Schlüter Profi-Trac 2500 VLPicture 10 of 49 |
|
||||
Schlüter Profi-Trac 2500 VL | Picture made by Schluterfan
Ein Blick in das Werk! Just as fascinating as the brand itself, I find the photos from the factory where Schlüter built his tractors. According to people I spoke to who have ever been there, you can speak more of a larger forge than an assembly plant. The 90s were the darkest period in the existence of the Schlüter tractors, but in the 70s the sun shone more than decently in Freising. With an order of 5 Profi Trac 2500VL's and 12 Profi Trac 3000TVL's for the former Yugoslavia, the approximately 600 employees in the 70s knew what to do. And in between, the ordinary models had to be produced. Whether that could just all be too equal seems strong to me! As far as I could study the assembly hall, or at least the pictures I saw of it, there were only 2 assembly lines, one for the spray booth, and one after... And at first glance, the spray booth didn't even seem big enough to fit a profi Trac that had grown out of the clumps. And also the carts on which the standard models were built together, were not really Profi Trac-proof either. So they built the Profi's in place. This picture shows the production of the Profi Trac 2500VL. The ordinary tractors were pushed from stand to position on the carts by hand, with the "dickschiffe" that was not really conceivable. The carts here had a different purpose, so they could be transported on the standard premium-A houses as cabins, which you can see on the left in the picture. I also assume that at the time of the Profi Trac production there was no place to produce the regular models, since the carts with cabs were already on the rails where normally the tractors were built... Schlüter was already working with guest workers from Yugoslavia at that time, who came to do "internships" in the factory to master the technique of the tractors. One of them was also a field service employee for many years. The man in the middle would be such a guest worker. In this way of building Profi Trac's in series, I think only 1 time must have happened, because the Profi Trac's were just like other Schlüter's only built to order. For example, in the period between '73 and '89, about 39 Profi Trac's left the factory. The first years went quite smoothly, but after 80 sales collapsed again, mainly after the death of General Tito. I suspect that afterwards the Profi Trac's were built at a different location in the factory, so that the production of the standard tractors could continue. The Lignite mine yellow Profi Trac 3500TVL and the 5000TVL were built together, so that together they could also go to the DLG agricultural fair in Frankfurt. Technically, those tractors do not deviate that much from each other either, with exceptionally the engine and the front frame as the biggest changes. From a younger photo from the late 80s, the heavy Super Trac's were also built in this way. Once the Profi Trac's and heavy Super Trac's had disappeared from the price lists, the assembly place was used as a storage place for the frames, weights and other parts for the Euro Trac's, which were then considered the future for Schlüter... This picture is from the book Schlüter Classic. When I asked the author if there will be a next part of this book, he said that there is currently no time for it. Material to publish is otherwise far from a problem, he said. Who knows someday... Photo: Manfred Hierhager, Schlüter Classic.
Tractor Battle
Which tractor do you like the best? Choose now, left or right!
