As many here know the Unimog was originally conceived as a farm tractor which could be driven on roads as well. The fact that it's a fantastic off-roader is without doubt. Here is a brief, and often repeated, history.

Going Where No Car Has Gone Before: A Pictorial History Of The Unimog | The Truth About Cars

My question comes down to the original prototype and it's development.... The name Albert Friedrich comes up again and again but all I have been able to find is that he was head of airplane engine R&D (Which is hardly the expertise one would expect in the making of an off-roader!) Now at the same time WW2 had just ended and as we know from the Eastern front the German army had A LOT of experience in driving in rough terrain so it's entirely conceivable that at least a few ex-soldiers must have been on the engineering team. I'm coming up short with any history of who was on that team, what their original ideas where or basically anything about the original prototypes. Any help would be most welcome!

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1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."

My favorite Dinky Toy as a kid was a yellow fire brigade Unimog. They were fairly common in the area where I grew up: farmland, heavy industry and the military.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

Definitely the opposite of here. I have only ever seen two. One was parked outside of an Army Surplus store in Maine and the other was a new U500 on the highway in NJ.

Theres a few running around the Orlando area. One guy has two. One he uses for his headliner replacement business and the other he is restoring. I've seen a new one for a city around here.

Fair number in CO. Company that specializes in them in Golden or Lakewood and another in La Junta.

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1977 300d 70k--sold 08
1985 300TD 185k+
1984 307d 126k--sold 8/03
1985 409d 65k--sold 06
1984 300SD 315k--daughter's car
1979 300SD 122k--sold 2/11
1999 Fuso FG Expedition Camper
1993 GMC Sierra 6.5 TD 4x4
1982 Bluebird Wanderlodge CAT 3208--Sold 2/13

I know they are rare in the states. The only one I know in LA is a tricked out black one with a long bed and canvas canopy parked in Malibu, I believe the owner is a reality TV producer. Pretty bad ass truck.

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1979 Black on Black, 300CD (sold), 1990 Black 300SE, Silver 1989 Volvo 780, 1988 300CE (vanished by the hands of a girlfriend), 1992 300CE (Rescue).

I'd love to get a mog but it would probably be a lot cheaper to just get a Deuce and a half and bob it.

In the 1980s the City of Chicago used them for snow plowing. Not so rare.

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Strelnik
Invest in America: Buy a Congressman!

1950 170SD
1951 Citroen 11BN
1953 Citroen 11BNF limo
1953 220a project
1959 180D
1960 190D
1960 Borgward Isabella TS 2dr
1983 240D daily driver
1983 380SL
1990 350SDL daily driver alt
3 x Citroen DS21M, down from 5
3 x Citroen 2CV, down from 6

Yea on the russian front the germans had many captured american fords dodges studes chevies and GMC s--some COE like this twin screw duece.5 and single rear axle ones like my afkx 352.
the book GMC -the international truck mentioned that the coe's were closely looked at when they patterned the mog--the original one is dimunative compared to the gmcs.
There were many coe's still being used for stuff like forrestry service in france into the 80's and some nice shape Nato trucks are brought back and sold to WWII collectors.

Panzzer- Are you sure about the designations you typed down? I'm trying to look them up but i'm not finding anything....

Another interesting vehicle is the bedford aec 4x4 acv trucks built during WWII. Offically Bedford was its own sub company by the 40s , but it was part of Vauxhaul and owned by GM. I got a suspicion that at least the axles maybe the frame too are gmc parts.

They were COE type big van nicknamed "Dorchester " by the troops--after the hotel in London. Three armoured ones used by "Monty" the british general and his help were captured in N Africa abd became Rommels personal trucks. They are the same dimensions as a afkx 353 GMC




There were also canadian military pattern chevys too.

CMP Chevrolet 15-cwt truck with 'crooked star'



US forces also snagged some cool German vehicles like these rso track trucks----Ide love nto have me one of these Snow Cats. Its obvious to me that the snow cat that came about after WWII in colorado and other westen states were developed by ex wwII soldiers just like the mog was in Germany

here's one site with some info--but its incomplete.
http://www.o5m6.de/no_hotlink.jpeg

Britan lost 90% of all the trucks it had in the evacuation at Dunkirk.

this site says the germans got 84, 427 vehicles.
Battle France, Dunkirk evacuation, German-Norwegian Armistice


And

The C8 Artillery Tractors were originally four-wheel-drive versions of the C8 trucks. The Mk III, introduced in 1944-5, had a canvas top and square contour body.

Morris was one of the many suppliers of GS pattern trucks, and the C84x2 was one of the major types lost in numbers at Dunkirk. Some were used in the desert, however. The C8 was eventually upgraded to four-wheel drive.

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Defeat in the West | Online Exhibitions | National Army Museum, London

This site says 64000 vehicles were lost at dunkirk -click window 15


The military vehicles left behind by the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) at Dunkirk. 1940

THanks for the info! Now we're getting somewhere

__________________
1982 300GD Carmine Red (DB3535) Cabriolet Parting Out
1990 300SEL Smoke Silver (Parting out)
1991 350SDL Blackberry Metallic (481)

"The thing is Bob, its not that I'm lazy...its that I just don't care."