Lanz Bulldog still has plenty of bite

Nearly 100 years old, a top speed of 12km/h and powered by a hot-bulb engine.

The 1921 Lanz Bulldog tractor is vastly different to the latest John Deere 6140R or Massey Ferguson 8737 but the German-built icon is revered among many Newdegate residents.

The vintage tractor is considered the first tractor in Newdegate, after arriving in 1921, spending much of its working life at farming pioneer Charlie Hill’s Lake Magenta property.

At this year’s Newdegate Machinery Field Days on September 4-5, the Lanz remained the main attraction for patrons, despite being surrounding by the newest agricultural machinery on the market.

The 98-year-old cast-iron piece of machinery is also the logo for the annual Newdegate event.

Machinery enthusiast Rusty Lee alongside the Jaycees — Newdegate’s Junior Chamber of Commerce group — and farmer Wally Newman helped restore the Lanz in time for the 1974 show.

Mr Lee, who fired the tractor up at this year’s event for the first time in three years, said the tractor outlined agricultural machinery’s rich history.

“The Jaycees purchased it at Charlie Hill’s clearing sale, after he passed, because they didn’t want to see the tractor leave the community,” he said.

“Wally Newman and myself restored it to get it operating for the field days.”

To start the Lanz, operators have to pull the steering wheel out, put it into the flywheel and heat up the hot bowl at the front with a petrol blow torch for up to half an hour.

When it gets hot enough, the flywheel had to be cranked to get the engine roaring,

“I really enjoy starting it; it is an absolute format you have to follow.”

Mr Lee has taken the Lanz back to his property, near Hopetoun, for running repairs ahead of next year’s field days.