I’ve been on a bit of a Unimog kick lately. Here’s a very nice, 60s-era Unimog, with some well-thought-out features, built by a guy named Mike Day.
Archives for posts with tag: Unimog
This video, touting the suitability of the venerable Unimog 421 for military use, captures some great off-road footage. There’s the standard test-track stuff but also some great shots of it out in the wild climbing waterfalls and the like (presumably before “tread lightly” was a thing). The Unimog 421 was manufactured between 1966 and 1989. Judging by the video’s soundtrack, this footage is from the early side of that production run. The video is in German but YouTube offers an auto-translated captions if you click the gear wheel in the lower-right corner of the frame.
Here’s a Unimog mash-up from ebay (via Bring a Trailer). The truck is described as a U1300L with a U1500 sourced 5.7-liter, turbo-charged, six-cylinder diesel. The ad states 72,302 for the the odometer reading.
If you go for this check it out well, given engine swap. The buy-it-now price is $28,500 and there are just about 3 days left on the ebay clock. The truck is located in Colorado.
More photos, and the original ad text after the jump.
Links:
ebay: 1978 Mercedes-Benz Unimog
Bring a Trailer: 1978 Mercedes-Benz Unimog U1300L
Imagine Dr. Frankenstein pulling the sheet off his creation and, instead of recoiling in horror, people stood back and said, “Huh… He looks good.”
Well, somewhere under a full moon, in a strange lab in Germany, a dead Type 2 T3 Westy was dissected and grafted on to the back of a living, 1965 Unimog 404 (with a 6-cylinder, gas engine, and a six-speed, manual transmission). It was given twin 33-gallon fuel tanks, a 24-volt, 140-amp alternator, six Hella 4000 driving lights, olive green paint, and a full exo roll cage.
You might think cutting the face off of Volkswagen bus and grafting it onto a Unimog might lead to a horrible freak of nature, but no. This thing actually looks good.
OK–sure. You can’t look too closely. The interior looks like a velour-covered, Unabomber shack. And the roof-top tent has got some tears. But the asking price is $18,500! You can’t get a normal Westfalia Syncro for that. Or a normal Unimog, for that matter. This is both!
Other things to know: 25,000-lb. PTO winch with 300 feet of cable, on-board air compressor, 34,000 kms on the clock. Find this thing in South Chula Vista, near San Diego and the Mexican border. $18,500!
More photos and original ad text after the jump.
Thanks to Mas for Spotting this one!
Link trail: Bring a Trailer: Mega Westy > Craigslist: Custom Mercedes Unimog
I spotted this Unimog U1550L on a Benz World forum. It looks like an interesting custom build, though one of the forum members questioned the wisdom of building a rigid body on a flexible chassis. Intriguing photos none the less.
Speaking of Unimogs, Matt at Expedition Portal wrote a great post the other day about the latest iterations of the iconic line. There are some great wallpaper images there as well. See the post here: The Unimog Grows Up.
This tidy-looking 1978 Unimog U416 is currently on offer at ebay in a no-reserve auction. Besides the 5.7-liter diesel, 20 forward and 8 reverse gears, portal axles, and fully locking diffs, this one features a convertible top, 42″ tires, and front and rear winches. Factory hydraulics are said to have been removed but an onboard air tank for filling up the tires or running shop tools is included. The drop-side bed reveals a six-passenger bench which doubles as a toolbox.
The seller makes no mention of high-speed axles, so expect a 55 mph top speed. If driving slowly is your thing though, you’re in luck. This truck is equipped with “super crawler gears” which enable a top speed of 0.06 mph in first gear.
One Unimog owner on Bring a Trailer commented that, with proper weights fitted, his former-German Air Force Unimog had a towing capacity of 22 tons. That’s 44,000 pounds!
This Unimog is located in Tucson, Arizona. Bidding currently stands at $27,100 with about three days left on the clock.
Update 5/6/2013: A day after this post went up all bids were cancelled, which may indicate that the truck was sold offline. The highest bid offered before the cancellation was $28,500.
Link trail: Bring a Trailer > ebay 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.