Reinhard Schwope’s 'Yellow Monster' - Finished, after eight years of restoration

Our long-standing colleague Reinhard Schwope, a mechanical engineering and IT graduate, began his career back in 1983, as a design engineer at VEB Leipziger Bodenbearbeitungsgeräte. He has been with its successor in Leipzig, AMAZONE’s BBG, since 2005 – and is taking well-deserved retirement this year. 

His passion is the preservation of historic agricultural machinery. The impetus for his biggest-ever restoration project came in the form of a 1974 Kirovets K-700A Russian tractor, having a power of 230 hp and 16 forward and 8 reverse gears, which had been standing unused in a farmer friend’s barn for 30 years and was already destined for the scrap heap. 

In 2017, Reinhard Schwope began completely dismantling this majestic vehicle. He overhauled the V8 engine, the gearbox, the axles and the chassis with the Knick pendulum block. To make enough space for the restoration work, he actually built a separate building in 2021. Following its restoration, the ‘Yellow Monster’ was first registered in 2025 displaying a red H number plate. Initial trial runs are scheduled for the spring.