When the universal motorized vehicle (in German: Universal-Motor-Gerät) Unimog saw the light of day in 1946, nobody could have guessed what a success story it would begin. The multifunction vehicle, which is used as a municipal vehicle (e.g. in winter service), in agriculture and forestry, by the fire department and also by the military, has now its 75th birthday.
This was celebrated by Mercedes Benz Special Trucks (MBST) and the Unimog Museum with a ceremony in Gaggenau, Germany, including a motorcade, specialist lectures and a special exhibition. The Unimog was produced here for 50 years until production was then moved to Wörth.
The multifunctional vehicle is not only versatile, but also very durable. Winemaker Andreas Rauscher still uses his 45-year-old U412 regularly, as reported by German magazine “Automobilwoche”.
To switch the transmission he needs a lot of sensitivity. The unsynchronized transmission can only be switched cleanly with a double-declutching play.
Originally only the engine came from Mercedes, the rest was built by Boehringer. However, the Unimog was promptly so successful that Boehringer could not keep up with production, but also could not raise the money for a rapid expansion of production. So Mercedes took over and the Unimog rolled off the assembly line in Gaggenau from 1950.
Since then there have been many new models. Some were more of a facelift others were complete makeovers. Even today, the success is unabated and the Unimog is a big player in the segment of multifunctional vehicles.