Picked up a vehicle that tops my Chevelle

[Blown353]

...well, it can drive over the top of it anyways.



It's a 1972 Mercedes Unimog 416. What's not to like about 45" tires and 20" of ground clearance, 60% grade climbing ability, 31" of unprepared fording capability, 40 degrees of axle articulation, 20 degrees of frame flex on top of that, and front/center/rear on-the-fly air lockers, stock?

I picked it up last night and drove it home on the freeway... at a blistering 48.5 mph flat out on level ground. It was hilarious, more smiles per gallon than just about anything else I've driven on a public road simply because of the sheer amount of attention it draws. I'd have people change lanes to pass me (imagine that!) only to slow down and pace me and stare in disbelief/disgust or a combination of both. Finally they'd roll a window down and yell "what the heck is that thing?" No answer could have been as unexpected as me yelling back (over the drone of the tires and the screaming diesel) "It's a Mercedes!" Thumbs up from tons of people, kids in the backseats of their parents' cars pointing and giggling and doing the air horn motion-- to which I would retort with something unexpected, which would be the mighty European standard horn.

"Beep! Beep!"

The kids would then convulse with laughter over the wimpy horn in the big truck. Tooting the mighty horn would induce similar behavior in gawking/waving/pointing pedestrians in town. The horn in fact proved to be the best source of amusement and I used it to my advantage at every opportunity.

Let's see, driving impressions...

Controls will be quite unfamiliar to a car owner, familiar to a driver holding a Class A, and "with my eyes closed" to a seasoned tractor operator, since the Mog is not so much a slow truck but rather a fast tractor with license plates. Open the door, climb in (after taking a breather at base camp) and sit down. Pull the hand throttle open a bit to permit the flow of diesel to the fuel pump and then the mighty 6 cylinder diesel starts easily with a push of the starter button. Check the gauges, wait for oil pressure to rise, then give the hand throttle a nudge to bring the RPM's up a bit and then wait for the air pressure to build to provide adequate braking assist. Next on the list, depress the clutch, sort your way through the plethora of sticks protruding through the floor, let out the clutch, and you're off in a cloud of diesel soot. That's when you notice the throttle. Not because it seems to be a better noise generator than a forward motion generator, but because it's probably heavier than just about any pedal you have ever depressed. Jan Magnussen, multiple winner of the "World's Strongest Man" competition would be hard pressed to hold the throttle down for any length of time before a cramp develops in his thigh. And you WILL be holding it down for long periods of time, because you aren't going anywhere quickly. The brake and clutch are similarly hard, but since they aren't used as frequently and in short duration when they are used the effort required to operate them is bearable. The transmission, while fully synchro in all 8 gears (6 forward and 2 reverse), offers a rather distinct shift feel which can be adequately simulated by sticking a 3 foot steel pole with a ball on the end into a puddle of goopy mud and moving it about. Steering effort is nicely weighted but suffers from a slightly disconnected feeling. To better understand this description of "slightly disconnected" (which is often used in various automotive publications but never elaborated upon), picture yourself gripping a 24" diameter steering wheel. Now couple that wheel to the steering box via a shaft made of licorice complete with marshmallow u-joints at each end. The steering box, comprised of what I surmise is semi-coagulated Jell-O, is in turn connected to the steering knuckles via tie rods made of half-cooked spaghetti. The massive 4-wheel drum brakes, while adequate, did not inspire enough confidence to entice me to test out the 48.5-0 stopping capabilities of the 7500 lb vehicle; perhaps it was the wild jerking felt through the "disconnected" steering (see above description) when first applying the brakes that was the most disconcerting. The seats, which are small flat buckets, are adjustable for bottom height/angle and forward/aft motion. You hardly notice them, since when driving the bulk of your mental capacity is dedicated to maintaining speed, shifting, and most importantly keeping the vehicle in your own lane; there simply isn't much time to realize "gee, I could sure use a bit more lumbar support."

Also, it's loud inside. Real loud. Unbelievably loud. I wore earplugs.

I took it to the local carshow tonight purely for comedic value. As if the out of place rattle-trap diesel didn't draw enough heads, that's when I pulled out the secret weapon-- the horn. "Beep! Beep!" That got 'em. Laughter from everyone in attendance.

That's it, I have to go take it for a drive again.

[907rs]

Awesome Troy. What are going to do with it?

[MaxHarvard]

Ahah!! Sweeett!! :d

[Steve Chryssos]

I LOVE Unimogs!! Tell us about the gear ratios. If I remember right, there is enough multiplication to counter-rotate the earth.

You should paint it hot pink.

[jannes_z-28]

That is Protouring contrast!

Jan

[Musclerodz]

How about turning it into a rollback to take the Chevelle to carshows with? Everybody needs one of those.

Mike

[zbugger]

Hmmmm........ Automatic chick magnet!!!!! Damn nice!!! I've actually seen one or two of those around here. I'm guessing a collector or something.

[Derek69SS]

Originally Posted by Musclerodz

How about turning it into a rollback to take the Chevelle to carshows with? Everybody needs one of those.

That would be handy so you wouldn't have to get the car dirty on the way to all those car-shows on top of mountains and at the bottom of canyons.

[T Bell]

Screw all those ideas. I say you call up Hotchkis, Global West or BMR and see what kinda tight suspension they can fab up for it.

[Blown353]

LOL guys.

Anyways, I better own up. It's not mine. A very good friend in San Diego bought it on ebay last week, and since I live 53 miles away from the seller (while he lives 530 miles away) I went to check it out and pick it up for him. I drove it home and checked things out over the last few days in order to determine if it was roadworthy for the 480 mile trip back to SD under it's own power. It never gave me a lick of trouble, all the fluid levels checked out, nothing leaked, everything important was present and tight, and it did rather well during some pretty hairy off road antics over the last few days (heheh, Mog-sitters prerogative, with permission from the owner!) so I declared it good to go.

He drove up this morning in a rental car and left in the Mog. Things were going just fine until about 35 miles down the road. Our best guess is that it ate a bearing for the front axle where the torque tube for the front axle enters the transmission/transfer case. Not good. He was cruising down the freeway at 48.5mph and noticed something smelled hot. Then it started to smoke. Pulled over and saw smoke rolling out of the accordion boot between the front torque tube and the tranny, and the bearing housing was scorching hot. So he turned around and limped it home, giving it breaks every 8-10 miles. By the time it got back in my yard it smelled like someone had been welding, and it was making very nasty crunching noises. We're hoping the bearing/race took all the damage, since they're cheap and easy to replace.

Needless to say, it's now being trailered down to San Diego. A transporter is due to arrive at my house Thursday.

The good news? Another good friend of mine, also down in San Diego, is looking at a 1958 404 'Mog over in Palo Alto. Looks like I get to go pick up another one in another day or so and cruise around for a while. This one is super-clean, it's a dry-chemical fire truck, with 45 years (!!!) of maintenance records included from the phone company that owned it from new until 2003. With 2 Mogs out front my neighbors will think I've gone totally mad, rather than my typical partially mad.

Unfortunately the suckers are rubbing off on me. I've eyed them from time to time over the last 3 years. I've always thought they're cool, and having finally driven one I can see why people love them so much. I may end up with one of my own, probably a Radio/Mapping truck with the box on the back so I can convert the interior of it into a camper for hunting trips and the like.