“Oldtimer Traktor” from Sâncraiu de Mureș, a time revived – News from Mures, News Targu mures

Time cannot be stopped, but it can be endlessly relived through what we leave behind. People become eternal through their passions, because passion is uplifting. Through his passion, Attila Irsai also let himself be carried away by the breeze of time, who, keeping alive the memory of his grandfather, who used to walk him with the tractor when he was a child, laid the foundations of a special exhibition, in Sâncraiu de Mureș commune, in Mureș county. On Tuesday, October 18, in an autumnal atmosphere, with friends, family and the mayor of the commune, a special museum with 13 vintage tractors was inaugurated, not only bringing to Sâncraiu de Mureș forgotten and past times, but also impressions from different corners of the world.

Museum “Oldtimer Traktor”

“It’s a museum of Oldtimer tractors made by me. It’s a passion of mine since childhood, but I started collecting these tractors about 10 years ago. Here I have 13 pieces of tractors, manufactured from 1938 to 1959, most of them with original documents. I’m glad that I was able to make use of this passion of mine, right here in our commune. I kept collecting, repairing and refurbishing them. Most are manufactured in Germany, Austria, France, the United States. They are tractors made for smaller farms, with smaller engines, for gardens for example. They also have the related machinery next to them. Engines are single-piston or twin-piston, water-cooled, air-cooled, gasoline-powered, diesel-powered. In addition to these 13, I have one more that is in the works, I have not yet exhibited it here. All tractors are functional, but I have not used them at all, kept them strictly for display. The plan is to buy others, if I find more special ones. My favorite is the Porsche, the one that is covered, because it has something more special and it was among the first ones I bought, but they are all special to me”, said the collector, Atilla Irsai.

In addition to the collector’s favorite, which is a Porsche circa 1959, there are also German tractors: a 1959 Fend, a 1959 Hanomag, a 1959 Deutz, a 1958 Karmer, a 1954 Eicher, a Lanz Aulendorf from 1954, a Guldner from 1953, another Deutz but from 1958, a MAN tractor from 1959. There is also the Austrian tractor, Steyr from 1954, the American Case, manufactured in 1938 and the French McCormick Farmall from 1948. Few of these were purchased in the country, most of them being bought at auction and transported from abroad. The catalog price of a tractor, such as the special one, Porsche, is between 10,000 and 40,000 euros.

A pride for Sâncraiu de Mureș

Petru Ionuț Budian, the mayor of the Sâncraiu de Mureș commune, shared how happy and proud he is of the achievement of the enthusiast from the Sâncraiu de Mureș commune.

“We are glad to have such a museum at the level of our commune, we are glad that theoretically we managed quite simply to have this museum here, just because of the passion of one of our citizens. As far as I know, there is no such thing in the country, and as the enthusiast also said, the costs were mostly borne by him himself, we only came to support with the land where he could exhibit all these wonders, that I can’t tell them otherwise. He managed to keep them intact, even functional. A few have even been started and run, even though some are nearly a hundred years old. I personally am drawn to their age, like any other old object. It amazes me that such an ancient object has survived to this day. They are very well maintained, the colors are beautiful and diverse”, said the mayor of the commune.

As his sister told us, Atilla had many tractors when he was little and he always played with them. Now, being big, he has them again, in a size proportional to him. Moreover, now he has exposed them, so that the world can enjoy them and know their true value, that of allowing an old time to revive through them endlessly.

Ioana MARGINEAN