An elusive Lamborghini Agricole DL 30C produced in 1958 – five years before Ferruccio Lamborghini’s company decided to make cars instead of tractors – will cross the auction block soon expected to fetch €40,000–60,000.
The tractor emerged in a series of ten experimental prototypes equipped simultaneously with wheels and tracks. The engineering department had assumed that farmers would use the tracks on open soil, but switch to normal wheels on the road in order to avoid denting the asphalt.
Power for the vintage transformer comes from a 1.8-liter, two-cylinder diesel engine rated at a low 30 horsepower (22 kilowatts). A four-speed manual transmission conveyed the torque to the wheels or tracks depending on the situation using the same driveshaft system.
Lamborghini never approved the tractor into production, deeming it too complicated to produce and maintain. It ended up making a track-only version of the DL 30C (see video). How many transforming prototypes survive to these days is a good question. According to some sources, this is the first time ever that such a tractor went on open sale.