If anyone gives a hoot, the Co-Par Panzer started here in Maryland just down the street 1953....here's to poop!....
(Made in College Park Maryland & Laurel MD, used a Dodge Differential....read on)
I have been looking for one to restore, or possibly a Suburban Wheel Horse...
Panzer Tractors originated with an engineer named Jim Clark. Jim worked for a precision instrument
manufacturer named Ahrendt Instrument Company. Jim had just built a new house in the Washington
suburb of College Park Maryland and he rented a walk behind garden tractor to help him with the
landscaping. Landscaping with the walk behind proved to be more work than Jim thought it should be
and the tractor was not much help. Jim felt he could build a better product, so he talked to
farmers, gardeners and members of the Department of Agriculture at the University of Maryland and
with their help came up with a design. A proto-type was built in 1953, but was soon scrapped. Jim redesigned a
new model that featured a used narrowed Dodge or Plymouth automobile rear end, individual rear
brakes and a belt tightener/ reverse disc (Glidematic) drive system. These features remained as
features of the Panzer throughout it existence. Jim’s boss became interested in the tractor and
thought it had sales potential so they formed a company called COPAR (short for College Park) to
manufacture the tractor. A contest among the employees of Ahrendt Instruments was held to name the
tractor and PANZER was the result. 1954 saw the start of production with about 350 tricycle Panzers
built at College Park. In 1955 COPAR moved to a refurbished plant in Laurel Maryland where it remained until 1960. Various
models were built at Laurel including 4 models of tricycle and 4 models of the 4-wheel version of
the tricycle. All featured 16” rear wheels and a 9hp Briggs and Stratton engine. Copar also introduced
a light 4-wheel garden tractor in 1958. It featured 12” rear wheels and either a 4HP Clinton or 5 ¾
HP Briggs and Stratton engine. All College Park and Laurel tractors were painted red/ yellow except
the first model (all red) and the last (turquoise). Less than 10,000 tractors were produced in
Laurel.
Copar experienced problems with both sales and financing and was sold to Virginia Metalcrafters
(VM) of Waynesboro Virginia in 1960. In 1961 VM redesigned the light tractor and eliminated the
larger tricycles and 4 wheelers. All Panzers produced after 1960 were painted turquoise and from 1961 to
1963 all grills just read PANZER. Sales, quality and the number of attachments increased
dramatically under VM ownership. Panzer became very competitive in the marketplace.
In 1963 VM purchased Pennsylvania Lawnmowers, one of the oldest manufacturers of lawnmowers in the
world. Pennsylvania Lawnmowers dates back to the 1870’s. The company was renamed Pennsylvania Lawn
Products in 1964 and the tractors were slightly redesigned and renamed as Pennsylvania Panzer.
1966 saw a major redesign to a square hooded model renamed the Pennsylvania Meteor. Early square
hoods featured increased horsepower, a wide seat and one of the first hydrostatic (automatic)
transmissions to be used on a small garden tractor. The price was just under $1000.00 for a tractor
with no attachments. The Meteor with the hydrostatic transmission proved too expensive and so in
1968 the older belt tightener Glidematic drive returned, the name Meteor dropped and the Panzer
name returned. In 1970 Pennsylvania Products was sold to Schenuit Industries of Baltimore, Maryland. Schenuit also
owned Jackson Manufacturing (Jackson Wheelbarrow) and the company became the Pennsylvania
Products Division of Jackson Manufacturing. They also moved all production facilities to
Martinsburg, West Virginia. All Panzers were discontinued and the new company focused on sheet metal riders and
rotary walk behind mowers. In 1971 Schenuit Industries went bankrupt and Jackson Manufacturing was
sold in the settlement, but Pennsylvania Products was closed. Machinery in the Martinsburg plant
was sold to A.M.F. (Homko) and parts, foundry patterns, blueprints for all Pennsylvania and Panzer
products sold to a new company Dandy Sales, Inc. The actual number of Panzers built is unknown, but
almost certainly was under 50,000.
