It was a friends kids birthday on the weekend and I was looking forward to this one because he was bringing around his retired 1986 Mercedes Unimog which was used by the Australian Defence force.
I have a few friends that have a really cool line of work and they get access to things before they hit the market to civilians. This is one of those things. You might be thinking what's so special about a truck? Well this isn't just any truck and it was received in a really good condition, minus the fire-power. This special beast has a few extra things still in it that I'm not sure if many others do.
The 1986 unimog is a special kind of truck, you won't find much like it and it's known amongst many soldiers as the best there is. Able to scale any terrain the perfect beast for off roading. It's development you hear of alot. You know the saying "plough the fields, take the pigs to market and go to church on a Sunday". Well that saying was core to the development of the Unimog which stands for universal Motor Gerat, Gerat being the German word for tool.
This special beast was one of 2200 provided to Australia and upgraded to be military grade, Australia continued to build these bad boys locally designed for the harsh Australian climate and our terrain. There is no mountain it can't or hasn't climbed and there is no desert it hasn't crossed.
You'll notice in the image above the internal workings hold NO electronics and that blue flap flips down to cover the dimmed lights to ensure you're not detected. The front has a dim green light mounted to it to avoid night detection and special equipment and the original paint doesn't produce heat signatures. This bad boy is unique and still in its military standard model.
Noting the pipe has been added as it is currently being used for off roading and camping, owner got a little annoyed at the tree branches scratching the paint. Unfortunately the military doesn't allow you to use their paint so you can't resupply or if you do import it, I'm told it's quite expensive.
These big boys are more tank than trunk with wheels a meter tall and only a maximum speed of 80kms an hour they're more designed to tackle the environment then speeding down freeways. You wouldn't want to get into a bingle with this tank is it would simply drive right over what ever is infront of it.
It's perfectly higheted and will overcome any off road obstacle that would like put any other off road vehicle to a stop. My mate tells me it's scary as fuck as the wheels are closer to the driver when going out over edges it's just straight out and over. No nose first and cabin tailing.
As a former HR truck driver myself he said "picture going straight but down". I'd say a pretty frightening view.
Anyway, we're in the process of organising a campaigning trip in the beast and some serious off roading. I'll be sure to share the experience with you all and I'll he sure to bring a change of jocks and wear brown pants.