Tuesday 21st February 2012

You know you want to: Expeditionised Unimog

When the world ends, you are definitely going to want one of these

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Imagine, if you will, that the Mayans were right, and civilisation as we know it has until 21st December 2012. What (presuming you have access to some fuel) do you drive in the aftermath of Armageddon?

The answer to this Mad Max conundrum, as with most questions in life, can be found on the PH classifieds. In this case the answer is surely an 'expeditionised' Mercedes Unimog such as this.

We already know there is much love for the 'UNIversal MOtor Gerat' (lit. go-anywhere motorised thingummy) on PH, but turn your 'Mog into a motorhome and you've surely got a vehicle that will see you through the end of the world and out the other side.

You see, as well as cracking ground clearance courtesy of portal gears (which allows the axles and diff casings to be located above the centre line of the wheels), sturdy four-wheel drive, more torque than a torquey thing from the 5.4-litre turbodiesel motor and a locomotive's 130-decibel air horn (brilliant), there's also more than enough to keep you alive in the dog-eat-dog post-apocalypse world.

We're talking (ready for this?): a permanent double bed, table and seating for four, a fridge and icebox, oven and four-ring stove, microwave, loo, indoor wetroom shower, a 250-litre water tank, integrated water filtration system, hot water heated by the engine exhaust as well as an additional immersion heater, remote control air conditioning in the living area, a side awning with side flaps, picnic table and four chairs, two x 100 Amp Hour leisure batteries charged by separate alternator (to power lights, fridge etc), a 2,000 watt inverter in addition to Sine Wave invertor (for laptops) in the living area, internal and external storage, and high security with all external storage and entry points at least doubly secured. Blimey.

In short, if you can't survive Armageddon in this, then there is frankly no helping you. So while £26K might sound like quite a lot for a 30-year-old camper van, come the end of days you'll at least look a fair bit cooler than Max and Paddy...

Of course, should the world not actually end then you could always continue with the same sort of adventuring this ex-German army vehicle's been doing for the past decade, which has included three overland trips to Africa (you can read the pretty inspiring blog of one of these Unimog trips here).

 

[Carless Fury]

It'd be worth buying it just so you could take it to a camping/caravan site and see what people's reactions are.

[trunks82]

Good for the apocolypse or the next time we have a flutter of snow.

[trunks82]

Good for the apocolypse or the next time we have a flutter of snow.

[vrsmxtb]

[Liokault]

MPG in the low singles figures?

[Adz The Rat]

That looks so much fun.

[ScoobieWRX]

A truly fantastic bit of kit that would be mine if money were no object.

all i want to know is with a 450ltr diesel tank what does this do to the gallon?....Single figures i shouldn't wonder.

[PaulB81]

Thats cool. And the video is quite impressive too!

[danyeates]

That's been for sale for soooooooooooo long now! I still want it though.

[TheHeretic]

I had a little sex wee.

[Shewie]

Its gripped, It's sorted.... Let's OFFROAD!!

[Hellbound]

Guess it's quite a different beast compared to a factory built expedition/camper Unimog.

Given how much used VW T5 campers go for, this looks like great value.

[Riggers]

danyeates said:

That's been for sale for soooooooooooo long now! I still want it though.

Which is why somebody needs to BUY IT!!!

[a11y_m]

I know it's for sale in Oxfordshire (according to the ad), but I'm 99% sure it used to live about 3 miles from me - the St Andrews cross on the back might be a giveaway. Either that or it's another very similar one. Just mental, purely mental.

Always used to gawk at it, love it. Parked next to it in my Z4 once and could look under it lol.

[Hellbound]

You can see where it's been and what it's been up to here, as well as some pics of the work that's been done to it;


http://www.mogonthemove.com

Edited by Hellbound on Tuesday 21st February 11:19

[a11y_m]

Hellbound said:

You can see where it's been and what it's been up to here, as well as lots of pics of the work that's been done to it;


http://www.mogonthemove.com

Good link, thanks.

[camel_landy]

Oh yes... I've been wanting something similar for a while now but I'm after a crew-cab version & enough living space for 4x.

M

[Krikkit]

That's the coolest camper ever. Bar none.

[vrsmxtb]

How much would a round the world expedition actually cost, on top of the Unimog? Another £20k?! The adventurer in me would love to do that!

[Riggers]

a11y_m said:

Hellbound said:

You can see where it's been and what it's been up to here, as well as lots of pics of the work that's been done to it;


http://www.mogonthemove.com

Good link, thanks.

Indeed, and one I already put into the story!!