Porsche-Diesel. Lanz. Deutz. Restored properly.
A separate, deliberate corner of the atelier — for the agricultural side of European engineering heritage.
Between 1956 and 1963, Porsche built tractors in Friedrichshafen — air-cooled diesels in a brand the world remembers for something else entirely. Today these machines, and the Lanz, Deutz, Eicher and Fendt classics that worked alongside them across post-war Europe, are quietly becoming some of the most collectable agricultural objects of the century. Imperial Motorworks restores them. Not as a side line — as a discipline of its own.
Post-war German agricultural engineering.
The Porsche-Diesel line — Junior, Standard, Super, Master — is the most recognisable name in collectible classic tractors, and the one we most regularly receive into the workshop. Air-cooled single, two, three or four-cylinder diesels; mechanical injection; the same engineering discipline that built sports cars across the border. They were sold in the tens of thousands in the late 1950s and have aged with the same dignity as the cars they share an industrial parentage with.
Around them sits a wider European agricultural heritage: Lanz Bulldog hot-bulb singles from the 1930s, Deutz air-cooled multis from the 1950s and 60s, Eicher water-cooled diesels, and the Fendt Dieselross machines that defined small-farm Bavaria. We restore these on enquiry — the principle and the process are the same as for Porsche-Diesel.
One marque held in focus. Others on enquiry.
- Porsche-Diesel Junior (P 111, P 122, P 133)
- Porsche-Diesel Standard (T 217, T 218)
- Porsche-Diesel Super (P 312, P 318)
- Porsche-Diesel Master (P 419, P 422)
- Lanz Bulldog (hot-bulb and diesel)
- Deutz D-series air-cooled diesels
- Eicher water-cooled diesels
- Fendt Dieselross & Farmer
- Hanomag, Kramer, Schlüter — please ask
Where a marque is not listed it does not mean we will not take the commission. It means we want to look at the specific machine before quoting.
Three honest depths. Discussed before scope is fixed.
- I
Sympathetic restoration
Original substance preserved.
For tractors whose original paint, decals and patina are still readable, we work to preserve rather than replace. Mechanical revival, brake and hydraulics overhaul, fluids, light cosmetic stabilisation. The tractor leaves looking as it has for sixty years — only running again.
- II
Museum-grade restoration
Period-correct full restoration with original detail.
A full mechanical and cosmetic restoration to period-correct standard, using original or correct-to-period parts wherever possible. Paint matched to period-correct codes, decals sourced from registry-grade specialists, hardware preserved or replaced like-for-like. The result is exhibition-ready and FIVA-documentable.
- III
Nut-and-bolt restoration
Stripped to bare chassis. Rebuilt to factory specification.
The deepest depth. The tractor is taken apart entirely, each component restored or replaced, the chassis stripped to bare metal, the engine rebuilt to factory specification, and the machine reassembled with full restoration dossier. Reserved for the rarest examples and for tractors destined for permanent collection or museum display.
Why 1000 m² matters for tractors.
Restoring a tractor is not a smaller version of restoring a car. The components are larger, the rotating assemblies are heavier, and the floor space needed to lay out a stripped chassis without compromising on access is genuinely different. Our 1000 m² workshop has the room and the equipment to take this work seriously: rotisseries sized for tractor chassis, lifts rated for the weight, and storage capacity for the months a proper restoration takes.
Equally important: we hold tractor projects between phases in climate-controlled indoor space. Tractor restorations frequently pause while period-correct parts are sourced from specialist registries across Europe; a project under restoration cannot live outside under a tarpaulin during that time.
Every restoration documented in the same dossier.
Tractor restorations at Imperial Motorworks receive the same restoration dossier as our automotive work: arrival condition, agreed scope, phase-by-phase photographic record, parts provenance, findings log, and a final signed confirmation. For tractors destined for collection, museum or FIVA registration, the dossier is what gives the machine its history in writing.
We work with the Porsche-Diesel registry, with Lanz and Deutz specialist communities, and with respected European parts sources. Sourcing transparency is part of the documentation — every period-correct part has a provenance line in the dossier.
From the archive
What this page claims, the workshop floor shows. These tractors passed through the atelier — each with its own photographic record.
- Porsche-Diesel Junior 4 1958
- Porsche-Diesel Super 308 1957–1960
- Porsche-Diesel Super Export 329 1961–1963
- Porsche-Diesel Super 339 1962–1963
- Porsche-Diesel Standard Star 238 1961–1962
- Porsche-Diesel Super N 308 1957–1960
- Porsche-Diesel Super —
- Porsche-Diesel Master 1960–1963
- Allgaier-Porsche AP 17 1950–1954
- Eicher Schlepper —
- Hanomag Schlepper —
- Lamborghini Trattori —
Tell us about the machine.
Tractor restorations are unhurried by design and begin with an unhurried first conversation. Photographs, year, marque, model, and what you would like the result to be — written or spoken, we will follow up personally.
