FEATURE
Images Jan Glovac
Bucketload of Benz A piece of Australian agricultural history went to auction recently. Harrison Hunkin reports on a rare chance for buyers to get their hands on a 1925 Benz Sendling
W
hen an extremely rare 1925 Benz-Sendling tractor went up for auction one week before Farms & Farm Machinery hit newsstands, it wasn’t just another antique for sale – it was a slice of Aussie farming history. It won’t find itself on display at a European museum or end up under covers in an American barn. Instead, it will be staying put in the country it has called home for nearly 100 years in the collection of a lucky Australian. That’s because the Australian government has determined that this extremely rare piece of machinery is of tremendous significance to Australian agriculture, and therefore must remain here, Down Under.
OLD-TIMER There is certainly interest that is well and truly in excess of the previous auction’s results.
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It’s a tractor with one hell of a story, arriving in Western Australia from Germany just in time for the Perth Royal Show back in 1925. It’s believed to have then passed between a few local farmers’ hands before ending up in the possession of the late vintage tractor collector Norm Bates. It’s safe to say that, when Bates found the machine, it had seen better days. The cam shaft had seized, the fenders, radiator
and the clutch had been removed and the head had been off the tractor for five years. With little to no trade experience it took Bates two years to fully restore the tractor – a decision that proved to be worth the time and effort, with the machine winning the 1986 Best Restored award by the Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia. Bates passed away in 2011, aged 86, and his 750-lot strong collection of farm machinery was subsequently put up for auction in 2013. Among the collection was the 1925 BenzSendling tractor, which sold for over $100,000; a price Manheim Auctions was hoping to beat as FFM went to press. “Based on feedback from some of the potential buyers, there is certainly interest that is well and truly in excess of the previous auction’s results,” says Manheim Auctions business development manager Richard McNicol. The decision to auction off the Benz-Sendling tractor again comes after the current owners’ near eight-year battle to try and get it back to Germany. However, their attempts were unsuccessful due to the Australia’s Protection of Movable Cultural Heritage Act 1986, which prevents objects of cultural significance to Australia being exported without permission.
THE TRACTOR YOU WANT IS NOW EASIER TO FIND
6/05/2021 12:56:58 PM
