Have You Got the Oldest Working Takeuchi?

Our good friends at Takeuchi are celebrating 25 years in the UK and Ireland this year, and as part of their celebrations, they are on the hunt for the oldest Takeuchi mini excavator that is still out there putting in a shift!

There is no doubt about it, Japanese built Takeuchi mini excavators are the stuff of legends, ask any fan of the red and grey, and they will tell you that the machines have long held an enviable reputation for reliability, longevity and smoothness of operation.

Takeuchi UK was officially founded in 1996 and they are aware that many of those early machines are likely to still be out in the field somewhere putting in a day’s graft when needed, and now they want to hear about them from the owners.

Some of the earliest Takeuchi machines to arrive on UK shores included: TB15, TB007, TB015, TB020, TB025, TB035, TB045, TB070 or TB15FR. These compact minis were the first with Takeuchi branding, still with distinctive red in the styling. Takeuchi UK are specifically looking for machines from a time period of 1995-1999.

Parent company Takeuchi MFG Ltd have been manufacturing mini excavators since 1971 and they celebrated the 50-year milestone this year. Some of the earliest models in the UK sported an unfamiliar orange livery and as reported on this blog in the past, some were even imported into the UK and branded as Mini Mustangs by the now long gone British manufacturer Priestman. Eventually Takeuchi decided to go with the now famous red and grey paintwork.

So how do you get involved? Well simply click on this link which will take you to a form to fill in, let them know the model, age, hours and a bit of history on your machine and add a photo of your classic Takeuchi, which will be added to the gallery on the website.

Alternatively, you can head for social media and Tag @TakeuchiUK using the hashtag #TheOldestTakeuchi

Rounding up, check out this corporate video which tells the story of Takeuchi, keen viewers may even notice some UK machines and end users featured in the footage.