**The Unimog: A Truck Like No Other**
The Unimog was a utilitarian masterpiece with an open cab and flat body panel to keep things supersimple and cheap to make. Its design didn't prioritize looks, as it was built primarily for functionality. The truck's ruggedness was likely influenced by its intended purpose of replacing oxen, earning the first Unimogs a badge featuring a U-shaped ox head.
**A Military Darling**
Despite efforts to restrict Germany from manufacturing military vehicles, the Unimog quickly became a military favorite. Its popularity led to Daimler-Benz taking over production in 1951. It seems that this may have been the plan all along.
**The Birth of the 404**
In 1955, Daimler created the iconic 404 model. This truck boasted a steel cab and a straight-six gas engine, making it essentially a school bus with incredible climbing ability, brake over axle, and ramp angle.
**A Legacy That Lasts**
The 404 is the most successful model in the Unimog nameplate's history, with Mercedes manufacturing them for an impressive 25 years. The design was so simple and efficient that its variants were used as snowplows, emergency vehicles, farming tractors, military vehicles, and even trains.
**A Period of Rest**
For the next 20 years, the Unimog took a backseat while Daimler developed new models, such as the 406 medium-sized truck, which were essentially variants of the 404. Why reinvent the wheel?
**The Power Take-Off (PTO) Advantage**
Even though the Unimog was primarily a tractor, it shared a common feature with trucks: power take-off or PTO. This allowed the engine to power extra driveshafts that could be used for various tasks, making the Unimog a Swiss Army knife of off-roaders.
**Hydraulic and Pneumatic Systems**
The Unimog's standard hydraulic and pneumatic systems, introduced in 1963, further enhanced its capabilities. These systems enabled the truck to turn into any heavy-duty construction equipment imaginable, with accessories like bucket loaders, articulating boom lifts, and road maintenance equipment becoming increasingly popular.
**Ground Clearance Like No Other**
The Unimog's portal axles allowed for incredible ground clearance, giving it the ability to drive over extremely uneven terrain, including three-foot-tall rocks. This setup gave the wheels plenty of room for vertical movement, making the vehicle a wall crawler rather than a mall crawler.
**The Birth of Heavy-Duty Models**
In 1975, Daimler released the heavy-duty U1300L and U1700L models, which featured 4.5-ton and 5.5-ton capacities respectively. These trucks boasted 5.7-liter in-line six diesel engines and a range of options, including turbochargers or superchargers.
**Arnold Schwarzenegger's Unimog**
One notable owner of the U1300L was Arnold Schwarzenegger himself. His 1977 Unimog made him look small, a testament to its rugged capabilities.
**The Light Model and Funmog Era**
In the mid-1990s, Daimler released the light model 408 and the luxury version, the Funmog. The Funmog boasted chrome everything, leather interior, and a state-of-the-art sound system. However, it sacrificed hydraulic systems for a more luxurious experience, making it a golf cart with crazy ground clearance.
**Conclusion**
The Unimog has left an indelible mark on the world of off-road vehicles, its ruggedness, versatility, and incredible capabilities making it a true legend among trucks. Its legacy continues to inspire new generations of truck enthusiasts and engineers alike.
WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(engine roaring)(speaking foreign language)- Whether you're driving through a bog,or over a log, or upa mountain in the fog,in the mud like a hog,or searching the desertfor your long lost dog.(engine roaring)(truck honking)Whether you need a placeto write your mommy blog,there's one vehicle for you.I'm talking about the Mercedesthat makes the G-Wagonlook like a wee wagon.This is everything you need to knowto get up to speed on the Unimog,which is I think Germanfor very, very big car.(arcade music)I want to give a big thanks to Keepsfor sponsoring thisepisode of Up to Speed.Keeps offers scientificallyproven treatmentsboth over the counter and prescription,that can help fight thesymptoms of hair loss.I think we'd love to know, James,what is the number onesymptom of hair loss?I'm glad you asked, the number one symptomof hair loss is losing your hair.Keeps treatments are up to 90% effectiveat reducing and stoppingfurther hair loss.It has more five star reviewsthan any of its competitorsand nearly 100,000 men trust itfor their hair loss prevention medication.If you're ready to takeaction and prevent hair loss,go to keeps.com/uptospeed50to receive 50% off your first order.That's keeps.com/uptospeed50.Support the bread that supports Donut.♪ Keeps.com/upstospeed50 ♪Receive 50% off your first order.Now despite a formidableroad block in its creation,the Unimog has been aroundfor nearly 75 years.It was, and still is, one ofthe hardest core trucks aroundand the first one was builtby a German metals businessrather than an Audi manufacturer.In 1945, Germany wascoming off of back to backWorld War losses.They were looking to rebrand themselvesas more of an agricultural type of placeand less of a imperialfascist type of place.I wonder why?So farmers set to worktending their fieldsand yoking their oxen.This did not go unnoticedby a Daimler Benz AGaircraft engineer by thename of Albert Friedrich.Apparently old Al didn'tlike using beasts of burdenand thought there ox to be a better way.(crickets chirping)Albert decided to partner up with a coupleof his engineering homies, HansZabel and Heinrich Roesslerto develop the ultimate tractor.And during a very Germanbratwurst brainstorming session,they came up with thefundamentals of the vehicle.Unlike other tractors ours shouldhave four equally large wheelsso we can drive on the roads.Yeah and the all wheel drives.Will you pass the sauerkraut.(chewing) Yes, of course.We should have portal axlesfor the extra ground clearance.Yeah.Who knew these bratwursts willgive us the bratbest ideas.(crickets chirping)With their design concept complete,they were ready to make a prototype,so they took all theirdesigns to a company calledErhard and Sons which was well knownfor manufacturing tractors.And by tractors, of course I meanthey specialized in makingjewelry, and door handles,and doll house furniture.But apparently that's a lotlike making bad (beep) tractormonster trucks because by 1946,they had created one of themost capable bad (beep) tractormonster trucks of all time.Hans named it the universal motor garatand they called it the Unimog for short.The prototype was extraordinarily capableeven with its dinky Mercedesfour cylinder gas engine,but there was one placeit was not allowed to go,and that was to war.Now Germany was still in the dog housefrom all that blitzkriegingthey had recently unleashedon Europe, which is whythey weren't allowedto build new military vehicles.In fact, Daimler wasn't even allowedto make plain old fourwheel drive vehicles.They actually had to petition the alliesfor permission to make the Unimog.They promised that they would only use itfor agricultural purposes.Since Mercedes was in timeout and Erhard and Sonsdidn't have enough production powerto manufacture the vehicle,the Unimog turned to toolmanufacturer Boehringer.Now Boehringer hand built the first model,the Unimog 7200.Okay.(upbeat jingle)I'm used to car nameswith like one, maybe two,maybe even three numbers in it.This car has a lot of modelswith like five numbers in it.For instance this one is called the 70200and I think that's 7200, maybe 70,200and I'm not quite sure how to say 'em,so I'm just gonna do my best.Please be nice to me.Boehringer built around 600 of thesebetween 1949 and 1951.It was just like the prototype,but relied on a biggerMercedes diesel engine.Now Unimogs were utilitarian AF,with an open cab and flat body panelsto keep things supersimple and cheap to make.And looks didn't matter becauseit was really only builtto be useful.They were designed to replace an ox,which is probably why thebadge for the first Unimogswas a U shaped ox head.Despite best efforts to keep Germanyfrom making military vehicles,the Unimog was a militarydarling from the beginning.A duh.The high demand for the do-it-all vehicleresulted in Daimler Benztaking over production in 1951.Seems like this may havebeen the plan all along.(engine roaring)(speaking foreign language)In 1955 Daimler created the big daddy 404.Some of the other big developmentswere that it could be had with a steel caband a straight six gas engine.It was basically a school buswith insane climbing ability,a brake over axle, and ramp angle.(engine roaring)The 404 is the most iconic Unimog.The design was so simple and efficientthat Mercedes manufacturedthem for 25 years.That's almost as long asNissan's been making the 370Zand they are the most successful modelin the name plate's history.They were used as snowplows, emergency vehicles,farming tractors, military vehicles,and coolest of all, trains.(train tracks rattling)(train braking)Choo, choo.I freakin' love trains.And that was it for a while.For the next 20 years,the Unimog just sat backand rested on its laurels while Daimlerdeveloped new models, likethe 406 medium size truck,they were really just variants of the 404.Why reinvent the enormous wheel?(upbeat music)Now even though Unimog was a tractor,it looked a lot like a truck,but it had a common tractor featureknown as power take off or PTO.To this day the PTOcapabilities of the Unimoghelp it stand out as the Swissarmy knife of off roaders.PTOs are extra drive shaftsthat can be powered directly by the engineand the uses for them are endless.You need to put out a fire, cool,just attach a water pump to the PTO.You need to till a field, sick, PTO.Need a snowblower, PTO.For accessories that weren't PTO friendly,Unimogs also could be hadwith built in hydraulicand pneumatic systems.The systems became standard in 1963,which helped drive a marketfor custom accessorieslike bucket loaders,articulating boom lifts,road maintenance equipment.In fact they can turn the truckinto any heavy duty construction equipmentyou could possibly want.Not only could the Unimogdo a bunch of stuff,it could also go pretty much everywhere.The Unimog had incredible ground clearancethanks to portal axles whichare basically gear boxesthat allow the axle tosit several inches higherthan the center of the wheel hub.It's the equivalent ofstanding on your tippy toes,but for off roaders.Like if you see any ofthose bro dozers at SEMA,the opposite of a mall crawler,it's a freakin' wall crawler.Now this setup gives thewheels plenty of roomfor vertical movementso the vehicle can driveover extremely uneven terrain,including three foot tall rocks.(engine revving)Which is also the name of meand Nolan's alt country band.Three Foot Tall Rocks, check us out.Then in 1975 they finallydropped the heavy duty serieswith a 4.5 ton U1300L and 5.5 ton U1700L.These were the big boy versionsand featured the 5.7 literin line six diesel engines.With a 17 offering, yourchoice of turbo charger,or super charger for extra mustard.While having a heavyduty Unimog was importantfor obvious reasons, probablythe most important thingabout this model is thatArnold freakin' Schwarzeneggerowned one.Now when Arnie wanted toescape the superficial realmof Hollywood, he didn'tget to the choppa'.No, he got himself a 1977 1300L Unimog.And guess what, it made him look small.And then came the mid 90s,which saw the creationof the light model 408and my favorite model the Funmog.The Funmog was a luxury version of the 408with chrome everything, leather interiorin a (bleep) sound system.Oddly though, the Funmogdeleted the hydraulic system,so it was basically a golf cartwith crazy ground clearance.If I had a Funmog man, I'djust drive right up red carpetat the Oscar's, I'd be like,"Hey, what's up Lindsay Lohan?"You left all your sunglasses at my house."You want 'em back?"Okay, I'll meet you at theVanity Fair after party."(chimes jingling)Lindsay Lohan, huh?Yeah man, Lindsay Lohan.I don't remember her twin sister's name,but I been a big fan eversince, "The Parent Trap."And since Mercedes hadjust made a little Mog,it only made sense to offset thatwith the new massive6X6 known as the 2450.I work 2450 baby.24 hours a day 50 days a year.Unimogs were alwaysutilitarian, straight forward,and efficient, but in 2002after moving productionto their heavy duty truck plant,they got just a little bit fancierwith the launch of the3000, 4000, and 5000 series.Mercedes had to competewith other heavy duty truckmanufacturers like Hino and Kamaz.Not only do they competewith them for salesin the commercial and military markets,they literally compete with themin the notorious Dakar Rally.(engine roaring)(truck honking)Even though they race, it should be notedthat the highest trim modern Unimoghas a top speed of 56 miles per hour.Slow speeds are just part of the reasonyou don't see celebritiesdriving 'em around much,or at all because theyaren't legal in the US.You can get one once they're 25 years old,but do you have anyidea how expensive it isto maintain an old 14,000 pound Mercedesin a country that never sold them?Probably the biggestreason you don't see themat movie premiers or swanky restaurantsis because they don't belong there.They were designed to be mechanical oxenand using them for anythingelse is a pain in the (beep).Can you imagine drivingthis thing up a tight road?They're freakin' huge.While the basic principlesof the original 1946 Unimoghave stayed the samethroughout its history,technology has definitely helpedmake it much more capable.In the process ofinstalling emergency radioson the second highest volcanoin the world in Chile,a pair of Unimogs just set the recordfor reaching the highestaltitude a wheeled vehiclehas ever gone, at 21,961 feet.That's 6,694 meters for our friendsthat live anywhere besides the US.Whether it's self inflatingtires, special rock crawlinggearing, or a steeringwheel that can be movedfrom the right to left hand drive,with the push of a lever,Unimogs are still one ofthe most versatile vehiclesever created to goanywhere and do anything.Thank you guys so muchfor watching Up to Speedand everything else on Donut.We've got four weekly shows right now.In the next couple monthswe're gonna bring it to sevenand that's just the beginning.To make sure you don'tmiss any of that stuff,go ahead and hit that subscribe button,hit that bell and we'll letyou know what's coming out.We got a podcast now.It's called Pass Gas andevery week Nolan, me, and Joedive deep into thehistory of the craziest,most awesome stories,in the automotive world.We actually started asecond YouTube channeljust for podcasts.Keep loving cars, I love you guys.
