Do you own an SUV, and do you like it?

That was a long time go and long time before the digital camera was invented. But there were a lot of pictures made of that "accident". I will look up my old files of paper pictures and if the quality of those more than 40 years old pictures are still good enough, I will have them scanned and digitized. Those "accidents" used to happen rather often, especially during night, when the army was on march under combat conditions. Only camouflage lighting in use and the tanks and APC's driving with closed hatches, Army!!!! We always said we rather bomb them, then working with them. Air Force Jet Pilots and Army tank drivers were really a different breed.



A little picture of my favorite airplane of my former wing from my happiest time in life as a young fighter fighter in the German Air Force. Kick the tires, light the fires and up into the sky. Horrido!! Sorry, I could not resist.

The F4 continues to be my Fav jet.
I had an instructor that was retired Marine. One of the few that could fix and make ready the hang on gun pod for the Phantom (in country Nam, early/mid 70s).

But the DKW Munga was not the worst "Jeep" the German forces had during my time. The absolute worst car ever was the Vokswagen 181 Kübel.



Basically the VW Beetle platform with the flat four cylinder, aircooled petrol engine and a semi military body ontop. No 4 wheel drive and no limited slip differential. Even driving on a paved road was like riding a stubborn donkey.


It was built from 1969 until 1980. Later it turned into the favorite hippie car of the flower power generation.

Today I fully agree: Make love not war . And as we say, the older I get, the better I was!!

Would our members concider this very nice toy an SUV?



This beautiful 4-wheeler is based on a double cabin, short wheelbase Mercedes Unimog with an added rear cabin (8-seater). For grounds this vehicle can't cross, You will need a helicopter. I am seriously thinking about buying one of those, if I will get permission by my wife. Not for going anywhere with it but for some serious offroad driving on one of those offroad playing grounds in my neighbourhood (former gravel pits and abandoned military training areas). That thing can go up and down hills, You would not be able to walk on Your two feet.

Imagine, Your are going to a very nice restaurant with it and You are handing the doorkeeper the keys to park it .

My wife gives you permission, she insists. After all, when would a doorman have the opportunity to drive over curbs without scuffing the wheels?

Just did a quick search and I am not finding any official MB Unimog dealers in the USA?

Mercedes sold Unimogs in the earlier days as agricultural vehicles only. But You should be able to have Freightliner, a 100 % subsidiary of Mercedes to import one for You. They used to sell them in the USA before. But do You believe, any other offroad car, certified for riding also on public roads, could do that?


Btw. That would my playground for it, besides shocking the doorman at my favorite restaurant of course . That Black Unimog was converted by the OFFroad company UNICAT in Germany. They export worldwide. Highest quality You could think off.
Unicatexpeditionvehicles.com

If you're willing to cross the border (literally... just a few hours up the 5) there's a Unimog dealer in Langley BC: unimogcanada(dot)com

The very first "expedition camper" I saw in the flesh was a Unicat owned by a friendly couple from Switzerland. It immediately became a "life goal"!

The engineering in these vehicles - from the Mercedes chassis to the camper - is outstanding.

I recently helped a friend with the design of his dream camper, built on a 4x4 MAN, but not lifted for terrain driving as this is not allowed in Sweden. Here is an article in Swedish, scroll down and you will find a lot of pictures; https://alltomhusbilen.se/svenskbyggd-dromhusbil/

Aye Mr. MTH09:
In the old countries we are quite familiar with the Unimogs, great terrain goats and a tiny bit over-kill in the SUV world to say the least..
I was also in the military back in a European nation, but I was drafted rather than volunteering. This was our SUV of choice: Called Volvo-Jeep:



Also a terrain goat and popular among the troops.
Back to SUVs:
The last one we had (leased) was a 2000 Grand Cherokee Limited.
Beautiful metallic white with soft leather seats and a great stereo.
It also had a real thirsty 4.0 liter straight six that would consume 1 gallon of
gasoline for every 13 miles driven, not impressive as it was a 2-wheel drive rig.

No more SUVs for the time being, into station wagons now.
Since you asked.

I have one of those campers from Unicat. 14 years ago, my late wife and I had a wonderful vacation on Island in it. Two weeks of offroad and dirtroad driving all over the country and we never saw a paved road, other than going off and on the ferry from Denmark. That was our last vacation together before she died. I still own that Unicat Unimog but ever since I never used it again.



It looks like being top heavy but I saw almost 60 degree of bank while going offroad and it did not show any tendency to flip over.
Very well designed and really heavy iron on the chassis. A total waste for hobby offroaders like us. These cars are made for professionals to travel the world.

That is an interesting slide-out rig you have...

My one is very similar but without any slideouts. These couple are the professionals, I was talking about. They are on a world tour for years. I would have never been brave enough or would have had enough spare time for such a trip.

Today I am too old for such adventure. Being almost 70 years old, I am happy with playing in a gravel pit or on a former military training area for a day. But I like the idea handing the keys to a doorman when going to my favorite restaurant here in Hamburg.

Btw. I got permission from my present wife to buy the Unimog SUV. She even wants to drive it herself. Todays Unimog's are much easier to drive. Power steering, automated gearshifting, pushbuttom limiting differentials, remote tyre pressure control for different grounds and so on.

Just the perfect offroad vehicle.

I think we will be going for this version of an Mercedes Unimog SUV, the FunMog. When completely finished and furbised, the FunMog needs to be downgraded in its maximum allowable weight in the paperwork, as it would exeed 7.49 metric tons. That is the max weight, my wife is allowed to drive with her drivers license. And of course, the SUV painted in black like all of our cars.



Delivery time one year+ and do not tell my wife the final price of that beauty .

And if anybody wants to go for serious outdoor camping, there is an offroad tandem camping trailer for it!

Take the (arguably) best global SUV platform (Land Cruiser), send it off to Germany's best expedition-camper conversion company - Maltec Leichbautechnologie - and you get this gorgeous beast back in return!



Something of a life-goal for me, and currently on BringaTrailer.com - LINK

If I had the means the world might never find me for days/weeks/months at a time. LOL

[QUOTE
If I had the means the world might never find me for days/weeks/months at a time. LOL[/QUOTE]

I follow Andrew on Youtube. He's done hundreds of thousands of miles across Oz and Africa in all sorts of trucks.

https://www.youtube.com/@4xoverland

There are some good quality YT folks going to amazing places.

That LC200 got up to 177k on BaT, but didn't reach the Reserve.

Something you don't see every day... tracking the 4RUNNER last weekend.

Tracking a T4R? That's like entering a Hatteras into a hydroplane race!

LOL I'm exaggerating a bit... I was doing Sweep for a tarmac rally (closed circuit event) and as the event was lacking a course closing vehicle I did the 99 job as well, which involved running through the "stage" as quickly as possible to clear the course. In a lifted 4R on all-terrain tires, "quickly" is a relative term.