Two new stamps in Åland Post’s stamp series featuring Åland veteran tractors appear on 1 February. The 3-year series set off in February 2021 presenting two treasures from the early 20th century. The second part jumps forward a few decades, showing a homemade tractor from the early 1940s and a Finnish Old-Reliable Valmet 20 from 1956. Åland photographer David Lundberg strived for graphically simple photographs of the tractors.

Tractors became increasingly predominant in farming during the 1930s and, when demand was greater than supply, the idea of converting cars into tractors was conceived. Such a tractor is exactly what you see on the first stamp. The car-tractor was built by Runar Karlsson on his home farm in Ringsböle, Jomala, in the early 1940s. His grandson Kristoffer Karlsson gives a detailed description of the construction of the tractor:

“The motor came off a Ford model A and the tractor was initially operated on wood gas. It was later retrofitted when gasoline became available. The frame is made from own-produced steel bark and the fenders from sheet metal. The radiator grille comes from a Chevrolet. The rear axle is probably from a Ford truck, while the front axle is from a Ford A but forged to obtain higher ground clearance. The tractor has two gearboxes, one of which acts as a high/low gear; grandpa took out a hole and mounted a pulley to obtain two different speeds.”

The other stamp shows a red 1956 Valmet 20. This tractor is located on the archipelago island of Sottunga. The owner, Raul Petrell, received it as a gift from his mother when he was 10 years old.

“It was the first tractor on the farm when I received it as brand new from the factory on October 14, 1956; it cost 384,500 old Finnish marks. For more than 10 years, I used the tractor in agriculture in front of the mower, among other implements, but also to run logs out of the forest”, Raul reminisces. 

Name of issue: Veteran tractors
Date of issue: 1 February 2022
Photographer David Lundberg
Design Johanna Finne/Åland Post
Editions 45 000 & 90 000
Denominations €3.50 & Lokalpost (€1.90)
Price FDC €6.40
Price maximum card €3.00
Stamp size 40 x 30 mm
Sheet size 2 × 12 stamps
Paper 110 g/m2
Perforation 13 per 2 cm
Process 4-colour offset
Printer Cartor Security Printing

Order the stamps, first day cover and maximum cards at webshop.alandpost.com, by post to Åland Post Stamps, P.O. box 1100, AX-22111 Mariehamn, Åland, Finland, e-mail stamps@alandpost.com or telephone: +358 18636641.