.lamborghini-tractors.com/en-eu/
Seeing as the famous Porsche made the tractoe he felt the need to install an airbag…
Yep….they made tractors too…….just like Henry !
Best Porsche ever ! And its something that is a true barn find !
There were several Porsche tractors “racing” at Laguna Seca this year during the Monterey Historics…
One of my favorite trick questions for self-proclaimed car “experts”:
What was the first year Porsche offered an air cooled Diesel motor in a vehicle?
Most people will say Porsche never offered a Diesel in a car [but notice I said “Vehicle”].
The answer is 1956.
Anybody interested in readily restored models?
Have a look at:
http://www.classic-oldtimer.at/index.php?route=common/page&id=2055&children=bazar/bazar/searchProduct&return=bazar/bazar/searchproduct&htmlview=18
Will this keep up out at Laguna Seca?