Unimog 4 Wheel Drive Work or Show Truck Re-listed on Ebay

Nice looking 1969 Unimog. I am skeptical of the 19,000 Kilometer claim.

.

Volunteer fire department vehicles often have ridiculously low mileage here in Western Europe - but one should not forget that not only mileage counts, but also age.

Juergen

"Juergen ." haute in die Tasten:

Full ACK. A friend of mine used to volunteer as a part of an emergency crew on an ambulance car (Mercedes 413 IIRC). He told me that they frequently would kill the engine by starting it cold and then going to their destination with full throttle. He said that an electrical engine pre- heater would have solved this problem, but that the warranty on the engine would have been void after installing such a device, so they decided to let Mercedes pay one new engine every year;-) He advised me strongly never considering to buy such a car used.

Frank

Starting a car cold and driving it full throttle doesn't blow up the engine. Unless it has a very poorly designed oiling system or it isn't maintained.

If the oil is changed regularly that shouldn't hurt it (much).

Marty

I am sure trends in Germany and elsewhere are the same as in Britain: the number of fires is falling with newer and safer buildings.

DAS

Or, you can buy a brand new unit from Unimog USA (manufactured by Freightliner, a DaimlerChrysler company)

who knows what the basic price is. :) NH's nearest dealer is one of these two: Freightliner of Maine

422 Perry Rd Bangor, ME 04401 USA (207) 945-6451

L & B Truck Service, Inc. Route 5 Westminster, VT 05158 USA (802) 722-4703

Marc

I have all the French documentation on maintenance to prove the KMs!

"Marc Mercier" haute in die Tasten:

I seriusly doubt that Freightliner is the manufacturer of Unimog, because

leads you to the german Unimog information page of Mercedes-Benz. IIRC Unimogs are manufactured in the Mercedes Truck plant in Woerth/Germany. AFAIK Mercedes does not sell trucks of any size under the Mercedes brand name in the US, therefore the US-Unimogs do not wear a star.

BTW: For those who want to know, Unimog stands for "UNiversales MOtor- Geraet", which can be translated to Universal Motor Device. The first Unimog was developed in the late 40's by a former Mercedes engineer, who thought it would be a great idea to provide german farmers with a small, yet capable vehicle, which can help them with their farm work and is multi purpose. They even started to produce some of the first Unimogs but soon had some economical problems. Then Mercedes bought the complete design and started to do it on their own.

Frank

Yes.

I doubt that, because e.g the American La France LTI-52EL has the MB star on the front

The even rarer Unimog version - American LaFrance Unimog - which wears the ALF badge on he front can be seen here here

So

- normally there is the MB star on the front

- in the US there is the lettering Unimog above the grille

- the ALF version - ALF is a subsidiary of Freightliner - has the ALF badge above the grille

I wonder when the first Unimog with the Mitsubishi/Fuso badge will appear in Japan... ..I mean, the US may get the Viano

so why no Mitsubishi Unimog? ;-)

BTW it is interesting that the Mercedes Sprinter versions by ALF do wear the Freightliner badge on the front

and not the ALF badge, not so speak of the Dodge front

And the German VW LT is a variant of the Sprinter

The next Sprinter generation is nearly ready

and as LT

(Pascal indeed does a tremenous job!)

Aaaaaaah - time for extreme nutpicking ;-))) It's _UNiversal MOtor-Geraet_... ;-)

It's a pity that today Unimogs have moved so far from the original design in terms of size, purpose and price !

The British Land Rover (Defender) originally was developed in the same time era and for the same purpose as the Unimog - but it has not moved _that_ far from the origin as the Unimog has (yes, I know, the 1:1 Land Rover Defender clone from Mercedes is the G-wagon, but even that is twice as expensive as a Defender, and YES again, I know it's better than the Defender).

Juergen

Yes.

Hmmm, I am not sure, because e.g the American La France LTI-52EL turntable ladders for mounting on locally available chassis are advertised in the US mounted on a MB truck with the MB star on the front

The even rarer Unimog version - American LaFrance Unimog - which wears the ALF badge on he front can be seen here

here there

So with the Unimog

- normally there is the MB star on the front (not in the US)

- in the US there is the lettering Unimog above the grille

- the ALF version - ALF is a subsidiary of Freightliner - has the ALF badge above the grille

I wonder when the first Unimog with the Mitsubishi/Fuso badge will appear in Japan... ..I mean, the US may get the Viano

so why no Mitsubishi Unimog? ;-)

BTW it is interesting that the Mercedes Sprinter versions by ALF do wear the Freightliner badge on the front

and not the ALF badge, not so speak of the Dodge front

And the German VW LT is a variant of the Sprinter

The next Sprinter generation is nearly ready

and as LT

(Pascal indeed does a tremenous job!)

Aaaaaaah - time for extreme nutpicking ;-))) It's _UNiversal MOtor-Geraet_... ;-)

It's a pity that today Unimogs have moved so far from the original design in terms of size, purpose and price !

The British Land Rover (Defender) originally was developed in the same time era and for the same purpose as the Unimog - but it has not moved _that_ far from the origin as the Unimog has (yes, I know, the 1:1 Land Rover Defender clone from Mercedes is the G-wagon, but even that is twice as expensive as a Defender, and YES again, I know it's better than the Defender).

Juergen

"Juergen ." haute in die Tasten:

Yes but in this case it is not entirely badge design. VW uses its own engines, therefore the front of the LT is different ot the front of the Sprinter. But at least 80% of the cars are identical.

BTW: In the 90's Mercedes bought 50.000 VR6 2.8 Litre engines from VW to put them into the V-Class V280, because their own prospected 6 cylinder FWD engine turned out to be a lemon. Many say that this is also valid for the engine Mercedes got from VW;-)

Frank

Of course you are right - what I found interesting from Pascal's spy-photos is that this will also take place with the successor Sprinter and LT.

In 1998 German car mag _auto motor und sport_ published a test of the V280 - the engines are labelled _Mercedes_ but the only benefit from them is a variable intake manifold (? German is _Schaltsaugrohr_) and modified valve springs.

Other things _ams_ mentions are that the _engine seem to be the only adequate motorization for the space shuttle from Mercedes_, that the engine in conjunction with the automatic trans _underlines the comfortable character_ (of the car), but also that fuel consumption is _exorbitant_ (by European standards) and that the brakes suffer severely from fading when hot.

The test is also contained in _auto motor und sport Testjahrbuch '99_ p. 169

Juergen