Porsche tractors to go under the hammer
The name may now be synonymous with sports cars, but it’s an epic collection of rare Porsche tractors that will soon be going fast…Forget your Porsche 911 Carrera RS, 918 Spyder, and Cayman GT4 – if you really want to prove you’re the ultimate fan boy (or girl) of the famed Stuttgart marque, you’ll snap up a rare Porsche… tractor?
That’s right, while Ferdinand Porsche is most readily associated with high-performance sportscars and, today, luxury SUVs, the Austro-Bohemian-born engineer also applied his considerable talents to designing and producing somewhat more agricultural machinery – literally!
Mid-century debut
While Porsche’s first prototype, which he dubbed the ‘people’s tractor’, appeared in the early 1930s (he also designed the ‘people’s car’, or Volkswagen Beetle), it wasn’t until 1950 that the first tractor to officially bear the Porsche name was produced.
That first model, the AP17, made its appearance at the 1950 German Agricultural Show in Frankfurt. An expanded range of models spanning air-cooled single, twin, triple and four-cylinder formats followed in subsequent years, as well as a radial, water-cooled model, the A16, that Porsche produced for German auto firm, Allgaier.
In 1955 Allgaier sold its entire tractor business to Porsche to concentrate on other things, with Porsche tractor production then taking place in Friedrichshafen, in southern Germany.
Porsche tractors were known for their ultra-low gearing, a special hydraulic clutch that prevented stalling, their variable track width, and their tight turning circle, making these tractors very handy indeed on the small plots of land that are not unusual in Europe.
By the late 1950s the range featured a standardised engine across Junior, Standard, Super and Master models, until fierce competition brought the Porsche tractor era to a close in 1963. Porsche would focus its efforts on cars from then on.
Prized collection
Today, Porsche tractors have become prized collectors’ items, their fame carried by the strength of the Porsche name. And now hardcore collectors and enthusiasts alike can purchase their own piece of Porsche tractor history, thanks to an epic looming auction from Melbourne-based Donington Auctions.
Billed by Donington as “the most comprehensive collection of Porsche tractors in the southern hemisphere”, 11 different tractors will go under the hammer, including both Porsche and Allgaier models.
Bidding opens for this timed online auction at 10:00am on Monday, October 30, with bidding closing at two-minute intervals from 6:00pm on Saturday, November 11. Viewing of the lots will take place in Victoria’s Kilmore region from November 10 to 11, by appointment only.
While these Porsche tractors may not be going fast, when the gavel falls you can be certain they will be gone…
For more details visit the listing page at Donington Auctions.
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