(first posted 12/5/2014) Anybody who is only slightly interested in big diesel trucks will know the heavy-duty Mercedes-Benz L-series. The L-series was built for a very long time. However, its pure and long-lasting design certainly wasn’t unique. There were more truck makers in Europe (and in other parts of the world of course) that built the same kind of rugged conventional trucks. The kind of trucks that could withstand Armageddon.
Mostly all wheel drive. Heavy-duty, durable and reliable under extreme conditions. With simple and clean looks, almost “naked”. No jewelry, no chrome, no wild graphics. One of these direct Mercedes L-series competitors was the last (1971-2003) generation of the Magirus-Deutz Eckhauber. Hauber is the German word for a conventional truck, so with a nose. In this case Eck means that the truck’s nose has sharp edges. And indeed, there also were Magirus-Deutz Rundhaubers, these were the conventional trucks with a more rounded nose.
Eckhauber 6×4 with a 232 hp V8 as pictured below (Courtesy Magirus-Deutz)
Magirus-Deutz was the former bus- and truck division of the Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz AG company from Cologne, Germany. The division also built military trucks, fire trucks and other equipment for fire brigades. Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz (since 1997 officially called Deutz AG) is an engine manufacturer, founded in 1864. Currently the company builds water-, air- and oil cooled diesel engines. Their engines are everywhere, all over the world; as generators and in trucks, buses, farm- and construction machinery and equipment and in boats. The company’s most renowned specialty is building air cooled diesel engines.
The Ulm Minster
Magirus was founded in 1866 in the city of Ulm, Germany. The company built trucks and equipment for fire brigades. Magirus was taken over by Humboldt-Deutz in the mid thirties (from 1938 onwards Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz). The famous Magirus logo, introduced in 1932, is the letter M combined with the Ulmer Münster (Ulm Minster), the main church of Ulm with the world’s tallest church tower. The name Magirus-Deutz for the trucks was introduced in 1949, with the old Magirus logo prominently on the grille.
Of course, just like the Deutz farm tractors the Magirus-Deutz trucks also had the corporation’s own air cooled diesel engines, roaring loud and clear !
Eckhauber 4×4 dump truck with a 170 hp Deutz V6
Back to the Eckhauber. The last generation was introduced in 1971; its nickname was “Baubulle”, which means something like Construction (site) Bull, a pure workhorse.
They were available as 4×2, 4×4, 6×4 and 6×6 trucks and tractors. From 1978 onwards the Eckhaubers were only available as all wheel drive trucks and tractors with two or three axles, so as 4×4 and 6×6 only. The transmissions came from ZF.
In the first years power ratings started at 120 hp from a straight six engine and the most powerful Eckhauber had a 310 hp V10 engine (Magirus-Deutz also offered a 17 liter V12 in other trucks, but not in the Eckhauber).
Rebuilt and repainted air cooled Deutz V8 diesel engine, type F8L413
Deutz air cooled V6 engine, type F6L413V
The engines were four-stroke, air cooled and naturally aspirated diesel engines with direct injection. Later on the turbo chargers arrived. The V-engines, known as the Deutz 413-series, were available with six, eight or ten cylinders; respectively the F6L413 (8.5 liter), the F8L413 (11.3 liter) and the F10L413 (14.1 liter).
This one has a 310 hp V10, obviously its nose is longer than the nose of the red truck above with the V6 (Courtesy Baumaschinenbilder.de)
The longer the Eckhauber’s nose, the more cylinders it had. The six cylinders had the shortest nose, consequently the V10 had the longest nose.
A proud Eckhauber driver in Kazakhstan (Courtesy Georg761, Russian Wikipedia)
Just like the Mercedes L-series the Magirus-Deutz Eckhaubers found their way all over the globe and were used in the most harsh road- and weather conditions. From the Sahara-desert to Siberia.
In my country (and in the rest of Europe) it was mostly used as an on-/off-road 6×6 dump truck. Again, alongside the Mercedes L-series and other contemporary conventional off-road trucks from MAN, Tatra and Hanomag-Henschel. Back then most of these 6×6 dump trucks were rated at 26 tons (57,320 lbs) GVW by the truck maker.
Eckhauber (with the name Iveco) 6×6 truck in deep trouble during the Overland Expedition
Meanwhile, further down south in Italy, Fiat founded the Industrial Vehicles Corporation (Iveco) in 1974. A merger between Fiat’s truck division and the small truck makers OM from Italy and Unic from France. A year later Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz acquired 20% of the Iveco shares (the Fiat Group owned the other 80%) in exchange for their Magirus-Deutz AG truck division.
Restored 6×6 dump truck with the 256 hp F8L413F 12.8 liter V8 (Courtesy C-C-Baxter, Wikipedia)
In 1980 Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz sold their Iveco-shares to the Fiat Group, but the Eckhauber just soldiered on for many years to come. The name Iveco on the grille, but still the same last generation of Eckhauber Baubullen. Right until 2003, and then the curtain finally fell. A pure and long-lasting design indeed. And Deutz AG ? The company still has the old Magirus logo, the letter M combined with the tower of the Ulm Minster.
In German-speaking countries this is called a Dreiseitenkipper (Courtesy baumaschinenbilder.de)
And finally, a short video with an Eckhauber 6×6 dump truck with a 310 hp V10:
Thanks for this look at trucks that I am not very familiar with. Remarkable to think that this company was founded in 1864 by Nicolas Otto, the inventor of the modern internal combustion engine, and still exists as an independent entity. Now that’s corporate longevity.
I see Deutz aircooled diesel engines in various industrial settings from time to time. The concrete pumper I have used a few times has one.
That has to be 1864 rather then 1964, no ?
Yes; typo. The Otto engine is a bit older than that 🙂
I think I’ve mentioned before that my father had a vibratory compacting roller that was powered by a Deutz air-cooled V8 diesel engine. The roller was pulled by another piece of equipment, with the Deutz simply running the vibrator.
The color of the green truck is amazing – I’d thought that color was only available in yarn….
where can i get a used/reconditioned F8L413W V8 Air cooled Deutz?
Here:
https://www.trucks.nl/tweedehands-deutz-f8l413-4193040-vd
Wow, air cooled of that displacement and in those harsh conditions… I’ve never heard of an oil-cooled diesel before, can someone point me in the right direction to a good technical article?
A Deutz engine operation manual (in English) of an oil-cooled diesel engine:
http://www.deutzamericas.com/dfp/pdfs/11.%20Operation%20Manuals/11a.%20DFP4%202011%20Mechanical%20Manual.pdf
M-D tried to sell their engines in the US and they were available as an option on Diamond Reo trucks and, I believe, some Kenworths had V12s fitted. In Argentina Chevrolet offered them in their medium trucks. Ultimately none of this brought M-D the success it needed to establish itself on the Americas, where air cooling for large engines was very rare and never accepted.
Were Tatra and Magirus-Deutz the only truck makers that offered their own big air cooled V-engines ?
I remember the conventional Tatra T148 6×6 from the seventies very well. After that model the brand disappeared as fast as it became popular in the early seventies.
The only other one i know of is the extremely rare (built for only two years) Samecar Elefante. It had a 10 liter diesel V8.
http://www.archiviostoricosamedeutz-fahr.com/en/archives/atlas-of-tractors/samecar-elefante/
http://archiviostoricosamedeutz-fahr.com/wp-content/digital_objects/7b00a0aa220b7794ae8739712665fa496a96f7d9/large.jpg
http://pictures.tractorfan.nl/groot/s/same/495106-samecar-same.jpg
Coincidentally, Same bought the tractor division of Klöckner-Humboldt-Deutz in the 90s.
Now that’s rare ! Never heard of it before.
Also worth mentioning is that DAF used the Magirus-Deutz Eckhauber cab (not the nose) for its heavy-duty N2800 in the early eighties. DAF only offered it as a 6×4 truck or tractor.
… Don’t forget the DAF-International offered a few years earlier, which was Transtar based I think.
That’s an International Paystar 5000 with a DAF diesel, the N2500. Extremely rare, about 20 or so were made. International had 1/3 th of the DAF shares back then.
The later N2800 was built for harsh African conditions. It has a cult-status now among DAF enthusiasts. Jan de Rooy won the Paris-Dakar rally-raid in 1982 with an N-series.
There was the French Bernard with the Alstom V8 and 200hp; this was supposed to give Bernard a great leap forward but was a failure and I believe the reason why – after some liaison with Mack – Bernard went bust.
Rover P4 nose
Here in Argentina, Deutz products were quite succesful, specially the buses.
Since 1962 DECA built Deutz trucks and bus chassis that once bought, the owner sent to the coachbuilder of choice. Production stopped around 1978.
In the 90s El Detalle that was a coachbuilder for buses, urban mainly, decided they wanted to build the whole bus so designed a chassis with pneumatic suspension and chose MD engines to power their project.
The El Detalle OA101 was a booming success in the Argentinian bus market from 1987 to 2005. They even opened a plant in Brazil.
Today you can still hear the whistle of the air cooled engine in old El Detalles that remain.
Let’s not also forget the brazilian and argentinian Agrale line of trucks, buses, and minibuses that use MD for power, altough I think water-cooled versions.
Diamond Reo with Deutz engine – easily identifiable by the sloping hood – no need for a radiator here…
Correction: it was actually Dodge who offered Deutz engines in its trucks…
Also worth a mention are Australian-made Flxible coaches fitted with the howling wonders. See more here:
http://www.hcvc.com.au/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1414491427
It’s interesting to add that the line of Dodge trucks powered by MD was launched in 1980, the same year that the Argentinian operations of Chrysler were sold to Volkswagen
So for two years, until 1982, VW manufactured Dodge trucks.
I’ve seen several of the Delta Project Magirus-Deutz trucks recently, still hard at work.
I’ve read about the Delta Project. A huge order that Magirus-Deutz got from the Russian government in the mid-seventies, so that’s 40 years ago.
Thanks for mentioning it and good to hear they’re still working hard.
I found a video on YouTube:
I like the top photo with the woman in the cab, the Magirus gets the chicks!
I remember about 20 plus years ago my friend had a smaller Magirus truck sitting for export to Haiti in his terminal , we used to joke about the name calling it Maaaaaagi-rust, Magyrooos and “magic rust”, it was a tired old rusty truck, as most of the trucks that they exported to Haiti were, this was in the pre-internet era, so we had never heard of such a truck and had no idea what the hell a Magirus even was.
Johanne, you are turning me into a European truck fanatic.
When you mentioned Ulm, the first thing that came to mind was it being the birthplace of Albert Einstein.
We visited Ulm during our summer vacation in Germany in 1981. Still West-Germany, or BRD, back then.
My mother climbed the tower of the Ulm Minster, all the way to the top, while her husband and two sons were relaxing on a café terrace at the other side of the Minster’s square. Hey…it was a hot summer day…
After a while some people, way up in the sky, were waving; so we decided to wave a bit too. No idea if my mother was among them. Kind of hard to see. After all, it is the world’s tallest church tower…
The Deutz air-cooled diesel was offered for a year of two in Chevy/GMC medium duty C-60/6500’s around 1986. Not many takers. The engines had a reputation for being reliable, but a headache when problems were encountered. Diamond REO probably installed more of them in the U.S. trucks then anyone else, but I did see a few from time to time in construction equipment.
Magirus-Deutz cabover trucks using the same common cab as Volvo and Renault were sold in the US for a few years in the 70s.
The Eckhauber is also very common as a military truck.
That must have been the “Club Of Four Cab”. Developed and used by DAF, Magirus-Deutz, Saviem (Renault) and Volvo.
Also used by Mack for their Mid-Liner, both cabover and conventional.
How interesting to see air cooling used in such a heavy duty application. It must have worked!
I observed these air cooled diesels in Mack trucks back in the mid 80’s. A fully loaded concrete mixer got a warning from a MD state cop for speeding up a hill that few trucks made at the speed limit. North of Balt. on I-83, long steep hill most trucks at the bottom went 75 and by the top were lucky to be at 25. This air cooled diesel concrete truck started at 70 and kept it at 70 to the top. I wish I had one for my RV.
The Magirus-Deutz trucks were bought for their durability and outstanding off-road capabilities. As you may know the soil is very soft here, so you absolutely need a powerful AWD truck if you’re off the pavement a lot. Like a dump truck, obviously. No extreme weather conditions (temperature), so for that reason we didn’t need the air cooled diesels.
From my youth in the (early) seventies I remember the 6×6 trucks from Magirus-Deutz, MAN, Mercedes, Hanomag Henschel, Tatra and Steyr. Except for the Steyr trucks these were all conventionals. These brands were comparable in qualities and capabilities.
We also had our domestic Ginaf and Terberg off-roaders, back then these were still fully based on ex-military US trucks (REO) with a European diesel engine swap and a new steel cab.
(Photo courtesy oudedaf.nl)
…and FWD Terracruisers ex-USAF as dump trucks on the dikes – without their flat eight air-cooled Continental (?) gasoline engines, apparently replaced with DAF diesels.
The classic conventional Ginaf and Terberg 6x6s were look-a-likes. Diesel engines often came from DAF, although other brands were also used.
After the ex-military era the Ginafs were heavily based on DAF technology (cabs, engines, axles) while Terberg chose for Volvo components. Later on both brands also started to offer 8×8 and 10×8 chassis.
Remarkable is that the post-war DAF military trucks (designed from scratch) had Hercules gasoline engines. But IIRC that was a part of the Marshall Plan-deal.
Thanks for sharing, J.D. I love these big ass 4wd trucks that you guys have over in Europe. These have a very hardcore militaristic look that I simply love seeing. Makes me wonder why they don’t use awd rigs up here in the soggy northwest for logging operations. At least you don’t really see them, anyway. I know Western Star does make a 6×6 specifically for logging….it might see use only in the much then transfer the loads to ‘normal’ logging rigs.
Id never heard of the Deutz diesels until I stumbled onto this youtube vid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQsbMXYK4CE&index=4&list=PL3879FCC0679C7D7E
This is the general type of rat rod Id like to own! Not only do I have an insane love of these old Willys, but the idea of stuffing a beastly German diesel in it…and air cooled at that…has a LOT of appeal. Ive never understood why aircooled engines haven’t caught on more. Less to go wrong, and ideal for certain climates.
Glad you liked it and thanks for the video. An air cooled diesel Willys Deutz Rad Rod !
The old-school hardcore militaristic look is gone by now, since there are no conventionals anymore. But 4×4, 6×6, 8×8 and 10×8 COE-trucks are very common and can be seen in action everywhere.
One might say that this is, in a way, a descendant of the Eckhauber: an Iveco Trakker 8×8.
(Photo courtesy Cornelisbedrijfsautos.nl)
It’s crazy how regulations drive a market, in the US you cannot get a COE unless you have connections (and not from every manufacturer), in Europe you need to go to a custom builder to have something like the IVECO Strator…
These are the only two on the planet…
Oh I’ve heard about them – are those made by the chaps making the Strator?
No, the DAFs were built by DAF-dealership De Burgh from Eindhoven. If you want one they build it for you. These are the first two, ordered by a company that wanted a successor for their old N-series conventional.
The Iveco Strator is built by Iveco-dealership Charles Feijts Group.
“…Magirus-Deutz trucks also had the corporation’s own air cooled diesel engines, roaring loud and clear !”
By roaring loud and clear do you mean these air-cooled diesels sounded different from water-cooled diesels, like an air-cooled Porsche sounds different from other gas engines, even the Subarus?
Yes, they were louder and sounded different. Just like a truck with a two-stroke Detroit Diesel you could recognize the sound of an air cooled Magirus-Deutz or Tatra from far.
We call it a “hoog, gierend” sound. No idea how to translate those words in this specific context.
Go to YouTube and type Magirus Deutz for some sound effects.
Air cooled engines are always louder than water-cooled ones, because the solid water jackets surrounding the block and heads attenuate the sound. And then there’s the cooling fan on top of that. Open up a VW engine compartment while it’s running…you can hear every mechanical part.
Great looking range. These look so good in all those bright flat colours with that big black grille. Thanks Johannes.
Those bright flat colours are typical for German trucks. Often green, orange and blue. Just like the trucks above and the one in the video. Combined with a red chassis and red rims.
Here’s another one, perfect side view.
That’s why they make the best toys.
Thank You very much, Johannes – as a former truck driver I love to learn more about classic trucks. Are You familiar with Saurer and Berna? I once drove a 1981 Saurer 290 – one of the last civilian trucks they built before resorting to 6 and 10 DM army models. Someday I will write a couple of lines about Saurer, at least about the vehicles I have personal experience with. Increasingly merciless anti pollution regulations made it too expensive for companies to use older trucks in Switzerland for regular work – even on construction sites they got replaced with newer trucks. Pity!
Here is a picture of a Fendt 250 S tractor. I am very familiar with it’s 3.2 liter 3 cylinder air-cooled Deutz engine… I always got my earplugs ready!
What a beautiful photo and scenery !
I know Saurer from Switzerland, but unfortunately I’m not very familiar with them. As far as I know they were not officially imported here. I especially like their last conventional models from the late seventies / early eighties. We did have Steyr from Austria and Tatra from the Czech Republic though.
About your Fendt. I know several farmers who swear by a Fendt and absolutely don’t want a Deutz-Fahr. Their Fendt does have a Deutz engine though…. 🙂
Water cooled that is, like in the current Deutz-Fahr tractors.
The earplugs are a must when working with an air cooled diesel tractor, all owners got them close at hand in the tractor’s cab !
My memories are a bit hazy, but as far as I can remember I drove the one on the picture several times about 12 years ago. I stole the picture from the company’s homepage and I hope they don’t mind. There was a second one I drove many times during the year I worked for them. It had a modern 2.60 m cargo box but sadly it had to do without the cool spoiler below the bumper. My route led me through a hilly region called the Emmental – yes that’s where the cheese with the big holes comes from… (the place I took the picture with the Fendt is about 15 km away from the Emmental, where the hills become mountains) Climbing the hills and navigating the many curves gave me sore arms and legs during the first weeks. Everything on that truck meant hard work: the steering wheel had a big diameter for a good reason. It took serious effort to push the clutch pedal and moving the gear lever was not exactly subtle business. Driving the Saurer meant fighting the Saurer! Not a big deal on the Autobahn, quite a challenge on small country roads. If You want to feel like a real man (or woman), forget about sport or muscle cars. Climb behind the wheel of an old heavy truck like the Saurer and start up that diesel engine!
Looking good ! Those Trilex rims are very common in Switzerland, you never see them here.
Luckily I’m old enough (in this case) to remember the trucks from all those small manufacturers. Sadly too small to survive – the opposite of too big to fail – although they made trucks of the highest quality in those days. Büssing is one of those brands that comes to mind. Like this BS-series, introduced in 1966. This certainly doesn’t look like a 50 year old design to me. (Photo courtesy oudedaf.nl)
With a trilex wheel one could change a tire without heavy machinery somewhere in the middle of nowhere because the rim is segmented. It’s impossible to use tubeless tires though.
The Büssing looks very modern for the time! Could that be the engine behind the front wheels where one would expect the fuel tank? With the demise or takeover of smaller manufacturers, many unique and interesting engineering solutions also disappeared…
Gotthard, must be a Büssing with an “unterflur” engine, they were famous for that. The Büssings with the engine under the cab had a full open grille, like all other cabovers.
Gotthard,
There are a few still working for living in CH – join the Saurer group on Facebook, you’ll be surprised.
Thanks, T. Turtle – I will take a look!
Back in the 80’s me and a friend did some trading and export business in heavy trucks and machinery, mostly to Suriname and Cabo Verde, and these Magirus trucks where extremely popular overthere, we bought the then already older trucks, gave them a nice and cheap repaint, and on the ship they went, filled with tires and other parts. We even had a Conventional cab flatbed treuck for ourselves withe air cooled 8 cilinder engine we used for transporting smaller cars and machinery, very strong andd
Reliable trucks, ours in the end sadly burned down to the ground because of a diesel leak.
I should have some pictures maybe, but most of them got lost in a nasty divorce…..
Saw this one in the South Pacific, I think it was Bora Bora.
It has seen better days…but a great photo !
It’s a 6 cylinder (short nose), post 1975 (Iveco badge) – pre 1978 (dead front axle).
Excuse the nit-picking but doesn’ t “eckhauber” mean square cornered motor hood (bonnet for the Brits)?
Isn’t that the same as a nose with sharp edges ? A Hauber is a conventional truck, a truck with a nose. Eckhauber = Sharp-edged conventional.
Great write up of rarely seen(here) trucks most Deutz powered machinery Ive seen have been Tractors and a couple of Flxible Flyers in Aussie,
Very cool, I remember these as a kid in Germany (and on visits of course.). I love these truck histories.
Great story about the Ulm Munster – My best friend while growing up in Germany’s Dad has a set of fantastic pencil drawings of a city skyline in his study. Years later during a visit back I saw them and asked him what they were of and he explained to me that HIS Dad drew them over many years – during the war (WWII) his assignment was to sit in the tower of the Ulm Munster and keep an eye out for bombers. He spent his time drawing these unbelievably intricate pencil drawings of the view in every direction from the tower.
That’s an impressive story Jim.
About 15 years ago I was in a heavy truck
wrecking yard south of Hamilton Ontario,
looking to buy a high-deck 427 Chevy truck
engine core, to the use the .400 higher deck
of the truck block as the basis for big-cubic-inch
“stroker” big block Chevy race engine I working
on at the time. In the yard, along with the usual
assorted and expected “junk”, I came across six
brand new air-cooled Deutz diesel engines – 2
V12’s and 4 V8’s – covered in shrink wrap and
sitting on pallets. They had obviously been
intended for a truck application of some sort
(perhaps from a canceled prototype or
experimental project from one of the OEM
‘big truck” manufacturers??), rather than for
stationary or industrial use because they all
had clutches attached and the 4 V8’s had
SAE-type bellhousings with equally brand new
ten-speed Road Ranger transmissions bolted
to them.. I had heard of Deutz air-cooled diesels,
but I had never actually seen one up close before.
Out of curiosity I asked the yard owner about
them and he told me he had purchased them a
week before, as a lot, at a surplus equipment
auction, mostly for the ten speed Road Ranger
transmissions, but before that, he wasn’t sure
where they had come from or what type or make
of truck they had originally been intended for. Very
interesting engines though, particularly the V12’s!
“Kazak trucker say – In Kazakhstan, as in
rest of former Soviet Union, some days you
ride on fender of big truck, other days fender
of big truck ride on you!!”
Good day. Would you perhaps know what the original color of the Deutz Air cooled engine was? I am currently busy restoring a “Baubulle” truck of 1979. Thank you very much for a very interesting article on the trucks.
Regards
Jan Geldenhuys
Jan, I would contact Reto Bachmann from Germany. Here is his great Magirus-Deutz website:
https://www.magirus-deutz.ch/
Good luck and all the best!
Great article. I recently ran across a guy here who is a big fan of air cooled diesels. His ’71 Dodge D-200 had a 5 cyl na Deutz and a three axle Kenworth in the yard had a tiny 6 cyl turbo Deutz. I think that the NA motors were 20 horse per jug and the turbos about 25. Both trucks would seem to be underpowered but he worked both hard and claims super reliability. I keep thinking about the Dodge….
I was working for GM Truck and Coach division back in the 80’s and saw a couple of these Deutz air cooled 6 cylinder engines in GMC medium duties. I think the swaps were done on these units in the Minneapolis area. Right about the time the trucks shoed up a number of brand new take out 366-427engines showed up on the loading dock. It was obvious these engines had been removed from new trucks. Only worked on one of these trucks, oil leak on an oil line. I think the trucks were owned by a rental company. The trucks were your standard rental 24′ van body trucks. Perhaps after the disaster of the 4-53 I4 and 8.2L V8 Detroit engines GM was looking for a proven power plant.
I want to the truck, contact me.
I own an old car from your company and it has been parked for 37 years. Shall I sell it to you?
ahmed, i am interrested in your truck.
can you send me more details?
It should be pointed out that air-cooled diesels are inherently thermodynamically advantaged as by running at higher temperatures fuel efficiency/power are improved. Air-flow cooling design and metallurgy are critical factors for reliability of course.
Back in my small-farmer days there were a couple of Deutz tractors of around 40 hp around and I always kind of wanted one, the merger/cooperation with Allis-Chalmers didn’t help their somewhat dicey parts supply however. I knew the local Allis dealer and he lamented it because the tractors themselves were good ones. I loved how they sounded!
Here some moving images showing the (elder) 2. generation of Magirus Eckhaubers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcUHPz0gpJ0
Hope you’ll enjoy…