Czech tractor fan Martin Havelka recently completed a three-week and 3,000km tour of Sweden with his nearly 70-year-old Zetor Z-25 tractor.
This is not the first time he has completed such a long tour and after several days of travelling north through the Czech Republic and Poland, he reached the Baltic Sea, the destination of the first 800km journey with his Z-25 two years ago.
Accompanied by his family and dog, this year’s adventure continued with a ferry to Sweden, where he covered more than 1,200km in eleven days (average speed 33km/hr and fuel consumption 12lit/100km). Along the way he met local tractor collectors and visited a Zetor museum.
The only obstacle was the weather. His tractor has no cab, and while he had anticipated wet weather problems, like much of the rest of Europe, Sweden was struggling with the heat wave. “It was really hot and sunny, so I got a very nice sun tan,” he says.
Keen to hit the road again, Mr Havelka is already planning his next adventure, and for the third time will travel to the top of the highest mountain road in the Austrian Alps. He will start the journey in September.
For the record, the first Z-25 was manufactured in March, 1946. Made in 1949, Mr Havelka bought his tractor in 2010. The restoration work took him over a year.
