Lanz Bulldog
The Lanz Bulldog was a tractor manufactured by Heinrich Lanz AG in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Production started in 1921 and various versions of the Bulldog were produced up to 1960. Deere & Company purchased Lanz in 1956 and started using the name "John Deere-Lanz" for the Lanz product line. A few years after the Bulldog was discontinued the Lanz name fell into disuse.
The Bulldog was an inexpensive, simple, and easily maintained vehicle due primarily to its simple power source: a single cylinder, horizontal, two-stroke, hot bulb engine. Initially the engine was a 6.3 litre, 12 horsepower unit, but as the Bulldog evolved the engine was increased to 10.3 litres and 55 horsepower. While hot bulb engines were crude they were easy to maintain and could burn a wide variety of low grade fuels – even waste oils.
The Lanz Bulldog was one of the most popular German tractors, with over 220,000 of them produced in its long production life.
Bulldogs were also produced in Spain by Lanz Iberica S.A. at Getafe near Madrid. A total of 17,100 tractors was built from 1956 to 1963.
The Bulldog was copied in various other countries, sometimes under license, sometimes not:
‘Le Percheron’ was a licensed copy of the 25 HP hot-bulb Bulldog built by by Société Nationale de Construction Aeronautic du Centre (SNCAC) at Colombe in France from about 1939. It is believed that nearly 3,700 were built before production ceased in 1956.
The KL Bulldog was produced by Kelly & Lewis of Springvale, Victoria, Australia from 1948 to December 1952. Just over 860 were built. It was based on the 35 HP Model N Bulldog.
Ursus produced a copy of the 45 HP Bulldog at the ZMU factory (Zaklady Mechanicze Ursus) in Czechowice in Poland from 1947, referred to as the C45. This was replaced by the C451 in 1957. About 55,000 Ursus Bulldogs were built from 1947 up until 1965.
In 1951 a copy of the 55 HP Bulldog was produced by Industrias Aeronáuticas y Mecánicas del Estado in Argentina. The tractor was called ‘El Pampa’ and the badge on the front read IAME. From 1955 the tractor was produced by Dirección Nacional de Fabricaciones e Investigaciones Aeronáuticas and the badge was changed to DINFIA. A total of 3,760 Pampas were produced from 1951 to 1960.
The Bulldog is similar to other European hot-bulb tractors produced in a similar time frame, such as SF Vierzon in France, Landini in Italy and HSCS in Hungary. It is also similar to the Field Marshall produced in England except that the Field Marshall has a diesel engine and not a hot-bulb engine.
The name "Bulldog" is widely used in Germany as a synonym for tractors even today, especially in Bavaria.
External links
- Lanz tractors at TractorData.com
- Lanz tractor and its relationship with the Pampa tractor made in Argentina
- German WP article about the Lanz company: de:Heinrich Lanz AG
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