Examining a sublime Büssing Unterflur (underfloor) in the yard of a Dutch MAN dealership. In the world of classic commercial vehicles, that’s the equivalent of admiring fine art in any renowned museum or gallery. Never mind the completely different atmosphere.
Defunct German truck and bus manufacturer Büssing introduced this series of Commodore cabovers in 1955. Nothing to go on, but I’d say Hoffmann’s marvelous Commodore LU 11/16 (as in 11 liter engine/16 tonnes GVWR) with a day cab is around 60 years old.
Here’s a picture of the interior of an identical Büssing. Definitely not a cramped and dark cave, even though it’s a day cab. The absence of a cab-intruding doghouse -thanks to the underfloor engine- certainly helps (photo courtesy of NVC Oberhausen, Germany).
There it is, on the right side of the chassis, literally hanging under the floor. The horizontal, inline-six Büssing U 11 D diesel engine. Maximum power output approx. 200 DIN-hp.
In its homeland, such a truck set-up is commonly referred to as a ‘Pritsche (mit) Plane’, a flatbed with dropsides and a tarpaulin cover, regardless of the vehicle’s size or weight class.
And of course the ol’ truck tows a matching and contemporary Kässbohrer full trailer with two axles and dual wheels. Here, the word ‘Anhänger’ means trailer(s).
All in all, this beats looking at an oil painting. Naturally, YMMV.
Now how about that, here’s another one:
Truck Show Outtake: 1964 Büssing Commodore LU 11/16 – This Is Not A Cab Over Engine
I’m constantly amazed at the variety of old HD trucks you find in Holland that are so well kept by their owners long after their revenue producing days are over.
Similar examples of well kept vintage trucks in the US seem much more rare. Examples exist to be sure, but I just never see them as much.
My wife prefers to see art in museums, but I’m with you in seeing machines like this as being great examples of true industrial art. Perhaps nothing illustrates our differing view on art than her birthday gift to me many years ago.
She asked me for birthday gift ideas. I told her something I could use in the garage would be nice. Her present that year was a framed picture of tools hanging on a wall. Not a real tool I could use, but a picture of tools. Not only could I not do anything with the tools in the picture, but it took up valuable garage wall space where I could otherwise hang real tools.
We laughed about it for many years, but it truly shows that men are from Mars and women are from Venus.
A framed picture of tools hanging on a wall…the best of two worlds (and a very original gift)!
The rig is owned by the Hoffmann family from Oberhausen, Germany. Famous -among the enthusiasts anyway- heavy truck collectors, traders, part suppliers, and restorers.
I don’t know of anything comparable in Europe, or in the world, for that matter. The scale of the operation and the level of professionalism are rather unbelievable (in the good sense of the word).
Have a look around here, plenty of videos too (also posted on YouTube):
https://www.nvc-oberhausen.com/
Cute little truck, those short wheelbase four wheel trailers are awful things to back i’d never contemplate restoring one.
They used the Büssing U10 engines even in the well known German railbus series VT98 (later: series 998). Those railbus motorcars were equipped with two U10 units (150 DIN-hp, each).
Below: Railbus VT 98. Image from Wikipedia commons by GeorgR (de).
Oooh – Now I see the truck got the later U 11 engine. Sorry !! (blushing)
But I think, the U10 was its predecessor, isn’t it ?
Logically, yes, though I haven’t checked. It doesn’t make much sense to build a 10 and an 11 liter truck diesel at the same time.
So why do European manufacturers no longer make underfloor engine trucks ?
As far as I know, an underfloor truck engine was a typical Büssing thing. Continued by MAN for years to come, after their 1971 take-over of Büssing.
Discontinued later on because of stricter noise regulations and -obviously- cost efficiency and standardization reasons.
Thanks ! More difficult to encapsulate the engine.