Bobcat M200 restoration draws surprise guests

At Lano Equipment, we are celebrating our 75th Anniversary, which is a big deal to us, but there’s another story within the story that’s pretty interesting.

As we recently celebrated our 75th Anniversary with a big sales event at our Loretto store in April 23rd, we learned that Nick Lano had worked very meticulously to fully restore a Bobcat M200 Skid Steer Loader. Turns out, it was the first Bobcat Loader ever sold in Minnesota (or anywhere), by Lano Equipment back in 1959. When you consider the thousands of Bobcat Loaders that have been used to dig ditches, build homes, and tend to Minnesota’s farms and landscapes for nearly 70 years, how could the original Bobcat possibly still exist? These units take such a beating in their lifetime, they usually end on a scrap heap, not saved for posterity.

Restoring a rare old machine is commendable, indeed. But here’s what really blew us all away. The sons of the original owner of the machine, who are both alive and well, attended our event just to pay tribute to their historic machine. How is it even possible for two miracles of this nature to occur? Brothers Harvey and Gary Ahrens posed for the picture below with Bill, Kurt and Roger Lano at our recent event. This Bobcat M200 was sold to the Ahrens Greenhouse of Osseo by Lano founder Hauser Lano, who passed away at age 89 back in 2014.