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. John Deere 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 Lanz Bulldog was one of the most popular German tractors, with over 220,000 of them produced in its long production life. The name "Bulldog" is widely used in Germany as a synonym for tractors even today, especially in Bavaria.
Engine
The Bulldog was a simple and easily maintained vehicle due primarily to its simple, 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.
Lanz Iberica
Bulldogs were also produced in Spain by Lanz Iberica S.A. at Getafe near Madrid. A total of 17,100 tractors were built from 1956 to 1963.
Bulldog Copies
The Bulldog design was copied in other countries by several different manufacturers. While some of these copies were legitimately produced under license from Bulldog, most of them were built with each respective builders own frame and body design, being powered by unlicensed copies of the patented Bulldog hot-bulb engine. Some of these examples are:
France
"Le Percheron" was a licensed copy of the 25 HP hot-bulb Bulldog, built 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.
Australia
The KL Bulldog was produced by Kelly & Lewis of Springvale, Victoria, Australia from 1948 to December 1952. Just over 860 were built, based on the 35 HP Model N Bulldog.
Poland
Ursus produced a copy of the 45 HP Bulldog at the ZMU factory (Zaklady Mechanicze Ursus) in Warsaw in Poland from 1947, called the C-45. This was replaced by the C451 in 1957. About 55,000 Ursus Bulldogs were built from 1947 until 1965.
Argentina
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.
Similar tractors
The Bulldog was similar to other European hot-bulb tractors that were being produced around the same time. Some of these examples are the SF Vierzon from France, the Landini tractor from Italy, and the HSCS from Hungary. The Field Marshall that was produced in England, was a similar design to the Bulldog hot-bulb engine with the exception of an internally designed vaporing plate which replaced the conventional externally located hot-bulb, this internal design required ignition papers in place of the external blow lamp to start the engine.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lanz Bulldog. |
- Lanz tractor and its relationship with the Pampa tractor made in Argentina
- German WP article about the Lanz company: de:Heinrich Lanz AG