Classic Porsches can be had on the cheap - if you want a tractor

Fancy buying a unique 1954 Porsche in concours condition for less than $20,000?

It can be yours. Though there are a few catches.

First, its top speed is barely 15 miles an hour.

Second, it’s not your ordinary road-going car. To be more accurate, it’s a tractor. Or exactly, a 1954 Porsche air-cooled 1,531 cc two-cylinder diesel Allgaier AP22, valued at 9,000 euros ($11,930) to 15,000 euros.

“We sell tractors all the time,” said Guy Newton, a specialist at seller Coys. “This is the largest collection of its type in the world. During the 1950s, Porsche made more tractors than cars. Not many people know that.”

The London-based auction house is offering four Porsche tractors at the “41 Oldtimer Grand Prix” sale at Nurburgring, Germany, on Aug. 10.

They are owned and were widely exhibited by Peter Bradley, a U.K.-based collector and racer of classic cars by the German manufacturer.

Another six of his Porsche tractors will be auctioned in the U.K. All are road legal and being sold without reserves.

A 1963 Allgaier AP144 Master tractor is the most highly valued, at 32,000 euros to 38,000 euros.

Bradley, 83, has been a member of Porsche Club Great Britain for 45 of its 52 years, with his first purchase a 356 in 1957, according to the Porsche Post monthly magazine. He has owned 944s and 911s up to a 997S and says he has lost count of how many sports cars he has owned.

Porsche Mower

His first tractor was an ancient machine used for grass- cutting at the Castle Combe race circuit and Bradley says his biggest mistake was to buy a second, which he justified as needed to tow-start the first.

Bradley’s coffee tractor from Brazil has already been sold back to Porsche — it was narrow and streamlined to avoid damaging the valuable crop. He is still offering for sale some unique items for the collector with (almost) everything. There is a Porsche water pump and helicopter engine, which have low estimates of 5,000 euros and 4,000 euros each.