Where can I get a retired mail truck? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

DieselHead · #1 10-02-2002, 09:59 PM

"Turbodiesel" found a place to get a used police interceptor, so I figure there's got to be a place where I can find retired mail trucks. You know, those Gruman vehicles with the sliding doors. If someone could help me, that would be great! Thanks.

Alex

#2 10-02-2002, 10:18 PM

I have a ton of info on state auctions but I have never seen any used postal trucks for sale, they drive them until they are no longer usable.

kerry · #3 10-02-2002, 10:26 PM

The fleet facility of the post office in Denver used to have vehicles for sale sometimes. They were located in their yard. I haven't seen any for a while but I would contact the local fleet facility and ask.

Stevo · #4 10-02-2002, 10:38 PM

I would like to have a "camper van' kinda thing, not a "motor home" but what you are looking for with a 300 non turbo in it and finish the inside myself. What are those camper van things that MB made , a 200 something or other. The only one I have seen had the 2.4 engine, which I should think would not be enough.

Good luck with your search

kerry · #5 10-02-2002, 10:59 PM

There are tons of different Mercedes motorhomes and camper vans in Europe with a wide range of motors. I have one (307d)with a 616 2.4liter in mine. I am very happy with it and it performs just fine on European highways. The numbers vary from 207d's to 811d's. The first number is the rating in tons and the last number the horsepower of the motor.

84300DT · #6 10-03-2002, 08:37 AM

where can u get these things??

kerry · #7 10-03-2002, 10:02 AM

That looks like it is a 508 or something close. To see lots of them, go to www.mobile.de and do a search for Mercedes under Wohnmobile and Wohnwagens. It is worth commenting that a person can find these Mercedes vans just about everywhere in the world except in North America.

84300DT · #8 10-03-2002, 10:11 AM

thanks kerry- did the search and it looks like a 309D.

#9 10-03-2002, 10:22 AM

Don't know but try to access the US Postal Service web site and see if they have any surplus equipment disposal info.

Somewhere in the US Gov't is an agency that takes care of stuff like that. All you have to do is find it!

Nic
'85 300CD

84300DT · #10 10-03-2002, 10:26 AM

bit off topic but few yrs back the usps actioned off a bunch of the old jeep styles and many were exported to the uk!

kerry · #11 10-03-2002, 11:19 AM

It might be a 309 but I don't think the 309's had that big a wheels on them. My 307 has much smaller wheels. When the wheels are that big I think it is either a 50? or a 40?.

84300DT · #12 10-03-2002, 11:28 AM

well it think it said D-309 on it's badge but could be mistaken
(eyesight isn't so good anymore....

)

chrisjul · #13 10-26-2002, 04:59 PM

I am with the Postal Service. I'm not sure you really want one. We put some TOUGH miles on them before we sell them.

You can buy one at auction however (if you insist). Contact your local "Main Post Office" and ask them to connect you with the VMF (vehicle maintenance facility)/

Good Luck!

Eberhard Weilke · #14 10-26-2002, 07:13 PM

Well, I think, it is about time to give you some information from the other side of the ocean.

We basically have two bodystyles:

The small ones are the 207 up to 410. The first digit stands for the weight class (like two, three or four tons) and the second numbers for the horsepower. A 207 is a two ton with a 72 hp OM 616, a 409 would have the OM 617 or, in later models, as far as I know, an OM 602.

Thats how they look like. Available as van, boxvan, as flatbed, with rear twin wheels, as campervan and a million other things. BTW: Some of the ambulances you could see in Moscow these days were of this class (they used to be popular as ambulance in Germany, but now you see mostly the new Sprinter)

The bigger cars are the 407 - 913 (I hope I'm accurate) Up to the 813 with a GWT of 7.5 tons it was legal to drive them with the drivers license for passenger cars. That even included hooking up a 10 ton trailer with twin axles in the middle.

Basically same engine nomenklatura starting with the 72 hp OM 616 (I used to drive one as a mail truck. No power steering, top speed 70 km/h, not very fast, but you could start it with a nail instead of the key)

These engines were all pretty much stock passenger car engines from W 115 and W 123.

To make things difficult, the 508 hat a 3.8 Liter truck engine with lots of torque. That was serious propulsion.

As far es I know the 130 hp was top of the line. With that engine the bigger class started with the flat nose:

They looked like this:

Or get them as an ambulance:

And here comes the answer of the question above, why a O 309 looks different than a 307:

The bus version of the 508 class got the "O" for "Omnibus" , the "3" for reasons I don't know (GWT was 4.8 tons) and, although it was the same 3.8 Liter engine with 85 hp the "9" for the engine (all models were also available with M 115 gasoline engines of around 100 hp, but only the police, some ambulances and the US Army bought them. Way to thirsty)

BTW: A good adress for army surplus vehicles in Germany is
http://www.inter-commerz.com

But don't ask my how you get them in your country and how you get them street legal.

As far as I can see the former mail Jeeps are popular in Great Britain since they are right hand drive. I can imagine that farmers love them.

But I would never thing about getting the Jeep Replacement made by Grumman. This fairground attraction tends to tip over pretty easy.

Kind regards
Eberhard[IMG]www.bmwua.net/newsimages/ small450.jpg[/IMG]

Eberhard Weilke · #15 10-26-2002, 07:20 PM

Another place for getting army surplus is

Vebeg

The problem is, that you have to bet on the equipment and you have no idea what you are getting as long as you doesn't check it at the site.

Inter-Commerz has depot vehicles with low miles and you can purchase them.

But Vebeg has the funnier stuff. Diesel-Locos from the railroad, ships, planes, pretty much anything the gouvernment will sell goes through the Vebeg.

Right now they offer the metal from the devalued Deutsch Mark Coins.

Just in kind you need around 100 tons of hard to separete metal.;-))

Kind regards
Eberhard