Old tractors in Luxembourg: trade, collection and rural heritage

At Koetschette, Dennys Schuler’s old tractors are both a business and a passion. Peppange Museum, meanwhile, places them within the wider history of rural work.

In Luxembourg, old tractors are not just collector’s items: they move between workshops, farms, buyers and enthusiasts. At Koetschette, Dennys Schuler’s business reveals two distinct realities: a trade in second-hand vehicles that are constantly changing hands, and a personal collection. The transmission of agricultural heritage also takes place at dedicated venues such as Peppange Museum.

A private collection, a commercial stock

In a shed in Koetschette, Dennys Schuler estimates that he owns between 300 and 400 old tractors, according to the profile published by L’essentiel. The machines span several decades, from models dating to around 1905 to those from the 1960s, as well as more recent vehicles that are still used for work. The owner says that almost all of them are in working order.

However, this number does not refer to a collection intended to remain intact. The shed holds the stock of Schuler’s company, Old Tractor, which buys and sells machines. He says he keeps around twenty vehicles at home, separately, for his personal collection. The distinction matters: a space full of tractors may look like a museum, but the stock described here is also a commercial asset, with vehicles coming and going.

Schuler also told the publication how frequently transactions take place: he says he sells and acquires an average of 400 tractors a year. This is a stated annual flow, distinct from the stock held at any given time. Purchases can be made in batches of 20 to 30 tractors, sometimes transported on several articulated lorries. An adjoining workshop makes it possible to work on the engines; the report does not establish that every purchase undergoes the same restoration.

Machinery sold at widely varying prices

Age alone is not enough to determine the value of an old tractor. In the L’essentiel article, Schuler links prices to age and the rarity of parts. He cites a range from 500 or 1,000 euros to 130,000-150,000 euros for a Lanz Bulldog Routier. These are amounts quoted by the seller, not a general price list or an independent valuation: the machine’s condition, configuration and demand may all affect a particular transaction.

Putting a machine back in working order also requires practical expertise. The article describes a mechanic working on the piston of an old Fahr in the workshop adjoining the shed. Restoring a machine therefore involves more than preserving its appearance: you need to be able to work on its components and assess whether it can function. Keeping it in working order connects the collector’s item with the agricultural machine, whose value also lies in what it is still capable of doing.

The business is not limited to tractors. Schuler explains that Old Tractor also sells modern agricultural machinery, trailers and accessories. He says he started out alone and now has five employees, with an additional hire planned for the following year. He also mentions old cars and motorbikes sometimes acquired in batches of tractors. This diversity helps explain how the company operates: an old vehicle may be a collector’s item, but it is also a commodity whose acquisition depends on batches and opportunities.

Buyers beyond the borders

According to Schuler, buyers are most often farmers, people who own horses, private collectors or drivers attracted to these vehicles. He says he sells around 30 % of the tractors in Luxembourg and 30 % in Germany, with the rest going mainly to France, Belgium and other countries.

The profile also mentions visitors from neighbouring countries, Sweden and Brazil. The Koetschette shed can therefore attract interest beyond its commercial purpose, even though the article makes clear that it is not a museum. According to Schuler, some visits lead to purchases. Preservation and trade then meet without becoming one and the same: seeing an old machine may prompt someone to buy it, but visitors are not necessarily discovering a permanent collection assembled for display.

A different relationship with heritage in Peppange

Peppange Rural and Crafts Museum takes a different approach. Visit Luxembourg’s description mentions ploughs and other agricultural machinery, several of which are still in working order, as well as explanations of how people used to plant and harvest. The venue places the tools within a broader context: manual work, rural life and crafts.

The two spaces should not be confused. Peppange Museum is a visitor attraction dedicated to rural life and trades; the Old Tractor shed is a private storage and sales operation, alongside a separate personal collection. One provides a framework for interpreting history, while the other circulates vehicles between sellers and buyers. Both make visible machines that played a part in agricultural work, but their functions and access arrangements are not the same.

For anyone interested in old tractors, this difference changes what they can learn from them: the museum’s displays place tools within the history of rural practices; the Old Tractor shed is a commercial space where the stock changes. Mechanical heritage is therefore not preserved in just one way. It lies in the objects themselves, the skills needed to keep them in working order and the places that allow people to see them — or put them back into circulation.