Saturday, 04 March 2023 11:36

The Unimog Museum in Germany

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The first Unimog model was designed by Boehringer shortly after World War II to be used in agriculture as a self-propelled machine providing a power take-off to operate saws in forests or harvesting machines on fields. It was designed with permanent all-wheel drive, with equal-size wheels, in order to be driven on roads at higher speeds than standard farm tractors. Daimler-Benz took over manufacture of the Unimog in 1951, and first produced it in their Gaggenau plant under the Mercedes-Benz brand. However, the first Unimog to feature the three-pointed Mercedes-Benz star was only introduced in 1953. The Murgtal in Gaggenau had been the home of Mercedes-Benz Unimog production for decades, before production was relocated to Wörth. But the people of the city Gaggenau (state Baden-Württemberg) were so attached to the Unimog that in 2006 the Unimog Museum was founded by private citizens.
The exhibition, tracing the history of the vehicles themselves and major world events since 1945, is a loving tribute to the “Universalmotorgerät” or Unimog. The vehicles represent the various decades of Unimog history. In many cases, the vehicles have a variety of attachments demonstrating the full range of uses to which they were put.
Unimogs feature a flexible frame that allows the tires a wide range of vertical movement to allow the truck to comfortably drive over extremely uneven terrain, even boulders of one metre in height. Due to their off-road capabilities, Unimogs can be found in mountains, deserts and jungles, as military vehicles, fire fighters and expedition campers. In Western Europe, they are commonly used as snowploughs, municipal equipment carriers, agricultural implements, construction equipment and road-rail vehicles.
A guided tour of the museum offers visitors the chance to discover amazing stories and developments, experience as a passenger a sensational Unimog tour on the test circuit or take part in a driver training session. The museum combines pure Unimog experience for all the family – with good cuisine, and a museum shop.                                                                                                               Pictures by Guus Docen
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Read 945 times Last modified on Friday, 01 September 2023 09:17