About a month ago I discovered this private, yet completely accessible museum, dedicated to the tractors that roamed the agricultural settlements and Kibbutzim of Israel years ago. And what d’ya know, it was only about 30 km from where I live. I photographed many photos there for your pleasure, so this will be a post divided in two.
From early beginnings, decades before Israel was formed as a country, it was very much agricultural, be it Arabs plowing the land with horses, or Jews that came from Europe in the late 19th century and started “mechanizing” the fields with tractors . Small villages, (be it settlements, pronounced Moshavim, or the famous Kibbutzim, based on socialist ideas, where everything belongs to everyone) had vast acres of lands, and it was simply unreasonable to rely on farmyard animals to work all these fields. Also, as with the rest of the world, mechanizing was progress (nowadays agriculture in Israel has narrowed considerably, as the nation has turned to hi-tech industry some twenty-five years ago, and never looked back- but I digress).
Farmyard equipment was imported from virtually everywhere, even post-war (and post-Holocaust) Germany in the 1950s. Every Moshav and Kibbutz had different types of tractors, and all were usually worked down to the bone. It wasn’t rare to witness some 30 years old tractors still at hard work, as long as they were maintained properly (well, almost). When done, they were mostly discarded or sold as junk, not being addressed to as vehicles that might have some classic significance in the future (sounds familiar, right?). So, much like many cars of old, slowly but surly they vanished.
As for the museum, this private-collection-turned-into-a-museum started with one man. A former farmer from Ein Verd village, Erez Milshtein, had a soft spot for old tractors, and slowly started gathering them, along with parts and other farmyard equipment, to be restored by him and countless other friends and farmers. Many old farmers joined this venture, which essentially formed into a voluntary association that throughout the years, has been handling the museum’s collection, funds and what not. You can read more about it in the museum’s modest website.
Before you delve into the photos, I must put up a disclaimer: I know almost nothing about tractors, not to mention other farmyard equipment, however I did think posting this on CC would appeal to many of you. So under advisement from CC’s top writers, I’m posting the photos here with minimal content from myself, but with anticipation to any, most welcome comments from the CC community.
Starting the exhibition is this yet-to-be-restored 1934 Lanz Bulldog Crawler with its unique Hot-Bulb engine.
1953 M.A.N Ackerdiesel 4X4.
A most familiar vehicle, a John Deere 110 Garden Tractor.
1954 Energic 525.
1954 Ford 601 Workmaster.
As you can see, crawlers were also used widely, represented here by 1951 International TD-9 and 1952 International TD-6.
1951 Allis-Chalmers HD-5 Crawler.
1947 Empire 90, based on WWII Jeep mechanicals.
1956 Fiat 70C Crawler.
Now that’s more familiar to me. Although this 1968 Massey Ferguson 165 was born three years before I was, I still remember these tractors working away during the early 1980s.
1947 John Deere B.
1947 Farmall Cub.
1952 Allis-Chalmers HD-7 Crawler.
1951 Ursus C45, a Polish tractor based on (a better term night be “copied from”) the Lanz Bulldog at the top of this post.
1949 Panzer Garden Tractor and 1952 Allis-Chalmers WD.
1945 Allis-Chalmers G.
1957 Fiat 411R 4X4.
1950 Allis-Chalmers CA.
This one is also a familiar sight from my childhood, a 1965 John Deere 3020.
1956 Fiat 513R.
1957 Fordson Major Diesel and 1958 Fordson Super Major.
1958 Fordson Super Major.
1946 Ferguson TE-20.
1946 Ford 8N.
1946 Ford 8N.
1947 Steyr T180. As you can see, even back then those Austrian tractors were used despite the then-recent Holocaust.
1963 Fiat 80C Crawler.
I don’t have the exact year but I believe this Ford 7610 is from the 1970s, judging by its square shape alone.
1944 McCormick International WD-9.
1936 Oliver 80, equipped with wheels designed for grip in the mud.
This Ferguson TE-20 was painted according to a children’s book about a tractor, and called “The tractor in the sand box“.
1946 and 1963 Deutz D40.
Most of us know this well, a 1937 Ford F15A CMP that arrived in Israel way back during WWII, and abandoned here by the British.
1946 and 1963 Deutz D40
1956 David Brown 2D Rowcrop Tractor
1951 Caterpillar D4 Crawler
1964 Eicher ES 202
1958 Fordson Dexta
1955 Farmall 230
1941 Whitehouse Bentley Mechanical Mule
1953 Farmall Super C
1958 UTB U-650
This 1951 “Za’atut 9” and its successor “Za’atut 10” below were produced by Israel even before the Susita. They used Kohler generator engines and as you can see, were very small, hence the name (“Za’atut” translat into “toddler”). Try as I might, I couldn’t find any other info about these tractors, even at the museum’s website.
1953 Za’atut 10
1938 Case D
More mud wheels, this time on a 1947 Fordson Major Diesel
And I’ll end with another Austrian, this 1961 Steyr T188. More to come in part two.
What a terrific collection of tractors! Some are familiar, such as the Ford as my father owned a 8N at one time, while others are delightfully unfamiliar.
I’m looking forward to the next installment. While I’m not a tractor person per se, I do appreciate the durability and basic goodness of these machines.
I am absolutely loving the variety of tractors shown here, especially all the crawlers. Although we were a “Green Tractor” family, it is good to see such variety.
The John Deere 110 is an early model. with the pan seat and steel fenders. Probably doesn’t have the original Kohler motor any more.
Something ironic about a “Panzer” garden tractor on an Israeli kibbutz! I would love to have my own Panzer Gartenarbeitwagen, but I think it belongs there.
Thanks, and I look forward to more.
I had heard of a “Pennsylvania Panzer” lawn tractor. They were built in the USA and had the distinction of using a narrowed automobile rear axle out back. Googling “Panzer Lawn Tractor” will yield several YouTube videos near the top of the results.
The Panzers I knew of were blue, so the red one here piqued my curiosity. The article below states that the original maker of Panzers was named COPAR and gives their startup as the early ’50s. Early COPAR Panzers were indeed red. The COPAR logo ran across the top of the grille shell, and the P began the name Panzer vertically down the center of the grille.
http://www.farmcollector.com/company-history/panzer-tractor-zmlz13mayzbea
Love it! I have wheeltime in only two of these – the John Deere Model B that my father got from my stepmom’s Uncle Cal was one, though that was an older (“unstyled”) version and the International Farmall Super C that I drove during one of the visits to my mother’s Uncle Gerhard’s dairy farm in Minnesota.
It is amazing what the tractor-scape looks like in a country that does not have a “local favorite” or home-market tractor – you guys got some of almost everything from everywhere.
I would start cutting my own grass again if I could do so on a Panzer riding tractor.
What a terrific collection. Very nice, and a wider range of products from around the world than most other agricultural museums.
Most of the models will be familiar to enthusiasts, but a couple, like the Mechanical Mule are new to me.
Its perfect to leave them in unrestored condition, with all the scuffs and dents of a lifetimes’ work. It makes them more interesting.
Those “mud wheels” are simple steel wheels. They are not a special adaptation. Very early tractors used steel because big rubber tires were either too expensive or not available. In the 1920’s and 30’s, rubber tires were widely adopted because they’re superior in almost every way. Steel wheels came back during wartime austerity, but only briefly. Those solid narrow rubber tires on the steel rim is an interesting adaptation that I’ve never seen before. Very nice.
Three of those tractors, (the JD riding tractor, the Massey and the Ford 8N ) are in my own collection. I feel somewhat vindicated because I never intended to collect, I’m just too cheap to buy new. But I would pay real money for that Panzer.
I was thinking that Panzer doesn’t look very Panzer-esque.
Always nice to see a CMP truck. Not sure that’s a 1937, I read elsewhere they were produced from 1940-1945
It has a “No. 13 cab” and hence could have been built anytime between 1941-1945.
Nicely done. Here’s a short of video from a small show in 2014.
https://youtu.be/h2zgugw5wcc
What a wonderful collection, especially the ones still in ‘working clothes.’
The two Ford 8Ns appear to be mislabeled with regard to the model year (8N production started in July 1947). The details on both tractors firmly point to them being later than this (the painted one may possibly have a side-mount distributor, which would have been ‘late 1950’ production). The script Ford logo on the hood started with the mid-1947 8Ns, and the stamped logo on the rear fenders was a late 1950 addition. Based on this, I’d place both as late 1950 or 1951 model tractors vs. 1946 (in which case they would be 2Ns).
The JD Model B was introduced in late 1934, as an ‘unstyled’ tractor. Henry Dreyfuss Associates redesigned the tractor for JD in 1939, making it ‘styled.’ The B was subsequently redesigned again for 1947 (our subject ‘late styled’ tractor), before being succeeded in 1952 by the Model 50.
Tractordata.com shows the Ford 7610 utility tractor was manufactured from 1982 – 1992. It had a 4.4l diesel making 97hp (86hp PTO).
I’m a little surprised that any company would call their product a “Panzer” four short years after World War II ended.
Well the word panzer is just the German word for armor so while it also was used to refer to tanks, the word itself has been around for centuries.
I wonder if the German made tractors were part of the reparations agreement that Germany and Israel agreed upon in the 1950’s. I know trains and vehicles were given to Israel.
The Israel of the time period of 1948-1960 was not going to turn down any farm equipment, vehicles or arms just because of the origin of the items. These items represented a chance to build the Israeli nation.
The Steyrs certainly were not as Austria never paid reparations to Israel but only directly to individual claimants.
Nice collection of iron. Thanks for presenting this. TODAH
Great collection, some serious mislabeling but thats ok looking forward to part two
Thanks for a fun walk through this great collection. Some of these were new to me.
Thanks for all your comments. Indeed, although I’ve minimal knowledge regarding tractors and the like, I suspected there are multiple mislabeling in the museum’s signs.
I tried to Google all those names against their prospective model years to find out more, but as it turns out even Google does not supply satisfactory answers. Hence my extended thanks to your valuable comments.
🙂