If cars indeed have souls, then there are a hell of a lot of places this Mercedes Unimog would rather be than in front of a health food store. And yet, here it is, acting as part of the signage.
Spotted in Ontario by S. Forrest, this easily overshadows any of the store’s customers’ efforts to outdo each other with high-end crossovers, but as a West German military truck, it would make much more sense in front of an Army surplus store. Money talks, though, and the sort of people who insist on local, organic foods generally have more money to throw around than the kids who shop the surplus stores. So much for character!
I can imagine this Unimog would rather be crawling in the mud somewhere than being made to be used as a sign in front of a store.
A massive, ugly, old fuel-guzzling beast of a truck being used to advertise a business that typically caters to pretentious yuppies and save-the-earth types. How ironic.
Sorry, but there is NOTHING ‘ugly’ about that rig. Yes, its a utilitarian, Spartan beast. But that’s exactly why its a thing of beauty. You had the 2nd part dead on though.
I saw a Unimog in hell last year.Blackpool Transport have one with a telescopic lift for maintaining the overhead wires for the trams and inspecting pantographs.I lived in hell (Blackpool) for 3 years and go back each year for the world’s biggest punk rock festival and a really good air show.Blackpool is the suicide capital of Britain,the teenage un married mother capital and has the highest drink and drugs related deaths in Britain.Life expectancy is shorter and it is one of the poorest areas with highest unemployment.
Can’t wait to go back for 4 days of punk rock!
I saw a Pinzgauer not long ago being used as advertisement for a flower shop. Go figure.
The horror ! A Universal Motor Gerät (Unimog) on the pavement, completely locked up between buildings. Originally a Unimog was an agricultural vehicle, the rest (army and such) followed later.
Yeah, I think the Unimog’s intent was as a small, rebodied, 4WD farm tractor which could be used to plow a field. In that context, it makes some sense as a rolling billboard for a health food store.
An early one, the 1946 U5 Prototype. Development of the Unimog started right after WW2.
The front end of the U5 prototype has a very 80s vibe to it, so squared off and with the black grill bars which even extend over the headlights.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who noticed that. All it needs to complete the look is square headlights.
Well yes ! The Iveco Daily from the eighties comes to mind.
I agree. That’s where the Unimog belongs, either on the farm, or on the battlefield, being used as military transport, or even an army ambulance.
As versatile as a Swiss Army knife. It’s more a tool than a vehicle.
If you get your food from this store you will become as stout and robust as this Unimog.
Subliminal advertising.
The NZ army still uses some Unimogs most have been retired in favour of LAVs from Pinzgauer but I still see the old Mogs getting about, they replaced the RL 4WD Bedfords in the 70s so have been here a while.
Two years ago I stumbled across 3 Unimogs of this same vintage in Argentina being used as tour vehicles at Iguacu Falls. They were still going strong. The Australian Army uses a later model Unimogs as their standard light truck. They must like them because they are now taking delivery of thousands of G Wagens to replace their Land Rover fleet. The Army also ordered a special three axle variant, which Mercedes used as the basis for a six wheel AMG version that sells for mega-bucks. Someone needs to liberate that Unimog in the photo from such a hideous fete!
Top Gear tested the AMG 6×6 G-wagen in Dubai last year.
They’re either slipping or mellowing out, they didn’t show the picture of Hitler in a 6×6 Mercedes until the next week’s episode!
the sort of people who insist on local, organic foods generally have more money to throw around than the kids who shop the surplus stores.
FWIW, where I live that’s not the case, and not just because there is no surplus store.
Perhaps that says something about Eugene vs the midwest suburbs?
http://www.groceryoutlet.com
They are all over oregon. Every state in America has “discount” food stores.
It’s saying “Burn me PLEASE!!!!!.”
LOL! Or “Anywhere, but here.”
At least here in Vermont the people who *grow* the local organic food favor Detroit-3 4wd pickups over vintage European exotica like Pinzgauer, Unimog and Land Rover. Not that such vehicles aren’t around, but they tend to be the owners’ hobby. Farmers whose farm is their living don’t have time for hobbies.
Yeah, that’s the problem with dual-purpose stuff like the Unimog; they don’t do the job nearly as well as two, dedicated vehicles and they usually cost as much (if not more). For the price of one Unimog, you could get a really nice farm tractor AND a very competent, heavy-duty 4WD work pickup.
A 4WD pickup in Europe in the 50s and 60s?? Umm; I don’t think so.
Don’t forget that in the Alps, farmer’s fields were often higher up in the mountains, and getting to them was also an issue. The Unimog was also used for other purposes in the Alps, for lumbering, utilities, carrying supplies to the high Alm huts and such. Mercedes wasn’t thinking about farmers in Iowa when they designed the Unimog; there were a number of very specific applications for which it was ideally suited and used for, in addition to the military. The Steyr-Puch Haflinger was designed for many of the same purposes, except on a smaller scale. Both were very common sights in the Alps; one can still see them there at work.
Sometimes it’s necessary to think outside of one’s milieu in order to understand why certain vehicles were designed and built.
Oh, one more thing….(I’m a Columbo fan): Mercedes didn’t design the (original) Unimog. Initially Unimog was the brand name, as you can see there’s no Mercedes star on the prototype. The take-over by Mercedes was in 1951.
Not to mention that when the Unimog was developed, 4wd tractors didn’t really exist. My understanding is the Unimog was a do-it-all machine for farmers, essentially a tractor that could do 50 mph on the road. Obviously for short distances, but that is all that was required. My grandfather’s trucks (not pickups) rarely traveled more than 60 miles from his farm up to the 1990s, carting stock or hay.
ps, this Unimog is very green, unless I’m colorblind! Oh, that’s not what you meant?
Well said, a do-it-all-machine for farmers. And that includes using it as a car.
You know what the farmers’ favorite vehicle is in the hilly and mountainous parts of Italy ? A Fiat Panda 4×4. Nothing beats them on slippery steep slopes and narrow paths with very tight corners.
Makes sense, Johannes, the Panda is a narrow car. Didn’t know they made a 4×4 variant.
Here’s a new one on a 70% slope. The older types were also available as 4×4.
Yep, you made me look up my prized copy of ‘Tutte Le Fiat’. First series: width 1,485mm, powered by a 965cc I4. Very cute.
Definitely not a good place for a Unimog. Park a vintage US truck (an old baby-blue Studebaker I saw in Florida last month comes to mind) and call it good. Get that Unimog back to what it does best…kicking ass and taking names. Yeah, I know you can say the same things about the WW2 Studebaker 6×6 trucks and you’d be right, but a Unimog in front of a health food store? Come on. That’s a carnivore truck if there ever was one.
I got talking to a farmer of organic produce recently who uses biodiesel in his vehicles and generator. If this is a diesel, I don’t see any cognitive dissonance. I see recycling. I also see a cool truck.
As far as I know there never was a factory Unimog with a gasoline engine.
You never know of course, this one might have a SBC 350….
I wouldn’t worry about this truck being in the wrong place. If it has a soul as the article suggests, I would think it could escape from anywhere.
Cool trucks , Unimogs ;
Every so often I run across a Radio Van Unimog and have to work at not buying it ~ what the heck to do with one ? .
Make a spiffy camper maybe ? .
-Nate
hook it up to a turntable and speakers and put it in your living room. hehehe
Why not? And then drive it out to the country and do some camping, or skiing during the winter. That’d be fun. 🙂
The beauty of the North West is you see a myriad of cool rigs here. ‘Mogs in particular are known to roam in these parts. Id love to own one of these beasts!
I’ve been driving Unimogs for many years.
They are great in terrain.
Ergonimics takes getting used to !
And the noise from the engine just a few cm from your leg !
Unimogs are made to drive to hell, and back.