Archives for category: – Germany

warehouse
There’s a fantastic looking hostel in Bonn, Germany, called BaseCamp, that’s made up of camping trailers parked in a giant warehouse close to the city center. Lodging is not limited to campers. They also offer a railway sleeper car, VW camper buses, even a former East German Trabant with a tent on top.

The hostel has a 120 bed capacity and rates range from $32 to about $100 per night.

More photos below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a great Motor Trend video, reporting from the Unimog Museum in Gaggenau, Germany. They delve into the history of the Mercedes-Benz truck line as well as explain how the trucks actually work. Later they motor a huge Unimog around the proving ground out back.

It’s well worth a watch.

Mercedes gelände
A pretty amazing thing showed up on Bring a Trailer yesterday: a Dutch company that sells vintage G-Wagens from German fire departments. They’re all incredibly low mileage, reasonably priced, and — if I know anything about Germans — extraordinarily well maintained.

Take the 280 GE above example. It’s covered only 21,000 kms since 1983. That’s only a hair over 13,000 miles! The price? 19,900 Euros. You’d pay a mere $26,259 at today’s rates.

This one is equipped with a gasoline-powered, 6-cylinder, fuel-injected, M110 engine, mated to a manual transmission, of course. The ad doesn’t state whether the emergency lights and siren are functional but that awesome fluorescent red paint seems to be working just fine.

It’s over 25 years old, so importing it to the U.S. should be hassle free. And this isn’t the only one on the site.

Link trail: Bring a Trailer post > Original ad

Update: Here’s a video of a similar one in action. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a video of the Mercedes-Benz Unimog being put through its paces at the test track in Oetigheim, Germany. In case your German is a little rusty, here are the key points, translated.

The Unimog began production in 1948 at Erhard & Sölle. In 1953 it came under the wing of Mercedes-Benz. In 1962 expanded Unimog production began. It was then available with a diesel motor and readied for the world market. The latest generation was introduced in 2002.

It is, of course 4-wheel drive, has front, rear, and center locking differentials, 4-wheel disc brakes with selectable ABS, and portal axles which allow for 48cm (18.9 in.) of ground clearance. It has 8 forward and 6 reverse gears.

The axles flex independently up to 30˚. The Unimog can climb a maximum slope of 45˚ (100% grade). An adjustable tire pressure system helps to conquer steep slopes. The vehicle can travel along a 38˚ side slope and, given its snorkel, ford depths to 1.20 m (47 in.).

Impressed? Head to your nearest Mercedes-Benz truck center. Unimogs start at 80,000 Euro (104,900 US$) or at least they did around 2006, when this video was uploaded.

I found this video through my friends at Expedition Portal.