From tracklaying to service - Mercedes-Benz

www.mercedes-benz.com | August 2005
Mercedes-Benz
Unimog
Rubrik
1 | 2005
The magazine for multi-functional applications
From tracklaying to service
Austria: customers countrywide | Working by the North Sea | Survival in safety
Contents
P U B L I S H E R ' S
DATA
Publisher:
DaimlerChrysler AG,
Product Unit Unimog/Speciality Vehicles
Responsible at publisher:
Martin Adam,
Product Unit Unimog/Speciality Vehicles
Editorial committee:
Martin Adam, Dieter Mutard, Dieter Sellnau, Karin
Weidenbacher
Contributors to this issue:
Texts and photographs: Dieter Mutard, Stefan
Loeffler, Matthias Roecke
Product Unit Unimog/Speciality Vehicles
Editorial office address:
DaimlerChrysler AG,
Product Unit Unimog/Speciality Vehicles
Sales Marketing, 76742 Wörth, Germany
Production:
Dieter Mutard DWM Pressebüro und Verlag,
Söflinger Str. 100, 89077 Ulm, Germany
The next issue will be published in the autumn of
2005. The publishers accept no responsibility for
unsolicited copy or photographs.
Printed on paper bleached without chlorine
Printed in the Federal Republic of Germany
Customers
countrywide
11 - 15
Customers
countrywide
Public authorities
DaimlerChrysler Worldwide
4-9
“A strong basis for the future”
20/21
Unimog and implements – a great team
An office in an Unimog
New Unimogs haul up the cables
for National Grid
Road-rail
10
International
18 / 19
Life-saver in the
Scottish Highlands
From tracklaying to service
Austria Special
16 / 17
Defying the 1,000-hp giants
Efficiency down to the last
detail - the Unimog in Westphalia
Working by the North Sea
Interview with Andreas Renschler,
head of the Commercial Vehicles Division:
Events
11 - 15
Customers countrywide
‘Forestal Tractor’ with advanced
technical features
Joint testing
Survival in safety
Where centimetres count
DaimlerChrysler Worldwide
20 / 21
“A new dimension”
UNISCOPE
22 / 23
In partnership with Lower Austria
U 5000 for the riot police
Tailor-made
“Off Road” readers choose the U 3000
Four partners and a strong OMV train
Just right for Trieste
Rescue concept put into practice
Groundbreaking for the Unimog Museum
Unimog 1|2005 3
The first signs of spring:
U 400 and Mulag FM
600 front-end mower
begin with the first
tidying up operations
(large photo)
The Paderborn
combination: winter road
service and landscape
maintenance with a
single vehicle (top photo)
PA D E R BO R N
Hands-on managers:
Head of operations
Andreas Gorecki (left)
and head of road
maintenance Rudolf
Kirchhoff
Efficiency down to the last detail - the Unimog in Westphalia
At first glance, it all looks so simple. Thanks to its interchangeable bodies, the Unimog can be used for winter
road clearing, for maintaining grassed-over areas and for general cleaning work – making it a very attractive
proposition. Closer inspection reveals a diversity of options that you would not necessarily expect from
interchangeable bodies. Here are three examples taken from the ‘Westphalia triangle’: the towns of Bielefeld,
Gütersloh und Paderborn.
P
aderborn. The road maintenance
section of the Paderborn Road and
Bridges department does not operate its five
Unimogs according to a strict seasonal duty
roster. They and their equipment are
deployed according to prevailing weather
conditions, particularly in the spring and autumn, when even a normal weather forecast
is not reliable enough and hourly updates
are necessary. The winter in Westphalia has
a character all its own. In Paderborn, the
roads are often icy and the temperature can
drop below zero quite unexpectedly. Chaotic
snow conditions can develop at any time,
which is why the department always keeps a
snow plough ready. Snowdrifts caused by
strong winds blowing across the exposed
countryside can be a problem for the road
clearing crews. “Sometimes the snowdrifts
last only a day, but when they happen, it’s
Paderborn Roads and Bridges Building Authority, Road Maintenance Department
Operation:
41 employees; within the town of Paderborn (population 140,000) approx. 500 km local roads and
350 km side roads; high proportion of green/landscaped areas, unscheduled winter services
Vehicles:
7 Unimogs: U 1500 (1982), U 1250 (1987), U 1650 (1988), U 1600 (1990), U 1600 (1993), U 1600 (1999),
U 400 (2004); also a UX 100 (2000)
Implements etc.:
Several Schmidt automatic speaders, 2 Schmidt inter-axle sweepers, 2 Mulag mowers, 1 Schaeff excavator,
1 Hiab loading crane
4
Unimog 1|2005
with a vengeance,” says the head of operations, Andreas Gorecki. The winter sometimes puts in an unexpected appearance
even at relatively mild times of year, when
the staff are getting ready to cut the trees
and hedges or the road verges. Since the arrival of the U 400 and the Mulag FME 600
front-mounted mower, Gorecki has the ideal
solution at hand: he attaches the Mulag
mower together with the Schmidt Stratos
spreader. He cannot use anything smaller,
but the U 400 accepts a maximum front-axle
load of 6,700 kilograms, equivalent to a net
weight of almost 3,000 kg over the front
axle. The 1,000 kg Mulag front-end mower is
nominally not heavy enough to fully stress
the front axle, but the mower’s boom
extends well out to the front and this puts
extra weight on the axle. The spreader on
the platform provides useful ballast. Previous mowers occupied space on the platform
Communal duties
Bielefeld Municipal Environmental Services
rtment
Operation:
Responsible for maintenance and signage in the
town of Bielefeld (population 320,000), 86
employees. Street cleaning: 64 employees. 1,250km
urban and district roads, 334km cycle paths
Vehicles:
9 Unimogs, including 2 x U 400; 60 vehicles in
total.
60 spreaders (from Schmidt and others), a tunnel
washer, three reflector post washers (all Mulag)
and two mowers (incl. one Dücker)
BIELEFELD
as well. Not only that: the mower attachments took two people four hours to fit and
remove. Now, all they do is attach the boom
to a fixed mount on the automatic spreader
and “combined” operations are ready to
start.
Section manager François Cordie, who often sits behind the wheel himself, tells how
they frequently have to tackle black ice at
daybreak, yet by mid-morning will be cutting trees and hedges. The combined unit is
now tried and tested. The impressive boom
length means that it can reach up to four meters in height. One-person operation - thanks
to the swap steering – high travel speeds, a
comfortable driving environment (with EPS
gear shift system) and high load capacity
have made the U 400 indispensable.
François Cordie is the Unimog expert in the
Roads and Bridges department. He knows all
seven of his Unimogs inside out and is delighted with the latest arrival.
Major power at the front end:
U 400 with Dücker UNA 600 boom (large photo)
Perfectly at home amid the high technology: driver
Dirk Beermann
Advertisement
From Road to Rail – and back – in no time.
Extremely flexible, powerful and economical.
ZWEIWEG takes the scope of the Unimog to a new dimension.
More than 3000 vehicles sold in over 64 countries around the
globe are a sign of relentless efforts paired with an exceptional
concept. This is what our customers rely upon. A customized,
perfect solution individually tailored to their demands.
ZWEIWEG – a perfect solution!
We are an implement partner of
DaimlerChrysler as well as Q1-supplier
of the German Federal Railways (DBAG)
ZWEIWEG Schneider GmbH & Co. KG · Postfach 60 · D-42791 Leichlingen
Phone +49 / 21 74 / 79 09-5 · Fax +49 / 21 74 / 79 09-70 · info@zweiweg.de · www.zweiweg.com
Unimog 1|2005 5
Communal duties
Gütersloh District , Civil Engineering/Road
Maintenance/Materials Depot
Operation:
30 employees, Wiedenbrück central materials depot
and Halle sub-depot in the regional district of
Gütersloh (population 280,000 excl. Gütersloh),
313km roads, 151km cycle paths, 70% landscaping
work, 20% drainage work, 10% snow clearing and
gritting
Vehicles:
The fleet includes 3 Unimogs (U 1000, U 300,
U 400), 1 Mercedes Atego 1323 truck, 1 Mercedes
1722 truck, 1 Mercedes PL 609 truck, 2 Mercedes
Sprinters and 1 Mercedes Sprinter mobile workshop
G Ü T E R S LO H
Implements:
Includes 2 Dücker mowers and 1 verge cutter,
2 Schmidt towed spreaders
Bielefeld. The depot in Bielefeld, part of
the town of Bielefeld’s environmental services department, uses the same basic vehicle
for road cleaning, but with a different combination of attachments. A U 400 also operates in one of the four depots. In winter, it is
out and about with Schmidt automatic
spreaders. It maintains green spaces and
carries out maintenance work using the
Dücker ANA 600 mowing combination,
which leaves its platform free for the collection of woodcuttings or mown grass. The
“tonnage” of the U 400 is a trump card here.
The boom and mower attachment, which
weighs 1,300 kilograms, can be swivelled to
the side. A torsion frame on the mower compensates for sideways tilt when the mower is
over a verge. The arm can be retracted to the
side for transportation purposes. 1,300 kilograms of ballast are required at the rear to
keep the vehicle level.
Driver Dirk Beermann is a real fan of the
Unimog. His favourite feature is its hydrostatic transmission, which makes tree trimming and mowing much more efficient. The
Bielefeld depot aims to carry out the maintenance of green spaces as infrequently but
also as effectively as possible.
Gütersloh. The team at the Wiedenbrück
depot in the Gütersloh district has its own
solution to the unexpected reappearance of
winter. It attaches a Schmidt spreader trailer
(a relatively rare sight nowadays) to the Unimog that is normally used for green area
maintenance. Apart from major asphalt-laying projects, the depot performs every task
in-house - including complex road marking.
The operational goal is the efficient deployment of resources. The depot is moving
6
Unimog 1|2005
An impressive line-up: Unimog with verge cutter and
trailer (large photo)
Bright idea: a retractable rotating beacon made by the
department's own workshop (centre photos)
Klaus Raschke operating an implement carrier (left)
Taking care of every detail: mechanic Christian Stüker,
depot manager Georg Stiens, head of road maintenance
Dipl.-Ing. Markus Schwarze and head of administration
Hans-Joachim Schwolow ( photo above, l. to r.)
towards one-person operation using the best
possible equipment, and plans to reduce its
30-person workforce by six, without any layoffs, by 2010. Markus Schwarze from the
civil engineering department, who is responsible for road maintenance, calculates
that the work of the three Unimogs (a U 400,
a U 300 and a U 1000) is divided into 70 percent green area maintenance, 20 percent
drainage work (streams and roadside
ditches) and ten percent winter road clearing. The Unimog’s ease of maintenance is an
important selling point for Hans-Joachim
Schwolow, head of administration, when it
comes to convincing the decision-making
committees. Additional benefits are the technical features such as the power hydraulics,
the Hydrostat and the VarioPilot® swap
steering system.
Handling and maintaining the vehicles
and equipment with great care is even more
important to the team than strict cost monitoring. The people working with Georg
Steins, the head of the district depot, could
perhaps be described as ‘technology freaks’.
The team from Gütersloh is well known to
the implement manufacturers as being particularly knowledgeable and eager to learn.
Driver Klaus Raschke is proud to have
driven one of the very first U 300s to leave
the factory. An idea developed at the depot
has also made Unimog history: because the
U 400 would not fit through the door of the
sub-depot, the Unimog specialists designed
a rotating beacon that is retracted by compressed air. This design has been copied several times by other operators.
■
An office in an Unimog
Günter Frensing is one of those hard-working self-employed businessmen
who refuse to subscribe to the illusory “Me, Inc.” philosophy. As a service
provider, he is on standby and reachable at all times - even for seemingly
unpleasant jobs such as transporting sewage waste or building septic tanks.
F
or twelve years, Günter Frensing (photo)
has been on the road on behalf of the
towns of Gütersloh, Halle, Borgholzhausen,
Werther and Steinhagen, drawing off sewage
from septic tanks and transporting it to
treatment plants. But his business is not
limited to the transportation of sewage; he
also installs septic tanks. He therefore owns
an Unimog which he uses for a variety of
tasks, an excavator, two low-loaders and
other equipment.
It says much about Frensing’s approach to
his work that he has installed an office in his
Unimog. “I’m on the road all day in the
Unimog, but people can always reach me on
my mobile phone. I can arrange meetings
and organize my paperwork without leaving
the vehicle,” he says proudly, pointing to the
installation on the centre console, which he
made himself.
Günter Frensing has had his U 400 for
a year now and is delighted with it. The 280hp engine pulls the 14,000 litre tank on the
tandem-axle trailer with ease and the power
hydraulics with PTO are indispensable every
“The U 400 is my fourth
successive Unimog. I am
totally satisfied with this
implement carrier. It's
manoeuvrability and
productivity are
unbeatable.”
time he empties a septic tank. “I can fill the
tank in six minutes,” says Frensing. With
the Leistikow septic tank flushing-out unit at
the front and the trailer and hose reel at the
back, the Unimog has an overall length of
15.5 metres. The tractor unit also carries a
2,000-litre water tank for the flushing-out
routine needed after each emptying. The total weight of this highly professional rig is
29 tons. “I have toyed with the idea of buying a truck, but it would be at a disadvantage
compared with the Unimog, not only from
the weight aspect; there would also be a
problem with the vehicle’s length.”
■
The Unimog and tandemaxle trailer in action (top)
View of the “mobile office”
through the driver's door
(upper centre)
The Leistikow drain flushing
unit completes the rig (lower
centre)
PTO shaft for the tank pump
(yellow) next to the hydraulic
cylinder for the forcedsteered rear axle
An impressive rig, 15.5
metres long with a total
weight of 29 metric tons
(left)
Unimog 1|2005 7
Communal duties
Building in progress:
working on the beach is
part of everyday life on
Norderney
Working in the North Sea
Although the U 300, U 400 and U 500 implement carriers normally work on roads and highways,
the Unimog surely enjoys having the sand beneath its wheels on the island of Norderney.
T
he recently delivered U 300 is the first
model fitted with the Telligent gearbox
to be used off the road. It is therefore being
closely observed by main dealer Schelling
Nutzfahrzeuge GmbH in Wardenburg near
Oldenbug as well as by the vehicle designers
in Wörth. Information on customers’ practical experience is always welcome, and so far
the experience on Norderney has been very
positive. The drivers appreciate the gearbox
and are impressed with the machine’s low
noise levels, the windscreen heater (an optional extra), the heated seats and the driver’s seat.
Municipal work on the island is different
in some ways from normal conditions. The
Unimog is used more as a transport vehicle
than an implement carrier. The technical
services department is often called to the
beach. Sand that has been washed or blown
away has to be replaced, which means transporting it from one end of the island to the
other. Pathways also have to be cleared, playing area equipment maintained, minor
building work undertaken and the beach
chairs put into storage for the winter. Major
preparations have to be made for large-scale
events such as the beach volleyball competition or the White Sand surfing championships. Beach cleaning is still carried out
manually, but discussions are taking place
8
Unimog 1|2005
Norderney Technical Services
Public service company operated by the town of
Norderney, formed through the amalgamation of its
municipal and spa administration
Tasks:
Beach logistics, maintenance of green areals and
roads, maintenance of municipal buildings
Employees: 55
Vehicles and implements include:
1 Unimog U 300, 1 Unimog U 1300 L,
1 Unimog U 406, 2 road-sweepers
(Mercedes-Benz with Bucher-Schörling and
Schmidt), 2 snowploughs (Schmidt),
1 automatic spreader (Schmidt).
on acquiring a special beach-cleaning machine. The vegetation on the dunes has to be
looked after.
On the other hand, there is relatively little
demand for snow clearing and gritting. Ice
can form on the roads, however, which is
why the technical services department
keeps winter equipment at its depot.
There are four Unimogs garaged in the
workshop building. Beside the U 300 and
U 1300, built in 1985, and the latter’s astonishing mileage shows how busy they are on
Norderney. So far, it has covered 202,000
kilometres on the island and will soon be
coming up for replacement. Then there is a
U 406, built in 1980 - almost a classic - and
a U 421 from 1968, which is only used in an
emergency.
Oddly enough, Norderney has quite a
large population of Unimogs. No less than
ten are operated by the technical services
department, the fire brigade (U 1550),
coastal protection (U 1400) and two transport companies, which operate Unimogs as
tractor units with an elevating platform
body.
A different profile demanded in Aurich
In the Aurich district roads department , a
57-person team looks after roads, pathways,
bridges and a special region located at exactly sea level – drainage ditches. The winter
here is rather mild. “We benefit from the
warmth of the North Sea,” says Karl-Heinz
Kasten, the experienced public service officer who heads the department. But just in
case, winter equipment is on hand to deal
with the black ice that can sometimes appear on the roads. The fact that there are no
hills, and that the team is not responsible for
the ramps to the dykes, reduces the volume
of winter service activity.
Other tasks normally have higher priority.
400 kilometres of district roads have to be
maintained, together with 220 kilometres of
cycle paths, 300 kilometres of cycling trails,
75 bridges and nearly 1,000 bus stops. The
department has two U 300s and an U 140 at
its disposal. Karl-Heinz Kasten does not normally use automatic implements when pruning trees, due to the fact that he prefers to do
the work by hand. “Call me a friend of the
trees”, he says. A large number of drainage
ditches, including 90 kilometres that are inspected twice a year, help to maintain the region’s ground-water balance. This is particu-
The Aurich district roads department
Tasks:
400 km of road maintenance, 520 km cycle paths,
75 bridges, approximately 1,000 bus stops, 90 km
of drainage ditches and other ditches.
Employees: 57
Vehicles and implements including:
2 Unimog U 300, 1 Unimog U 140, 4 MercedesBenz trucks (3 Atego, 1 SK), several spreaders
snowplough, cycle path spreader, Mulag mower.
The mower door proves its
worth: maintenance work
with the U 300
larly important, as some parts are below sea
level.
The ditches must be kept free-flowing,
pipes beneath the paths and roads have to be
renewed, and the plants on the verges must
not be allowed to get out of hand.
The roads department has always
provided sterling service to the district of
Aurich. A recent study by an independent
auditing company gave Karl-Heinz Kasten
and his staff an excellent report. Their experience and flexibility achieve positive results. This also shows up in their budgeting
and in the way they procure their vehicles.
They chose to lease their latest acquisition,
an Unimog U 300, to avoid any strain on
their budget during the year. As a result of a
changed requirement profile, an older
leased vehicle was replaced by the Unimog
implement carrier early than originally
planned .“If we wish to remain competitive,
we must be flexible and use the latest technology,” declares Karl-Heinz Kasten.
■
Advertisement
Unimog 1|2005 9
Road-rail use
From tracklaying to service
As a single-source supplier and system integrator to the rail industry,
the Transportation Systems (TS) division from Siemens has relied on the
Unimog for many years. The road-rail versions are an important asset on
construction projects such as rail electrification and also for maintenance
tasks.
I
t was a wonderful Sunday morning
in spring when the building team led by
site manager Stefan Brauckmann put two
Unimogs (U 400 and U 1650) with Ruthmann elevating work platform systems on
the rail track. Maintenance work awaited
them on the multitrack gantries of the newly
built Cologne to Aachen line, for which the
overhead power-supply masts and overhead
wiring had been installed by TS. The crew
and the vehicles are from the TS North German Electrification System business unit in
Langenhagen near Hanover, the southern
German counterpart of which is based in
Forcheim, near Bamberg.The work took
several hours, since it had to be carried out
while the trains were operating. From
regional services to the Thalys high-speed
train (Paris-Brussels-Cologne), these were
all redirected to a secondary track between
Kerpen and Sindorf. Although the team’s
main job was “merely” to repaint the multitrack gantries, this relatively minor work
10 Unimog 1|2005
therefore had a major impact on operating
schedules. The Paul company from Passau
lengthened the U 400’s wheelbase to
4,200 mm (standard length 3,600 mm) and
increased the rear overhang to 1,500 mm.
This was necessary to get the Ruthmann
‘Steiger’ elevating unit with its T 170
telescopic work platform, 17 m working
height and 11.5 m lateral reach to fit the
chassis. Thanks to its track guiding system,
the resulting road-rail vehicle is able to
negotiate the tightest of curves despite its
longer wheelbase.
The German Railway has registered the
unit as a ‘small car’, despite its gross weight
of nearly 11 tons. It is equipped with extras
and safety features such as a signal light
system and a deadman’s brake handle. With
the built-in traction control from ZweiwegSchneider, the vehicle can be repositioned
on the track from the man basket. This saves
a great deal of time and improves flexibility
when working on busy railway tracks.
■
Pictures of the road-/rail Unimog operated by a team
from Siemens Transportation Systems on the newly
opened line from Cologne to Aachen.
The Unimog also played
an active part in
preparations for the
Austrian National Show
(left)
Customers
countrywide
“Customers countrywide”
There are obvious parallels between the product and its customers.
The Unimog’s versatility is matched by the sheer range of customers
operating it in Austria.
A
nother significant feature of the market
in Austria, the “Alpine Republic”:
Unimogs are being operated in each of its
Federal States. Anton Bucek, Unimog Sales
Manager at Pappas Automobil AG, a Pappas
Group company, has made a big contribution
to this development in the past 20 years.
This experienced sales manager, born in
Vienna and now resident in Salzburg, knows
his customers in every region. To offer the
optimum in customer service he has steadily
built up a sales team with local bases in each
sales region who can service every Unimog
sector: from communal duties, industrial
operations, contracting work all the way to
maintenance work in the energy sector.
From over 8,000 Unimogs sold in Austria to
date, over 5000 units are still in operation.
All of the country’s 2,700 local authorities
are acquainted with the Unimog, and at least
70 to 80 percent of them are on the current
customer list, which includes all the state,
Federal road-network and ‘Autobahn’ highway maintenance authorities. After several
years of discussions, it has also proved possible to convince the purchasing officials for
the Austrian Army and Defence Minister
Günther Platter of the Unimog’s quality and
remarkable versatility. In the near future,
268 extreme off-road Unimog U 4000s are to
be delivered. To suit specific requirements,
the Austrian vehicle special body construction company Empl in Kaltenbach has developed a swap body system for installation on
the Unimog chassis. The vehicles will
mainly be used to carry personnel and goods
Anton Bucek, the Pappas Group’s Unimog Sales Manager
in the course of the Austrian Army’s national and international duties, including
UN and EU peace-keeping missions.
A family company established more than
50 years ago in Salzburg, the Pappas Group
has over 2,000 employees in Austria and
Hungary, where it sells more than 20,000
cars and trucks of the Mercedes-Benz,
Chrysler and smart annually.
■
Joint testing
G
erman and Austrian experts held
product innovation winter-service testing (photo at right) for the Unimog U 300 U 500 implement carriers in Tyrol at the end
of March. Unimog salesmen from Georg
Pappas Automobil AG and a development
team from Product Unit Unimog/Special
Trucks from the Wörth plant took part
in this special event. In charge of this event
were Anton Bucek, Austrian Unimog Sales
Manager, and Dipl.-Ing. Walter Eisele,
Unimog and Econic Production and Design
Manager. Possible further developments of
the two Unimog product lines for customers
in these Alpine regions were discussed.
The pleased expressions in the concluding
photo confirms that the event was a success!
■
Unimog 1|2005 11
Where centimetres count
Only a few tasks can present such technical and logistic problems like the
disposal of garbage from the Alpine city of Innsbruck with its Winter
Olympics tradition, but the IKB communal services department has solved
them ideally with an U 500 Unimog.
T
he approach to the Richardsweg residential area in the north of Innsbruck is
quite a challenge: the roads are no more
than 3.5 metres wide, car owners park in
every available space just as they do in other
cities – and there are also signs to indicate
gradients as steep as 30 %. Thomas Brindlinger, who manages the IKB refuse collecting fleet, none the less keeps calm, because
he knows what the Unimog is capable of,
especially with his own skilled hands at the
controls.
The U 500, with its 15 t gross weight and
5.4 t payload, has air suspension and can
therefore be lowered from its regular height
of 3,280 mm with refuse-collecting body to
3.180 mm when headroom is scarce. It can
then be driven under the bridge carrying the
Northern funicular railway that runs up the
Hafelekar mountain (2,334 metres high) –
one of Innsbruck’s main tourist attractions.
The Innsbruck Communal Services Unimog U 500 is
able to pass under the ‘Nordkettenbahn’ funicular
railway bridge thanks to its air suspension
Thomas Brindlinger, IKB Refuse
Collecting Fleet Manager
In a city with altitudes between 400 and
1,300 metres above sea level, refuse collection certainly isn’t easy, but the U 500 is out
there day by day, coping brilliantly with the
steep gradients, narrow roads and deceptively sharp corners, where every centimetre
counts and its manoeuvrability is a decisive
advantage. Innsbruck’s central refuse depot
operates 11 Unimogs, but for its refuse collection tasks the U 500 in this configuration
is definitely the show-stealer.
■
Alpine pass specialist
I
n Vorarlberg, Austria’s smallest Federal State, winter road services are
usually needed from mid-September to
mid-May. Critical trunk road sections
are the Arlberg Pass (1,793 m above sea
level), the Flexen Pass gallery and the
road between Lech and Warth, normally
re-opened for Pentecost each year.
To cope with these difficult conditions,
the Vorarlberg state authorities have
purchased an U 500 with additional
rear-wheel steering to make it even
more manoeuvrable on narrow roads.
Equipped with a 2.5-metre wide
Schmidt snow cutter, this vehicle has
already demonstrated its capabilities on
many occasions.
■
12 Unimog 1|2005
“The only vehicle that could
outperform our U 500 would be
a similar one with
AutomaticShift! It would be
almost unbeatable in these
topographical conditions.”
Rescue concept
put into practice
Customers
countrywide
Together with its State association, the fire service in Rankweil
(Vorarlberg, Austria) has compiled a special implement design for rescue
work. The key element is an Unimog U 500.
R
The ‘heavy setting-up vehicle’ (SRF) (top) is based on
an U 500 with the necessary equipment. Josef
Schwarzmann, Group Commander of the Rankweil
Fire Service, is seen at the right of the lower picture
ankweil is a town with a population
of 12,000, and the base for auxiliary
firefighting services for a large region
around Feldkirch. Last year, equipment
renewal was on the agenda, and a technical
rescue concept was thus drawn up in cooperation with the Vorarlberg State fire services
association, taking into account the extensive experience gained in previous years
and changed working requirements. The key
element in the concept is a heavy implement
vehicle (SRF), based on a 280 hp U 500;
it carries an 18 tonne metre Palfinger
PK 23002 radio-controlled crane, a 5-tonne
cable winch and four mobile equipment con-
tainers. Josef Schwarzmann, regional director responsible for firefighting technology,
explains: “The Unimog U 500 was the
vehicle that satisfied all our needs; all its
dimensions suited the firefighting
equipment perfectly.”
The U 500 has been in operation since
January this year. Schwarzmann has already
confirmed what the ‘Unimog experience’
means: “While performing a rearch and
rescue operation in deep snow, with snow
chains on all wheels, the Unimog was far
superior to all the other all-wheel-drive vehicles, which simply couldn’t cope with these
conditions.”
■
CHAINS ATTRACTION
Advertisement
RUD-profi
PROFILGREIFSTEG
For difficult and deep terrain
in woods or snow
RUD-profi
SUPERGREIFSTEG
Powerful traction on packed-down, smooth
snow and bare ice
R!
SELLE
T
S
E
THE B
RUD-Kettenfabrik Rieger & Dietz GmbH u. Co. D-73428 Aalen
Phone +49 (0 ) 73 61 / 504-0 GL@rud.de www.rud.com
●
●
●
●
RUD is an official supplier of the German national
ski teams Alpine, Biathlon and Nordic.
Unimog 1|2005 13
“A new dimension”
Responsibility for more than 120 Unimog implement carriers and the road
maintenance tasks they perform in the Lower Austria region qualifies
Ing. Franz-Peter Kremser to pass judgement on these products and their
performance.
S
t. Pölten, a town 66 km from the
Austrian capital of Vienna, has been
since 1986 the extremely active government
and administration of the Federal State of
Lower Austria. This is where we interviewed
Franz-Peter Kremser from the road maintenance department, who is responsible for
purchasing and upkeeping of tractors, loadcarrying vehicles and the equipment needed
for summer and winter road machinery.
“Mr. Kremser, as a qualified engineer you
have been familiar with the Unimog for
30 years now. How do you rate the latest
U 300 - U 500 implement carriers?”
“Speaking as an operator, I have been
most impressed by the way the product has
been steadily developed in past years.
By 1999, the heavy-duty models were fully
developed and easy to repair. The U 300 U 500 product line takes us into a new and
technically advanced dimension. Naturally,
it takes trained staff to get the best out of
these vehicles. The level is simply higher in
every respect.”
“Which aspects of your cooperation with the
Unimog are important?“
“Above all, I value the continuous
improvement process that the manufacturer
DaimlerChrysler undertakes, and which of
course involves our sales and service associate, Georg Pappas AG. It’s also important for
us to be in regular contact with them to dis-
“There’s no other comparable vehicle that
performs all the tasks the Unimog can tackle”,
declares Ing. Franz-Peter Kremser (centre), from
the Lower Austria regional authority, road
machinery and equipment department
cuss suggestions and exchange know-how.”
“What would you say was the Unimog’s
chief advantage?”
“The fact that it can be used all-yeararound! The Unimog is the classic answer
for other tasks as well, not just winter road
service. In the summer our road maintenance staff have a variety of jobs to perform:
mowing, cutting back trees, road sweeping,
cleaning out gullies and so on. Without
these powerful implement carriers we would
never be able to maintain such a high level
of road safety.”
■
In partnership with Lower Austria
A
ll the Pappas Group’s Unimog demonstrators and test vehicles are advertising the Lower Austrian state show (May 5 to
November 1) being held in Kleinwetzdorf at
the foot of the Heldenberg. State President
Dr. Erwin Pröll launched this campaign
Tailor-made
T
hanks to the work of its commander, Brandrat
Martin Geiger, the town of Baden-Weikersdorf
in Lower Austria has an effective, well-organised
fire service. The first Unimog U 5000 to be delivered to Austria has now gone into action there.
Martin Geiger comments on this decision: “We
have extensive areas of forest to protect, and the
all-terrain Unimog gets us closer to where the fire
has broken out.” Especially tailored for forest fires
and flood rescue work, the U 5000 (right) has a
crew cab, an rear-mounted gearbox with workingspeed ratios, a hydraulic system and a raised air
inlet pipe for a fording depth of up to 1.2 metres.
■
14 Unimog 1|2005
early in March (left in photo). The initiative
came from Anton Bucek, Unimog Sales Manager for Austria (right in photo), who is
playing a big part in making the show better
known throughout Austria.
■
Four partners and a strong OMV train
A
t OMV AG in Vienna-Schwechat, the
largest company with a stock-exchange
quote in Austria and the leading mineral-oil
and natural-gas corporation in Central
Europe, have requested a road-rail U 400 for
firefighting purposes. The four partners
involved in this project were OMV, Pappas,
Unimog System Partner Zwiehoff-Zagro and
the Austrian vehicle body constructor Empl
from Kaltenbach, Tyrol. Among its outstanding features, compared with similar
vehicles, is a video reversing system (centre
and right above) with a flat screen, used to
observe the front and rear axles when mounting onto the rails. A rail-vehicle brake
system for 400 t/24 axles is also installed.
To satisfy stringent safety requirements in
the mineral oil industry, the extra equipment includes explosion-proof zone II flameproofing with an exhaust spark trap and a
fully-integrated safety control system for the
rail travel mode. Erwin Seitz, fire service
Customers
countrywide
manager at OMV in Vienna-Schwechat,
has been operating the U 400 for a year now,
and says: “Road-rail trucks are nowhere near
as efficient as the Unimogs, which have
proven to be excellent shunters at our
delivery depot in St. Valentin.”
■
Advertisement
HIGH AND LOW PRESSURE TECHNOLOGY
FOR THE NEW UNIMOG U 300 / U 400 / U 500
MODEL SERIES
Our range of products for the Unimog:
✻ Universal high pressure cleaning
equipment for front and rear installation
✻ High-pressure surface cleaning
equipment, also combined with front-end
sweepers
✻ High-pressure drain cleaning equipment
for mounting on the platform subframe
✻ Suction and rinsing containers with a
total capacity of up to 7,000 litres
✻ Municipal sludge suction vehicles with a
total capacity of up to 8,000 litres
✻ Water containers of up to 7,000 l
✻ Special superstructures upon request
(e.g. low pressure equipment, watering
arms, hot water devices)
Joachim Leistikow GmbH
Altkönigstraße 2
D-61138 Niederdorfelden
Tel. (0) 6101 / 5364-0
Fax. (0) 6101 / 33461
Internet: http://www.leistikow-gmbh.de
E-Mail: Vertrieb@leistikow-gmbh.de
Events
A ‘casual interview’ in the showroom of the Wörth
truck factory, with detailed reports from the rally
drivers and the winning vehicle as a backdrop
Defying the 1,000-hp giants
Motor sport and Daimler-Benz, now DaimlerChrysler, are linked by a
history as long as the automobile, and just as successful. Unimog is
adding to this tradition with its rally successes.
T
op racing drivers such as Juan Manuel
Fangio, Karl Kling, Stirling Moss or Hans
Herrmann are legendary names and heroes.
Today the motor sport is a financial gamble
measured in millions, with victories extremely difficult to achieve. It’s impressive
none the less to see how Unimog enthusiasts
invest their hard-earned money in purchasing a standard production vehicle, challenging rivals developing up to 1,000 horsepower – and gaining a place among the
leaders at the end of the day.
Visitors to the Wörth plant on March 1st
were the members of the Giacomo Vismara
racing and service team, which has entered
the Dakar Rally more than sixty times in all.
They brought with them their U 400,
bearing its start number 503, which secured
an outstanding third place in the rally’s
truck category. This year’s event set out for
the first time from the Spanish city of Barcelona. The legendary Paris-Dakar Rally was
first organised by the Frenchman Thierry
Sabine in 1978; since then, Mercedes-Benz
trucks have won their category on several
occasions. A few weeks after this year’s
event, PBS Executive Sales Manager,
Joachim Maier, was able to welcome the
successful Unimog team from Italy to
Europe’s largest truck production plant in
Wörth, in the Rhineland Palatinate region of
Germany.
The third place overall obtained by
Giacomo Vismara and his crew colleagues
Bellina and Cambiaghi is all the more impressive when their vehicle is compared
with the other contenders. Trucks from
Wörth did particularly well in the 2005
event: the 35 finishers after 10,000 arduous
kilometres included eight Unimogs and four
trucks.
The victorious vehicle posed in full rally
trim for its admirers in front of the Wörth
factory cafeteria, and the Vismara team willingly answered questions, the most frequent of which was: “Was this production
vehicle specially customised or prepared for
the rally?” The answer was most surprising
for the average observer: apart from extralarge headlights and the addition of roll bars,
as called for in the regulations, and a tyre
pressure control system, no further ‘extras’
were fitted. Giacomo Vismara’s comment:
“On tricky camel-grass surfaces, steppe or
desert sand, asphalt or deep mud, the
Unimog is simply perfect!” In rally trim, the
weight was 6.8 metric tons and the top speed
about 137 km/h; this year, for the first time,
the organisers imposed a maximum speed
limit of 150 km/h on the trucks.
The climax of the Vismara team’s visit to
Wörth was a ‘casual interview’ held late in
the afternoon in the PBS-Showroom. The seven
rally aces from Italy and Unimog demonstrator Jörg Schiebenes described their
experiences with the Unimog ‘during the
Dakar’. Ex- DTM - Deutsche Tourenwagen
Masters (German Tour Car Masters) racing
driver Ellen Lohr chaired the get-together,
and Martin Daum, PBS Director an enthusiastic Unimog off-road driver himself, summed up the stimulating two-hour session as
follows: “Every moment of your rally description was full of excitement, and I’m sure
that all of us who were privileged to listen
have now been ‘bitten by the rally bug’!” ■
Martin Daum, Head of Special Trucks, thanked
Giacomo Vismara (left picture, with microphone) for
his highly interesting report on the Dakar Rally
16 Unimog 1|2005
Events
Unimog and implements – a great team
There were so many trucks and
implement carriers at the IFAT
exhibition in Munich (April 25 to
29) that it almost resembled a
commercial-vehicle show! In fact the
exhibition deals with all areas of
water, drainage, waste disposal and
recycling.
T
hree work-units from the U 300 – U 500
production line occupied the left half of
the Mercedes-Benz exhibit, which included
ample presentation areas for the Econic and
various other basic models from Sprinter to
Actros. More than 100,000 visitors were confronted by the eye-catching Unimog implement carriers during this exhibition.
The implement combinations designed
for multiple purposes clearly merited a
closer examination. The U 300 had ‘Dual
Use’ implements and also an unusual fea-
ture that was seen for the first time at this
show: a shorter 2,800 mm wheelbase for
even greater manoeuvrability. Unimog System Partner also use the IFAT as an
opportunity to display the latest innovations
from their production programme. Mulag,
for example, has developed a mower that
can, in almost every situation, reach grass
surfaces behind roadside posts and crash
barrier mountings. Schmidt has added still
further to the value of its ‘Road Repair
Patcher’ – for localised repairs to asphalt
surfaces in a single operation – by offering
a swap-body version for the Unimog.
A broad spectrum of expert visitors, from
office employees to drivers, showe great
interest in the ISOBUS demonstration
terminal - which was developed in cooperation with the Unimog System Partners
to unify the overview all implements on one
screen. This innovation will be available
for all implements starting from the 2nd
quarter of 2006 onwards.
■
Unimogs and its implements were a source of keen
interest at the IFAT in Munich
New Unimogs haul up the cables for National Grid
Ten new Mercedes-Benz Unimog
U 300s, equipped with powerful
winches for ‘stringing’ power cables
and handling conductors and
insulators, have been delivered to
National Grid Transco.
T
hese powerful, compact all-terrain implement carriers are able to access the most
difficult and remote off-road sites and drive
the 6-tonne capstan winches using hydraulic
power take-off direct from the Unimogs’
Euro 3 diesel engines.
A rear-fitted anchor ‘plough’ system and,
if required, forward mounted anchor fittings, allow the winch to create the right tension to ‘string’ cables between overhead powerline pylons. The winch also enables
conductors and insulators to be lowered or
raised on even the highest pylons – up to
100 metres. Geoff Parkinson, Overhead Line
Engineer, says that the key reasons for choosing Unimogs are not only their off-road, allterrain ability, but just as importantly, their
on-road speeds. In addition, the change in
cable tension requirements means that a
6-tonne winch is needed instead of the
previous 4-tonne winch.
We have Report Centres all over the country where the Unimogs are based, and they
have to cover a wide area. If there is an emergency we need to get to the working site
quickly, and that means the Unimogs’ ability
to travel at normal commercial vehicle
on-road speeds is vital. The Unimog, because
of its compact size, can then access the pylon off road, across fields or rough ground
and almost immediately operate the winch.
“If there is a big storm and severe damage
we may have to assess the situation using a
helicopter, but as soon as the damage has
been recorded we can send in the Unimogs,
confident that they will reach the site and
carry out the repair,” he said. Each of the
10 Unimog U 300s has been fitted with a
6-tonne Plumett capstan winch, supplied
and mounted direct to the chassis, by Winch
Systems, of Hull, who designed the winch
system to meet the unique specification
required by National Grid. The winch project
and provision of exact specifications for the
Unimog-based package was led by Geoff
Parkinson, Nick Gallop, Dave Oliver and the
manager, Steve Tinker.
■
Four of the new Mercedes-Benz Unimog U300s – part
of a fleet of ten new Unimogs – that are being used by
the National Grid throughout the UK. Each is fitted
with a 6-tonne capstan winch
Unimog 1|2005 17
Life-saver in the
Scottish Highlands
The Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland (an organisation similar to
those that operate in the Alps) has purchased a U 300 equipped with the
Successful rescue unit in Scotland: the Unimog U 300
with a Royal Air Force helicopter
T
he original idea behind this purchase
was to have a vehicle capable of
searching for and rescuing missing persons
in remote areas. High all-terrain capability
was needed, with the ability to carry a body
containing communication equipment,
including satellite-based position-finding –
and of course with a large enough work area
for the rescue team. The committee’s
responsible spokesperson explains: “We
chose a well-proven all-terrain vehicle that
latest communication systems.
could carry our high-value communication
gear safely, which is narrow enough to drive
through all the available access roads.” He
adds: “I’m very pleased with the Unimog;
it embodies a hundred years of our own
mountain rescue experience in a new, highperformance design.”
The new unit has already passed its first
test: rescuing two walkers lost in the Pentland Hills not far from Edinburgh. Ian Rideout from the Rescue Committee comments:
“Searching this part of the Highlands is very
difficult because of the many sharp bends,
the steep valleys and gorges. The Unimog
mastered all these difficulties admirably and
helped the team most effectively during this
rescue operation.”
■
U 500 with rear-end crane and 28-t trailer load rating:
a powerful unit for a single-person operation
‘Forestal Tractor’ with advanced
technical features
A 230-horsepower U 500 with EPS gear shift and crane superstructure – a
highly capable unit for efficient one-person performance of a variety of
tasks.
P
eter Suter, of Solothurn in north-west
Switzerland, has been trading in timber
and animal feed for nearly 20 years. In order
to remain competitive with his small-scale
business operations, he has now invested in
18 Unimog 1|2005
a new transport vehicle with the aim
of achieving a measurable improvement in
availability and performance. For his requirements, a rear-end crane was needed, and
also the ability to tow trailers from 10 to
28 tons in off-road conditions. The Unimog
U 500 chassis with a 230 hp engine, wide
track and heavy-duty suspension was clearly
ideal for these tough tasks in the forest and
for moving timber along rough unfortified
trails. Apart from the increase in performance, Peter Suter was impressed by the
spacious cab, the permanent all-wheel drive,
the air brakes with ABS for towing vehicle
and trailer, the power hydraulics with PTO
for the crane pump and in particular by the
EPS electronic-shift converter transmission.
Although this Unimog boasts of so many
fine technical features, it is only licensed as
a ‘forestal tractor’. This is due to the fact that
the customer ordered an Unimog which
is limited to maximum speed of 33 km/h.
In view of this low top speed, no heavyvehicle levy is payable for the trailer,
although it can have a gross weight of up to
28 tons. After only four months the U 500
had already completed 13,000 km and
730 operating hours. This extrapolates to
40,000 km and about 2,200 operating
hours annually – a level of efficiency that
should more or less guarantee a good return
on this investment.
■
International
Survival in safety
By donating two Unimogs to the German World
Famine Aid organisation, DaimlerChrysler is
promoting humanitarian activities worldwide.
T
he true value of these vehicles can be
seen from their use by the German Technical Aid Organisation (THW) on the island
of Simeulue, off Sumatra. At the handingover ceremony for the two Unimogs, Ingeborg Schäuble, who chairs the German
World Famine Aid (‘Welthungerhilfe’) organisation, explained how it was intended to
operate them: “With these vehicles we shall
distribute vital materials to areas that we
could not access until now. I wish to thank
DaimlerChrysler AG for its support.” The
Unimogs will mainly be used in the Banda
Aceh region of Sumatra, which was hit particularly hard by the recent tsunami. They
will carry and distribute tents, drinking
water and medical equipment. Dr. Michael
Inacker, DaimlerChrysler AG’s Political and
External Affairs Manager, took the opportu-
Ingeborg Schäuble,
Chairperson of the
‘Deutsche Welthungerhilfe’
(German world food aid),
accepts the two Unimogs
from Dr. Michael Inacker,
DaimlerChrysler AG
Politics and External
Affairs Manager
nity of emphasising “the company’s global
responsibility for helping to ensure the survival of people in these disaster areas”. The
German THW is also operating Unimogs in
regions destroyed by the Tsunami. The vehicle in the photo on the right belongs to the
‘SEEWA’ international rapid water supply
unit which has the task of restoring local
supplies of drinking water.
■
Advertisement
Unimog 1|2005 19
DaimlerChrysler Worldwide Interview
“A strong basis for the future”
Just over six months ago, Andreas Renschler took over the Commercial Vehicles Division on the DaimlerChrysler
board of management. ‘Unimog’ editorial staff asked him about the future policy – and why, for him, this
business sector exerts such a fascination.
How does it feel to change from responsibility of the smallest DaimlerChrysler
vehicles to the position of the largest of
the vehicles?
Andreas Renschler: It’s a totally new
world for me, and at first glance a very different one. The Commercial Vehicles Division
has a complexity all its own: no other
division operates on such a global level.
We have nine vehicle brands, nearly 60 production locations and 115,000 employees
throughout the world. At a closer look and
you will discover common features between
both smart and the Commercial Vehicles
Division. For instance the direct and open
way we communicate and deal with each other.
What is it you find so fascinating about
the transport and logistics sector?
Renschler: Without this area of industry,
20 Unimog 1|2005
modern life would be impossible. Before it
reaches us, almost everything we consume
is part of a complex logistical chain in which
the truck is a key element. For example,
since I have very little time for shopping,
I buy books online. A few days later, the parcel arrives on my desk: a good example of
how transport takes the effort out of day-today life.
What are your priorities for the
Commercial Vehicle Division?
Renschler: Eckhard Cordes and his team
did a wonderful job in recent years. He initiated some important ‘Global Spark’ programmes, and on January 1, 2004 launched
the new organisation that grouped product
planning, development, purchasing and production planning together under the heading
of Truck Product Creation (TPC). This is
where one of the main priorities for 2005 onwards is to be sought. Re-organisation has to
be followed up by implementation and fine
tuning – an intensive process of cooperation
between the employees concerned and management. Another focus will be on growing
markets, above all China and Eastern Europe. They still have a lot of potential for us
if we act quickly. We also have to do our homework at the Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus
Corporation (MFTBC), so that the earlier
burdens are finally eliminated. We have already achieved some initial successes, but
more basic effort is needed if we are to bring
corporate policy, image and sales into line
with our needs. Together with the dedicated
staff on the spot, I am confident that in due
course we shall overcome these remaining
obstacles.
Interview DaimlerChrysler Worldwide
A large product range: some of the best-sellers from
the DaimlerChrysler programme, seen on the test track
in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim
What will be the future technologies
that maintain DaimlerChrysler’s pole position as a commercial vehicle manufacturer?
Renschler: DaimlerChrysler is already a
pioneer in many areas of technology. I can
see a number of major innovation areas, for
instance complying with increasingly severe
exhaust emission limits, or in the safety area
– particularly as far as active safety is concerned. We are also pursuing the vision of
accident-free driving in the commercial-vehicle
area. Another aspect that naturally matters a
lot to our customers is fuel consumption.
Here too, as you can imagine, we are working
on highly innovative, alternative propulsion
concepts such as the fuel cell or the hybrid
vehicle, but at the same time on further optimisation of the conventional diesel engine.
What are the next steps to ensure a
substantial share of the Asian growing
markets?
Renschler: We are extremely active in
China at the moment. The Transporter joint
venture has been agreed upon and we are
now working intensively on the truck joint
venture with Beiqi Foton. We always adopt a
step-by-step approach in Asia. The first move
was to acquire a share of Mitsubishi Fuso.
Now we are consolidating our truck activities in China. This will give us a strong basis
for the future, and for the further steps that
will follow.
Do you plan to make the truck driving
license? It must be quite a new feeling to
drive a Unimog instead of a smart!
Renschler: You’re so right! I’ve driven all
kinds of trucks at our testing grounds, and
that has made me keen to sample the authentic ‘truck feeling’ on the public highway
as well. I attended my first theory instruction classes recently, and the practical
course will follow soon. My appointment calendar is rather full, but I’m looking forward
to this none the less!
■
www.daimlerchrysler.com
Personal history
Andreas Renschler has been employed by
DaimlerChrysler in various positions
since 1988. On October 1, 2004 he joined
the DaimlerChrysler AG Board of
Management – responsibile for the
Commercial Vehicles Division. An
engineering economics and business
management graduate, he led the
Management Board of smart GmbH from
1999 to 2004, and from 1996 to 1999 he
was responsible for the Mercedes-Benz
M Class and the building-up of the US
production plant.
Renschler, 46 years old, has taken ‘Live
and let live’ as his motto, and this
matches his management style, which
relies on his team’s personal sense of
responsibility.
Unimog 1|2005 21
UNISCOPE
U 5000
for the
riot police
T
he Federal German State riot police forces have just taken delivery of their first
U 5000 Unimogs from the Wörth plant
(photo above). At the ceremony, Jürgen Schubert, their Chief Inspector of the riot police,
emphasised: “After 30 years of good experience with the previous Unimog model,
I welcome the acquisition of these new tech-
nologically advances Unimogs. It is the
result of excellent teamwork and will be dedicated to maintaining the security of Germany’s citizens.” The Unimog U 5000 allterrain vehicles, with crew cab, drop side
body, and 3,250 mm wheelbase, are all fitted
with the same implements: a hydraulic loading crane, crane and hoisting-cable win-
ches and sprag. The front-end loading shovel
can be replaced by lifting forks if necessary.
For maximum occupant protection, the windows are of lexan-material and the headlights are also protected against flying
stones. Equipped with a fording depth of
800 mm, which can be increased to
1,200 mm with special fording equipment. ■
‘Off Road’ readers choose
the U 3000
This is the second poll in which readers of ‘Off Road’ magazine have
chosen the Unimog as best off-roader of the year in the ‘Special Vehicles’
category.
T
he award ‘Off-roader of the Year, 2005’
resulted from a poll conducted in seven
categories by the reputable Munich-based
magazine in its October issue. Presentation
of the glass ‘obelisk’ took place in December
at the Old Freight Depot in Düsseldorf. Some
5,000 readers chose their favourites from 67
Thanks to its unique
product design, the
U 3000 was a clear
winner in the special
vehicles category
22 Unimog 1|2005
off-road vehicles in all, and Mercedes-Benz
products were twice among the winners: the
Unimog U 3000 led the Special Vehicles
category with a remarkable 64 percent of
the readers’ votes, and the Mercedes G came
in second in the “Classic off-roaders” category with 33.2 percent of the votes cast.
The individual categories were ‘Off-roaders’, ‘Luxury off-roaders’, ‘Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs)’, ‘Luxury SUVs’, ‘Classics’,
‘Pick-ups’ and ‘Special Vehicles’. This last
category consists of off-road vehicles that
carry freight and materials to remote areas
or serve as a basis for special superstructures – firefighting, expedition or military
vehicles. This is where the U 3000 scored a
runaway victory. At the award ceremony, the
magazine’s editors declared: “A more convincing victory would be difficult to imagine
– for the ultimate off-road vehicle that every
off-road enthusiast dreams of!”
■
Just right for Trieste
Italians are creative people! Their latest idea: the Unimog U 500 as a
mobile concrete mixer.
S
omeone usually comes up with a good
idea when it’s most needed. Those who
know the seaport of Trieste will recall that
many of its streets are steep and narrow.
Unless in possession of a special permit, the
authorities have banned the old city centre
to vehicles weighing more than 15 t gross.
Faced with this problem of supplying
concrete to sites in the prohibited area, the
local Edilcem company designed a vehicle
based on the Unimog that is now proving
ideal both in the city and in its hilly hinterland. Two U 500s were purchased and mounted with a concrete-mixer superstructure.
Practical experience has so far been so good
that Edilcem intends to add further vehicles
to its Unimog fleet.
■
Manoeuvrable and
powerful, to cope with
the topographical
difficulties encountered
in the city of Trieste, on
the Adriatic: the Unimog
U 500 with concrete
mixer superstructure
Groundbreaking for the Unimog Museum
The Unimog’s roots remain in the Murg Valley. Although the Unimog is now assembled some 40 kilometres away
in Wörth, it is still a product of the region for the people of Gaggenau, Gernsbach, Kuppenheim etc. With a museum
the legend of the ‘Unimog from Gaggenau’ will perpetuate.
O
n Saturday March 5 the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Unimog
Museum, just across the Gaggenau town
boundary, on land belonging to the town of
Kuppenheim, took place. This will open its
doors in 2006 as a further tourist attraction
in the Murg Valley. Most of the cost for this
project has been covered by donations and
contributions from sponsors. At the groundbreaking ceremony, various Unimogs produced in the past 50 years in Gaggenau were
on hand to be admired. Plans and a model of
the project were on display in the former
Unimog training school which adjoins the
future museum.
■
For more information can be found under:
www.unimog-museum.de
Mayor, architect and
officials of the Verein
Unimog Museum e.V.
(Unimog Museum
Association) perform
the groundbreaking
ceremony
Unimog 1|2005 23
H & J 10204
The Unimog.
Does it all. The Unimog.
A genuine power package, thanks to its
Street cleaning or road construction,
Please contact your local Unimog Partner
intelligent driveline technology. Steers a true
winter services or care of green areas: the
for further information. Or simply check our
course over the toughest terrain, with its pio-
Unimog design offers communal services
website: www.mercedes-benz.com/unimog
neering running-gear concept. And the
precisely
Moving mountains. Unimog.
Unimog is more adapatable than any other
Unsurpassed dynamism, unique multifunctio-
commercial vehicle – as a professional imple-
nal capability, maximum utilisation all year
ment carrier or in extreme off-road conditions.
round – a perfect combination of virtues.
The U 300/U 400/U 500 and the U 3000/
The result: a feeling of being able to rely on
U 4000/U 5000 Unimogs. Two distinct
advanced, well-proven technology.
product lines. Each in a class their own.
the
functions
they
need.