The Mercedes-Benz Unimog

Some of you may remember the infamous Blizzard of ’77—the storm that forever placed Buffalo at the top of the Worst Weather Anywhere charts for all time.

Part of the problem (besides the eternal ineptitude which seemed to permeate city hall) was the fact that with so many vehicles clogging the city’s narrow side streets, and with no means to get them out until said streets were plowed, they sat there. And sat there. And sat there. City plows were too wide to navigate the maze of abandoned cars, and the whole thing turned into a Catch-22: Can’t plow the streets without moving the cars; can’t move the cars until the streets are plowed. Thank God for snow shovels and good, old-fashioned elbow grease.

After it was all over (and it was, eventually, no matter what Johnny Carson may have thought), the city obtained a Unimog, a highly-versatile, rugged, go-anywhere truck manufactured by Mercedes-Benz. Of course, with that three-pointed star on the grille they weren’t cheap; but they were tough and, best of all, narrow enough to navigate streets where many normal city plows didn’t fit.

Although most of us haven’t seen a Unimog in these parts for years, they’re still in production. You won’t find them on the lot at Mercedes-Benz of Buffalo, but you can still easily buy one (assuming you have deep pockets) in most parts of the world. The nearest authorized dealer in our part of the world is Tracey Road Equipment in East Syracuse—which, when you come right down to it, is probably a good place for it, snow-wise.

The reason I bring this whole thing up is that readers of Off Road magazine have just voted the Unimog as their Cross-Country Vehicle of the Year for 2007 in the special vehicles category—such as those used for transporting loads and cargo in remote areas, as a basis for firefighting, expeditionary and military vehicles. I suppose though, that just like the original HUMVEE, somewhere out there are Arnold-types driving these things around as their personal, “mine is bigger than yours” vehicle.

See the photo, for instance, of the Black Unimog Brabus. It’s the U 500 model, which DaimlerChrysler introduced to the world in 2005 at the Dubai Motor Show (what does that tell ya?) as an “…exclusive off-roader for day-to-day driving, recreation and sport.” Prices weren’t announced at the time, but, given the venue, I suppose it was one of those “if you have to ask” situations.

Here are some of the specs for the 2007 Unimog: hand throttle, three sunvisors, six-cylinder, 260-horsepower turbochargers diesel engine, a transmission with eight forward and six reverse speeds, 60-gallon fuel tank (probably cheaper to fill in Dubai than it is here), permanent all-wheel drive and a choice of 132- or 154-inch wheelbases. Oh yeah, and a one-year, bumper-to- bumper warranty. Woo-hoo! A whole year! Driving a snowplow? In the Unimog you can switch the truck from left-hand to right-hand drive in about 30 seconds—that much easier to be sure you take down as many mailboxes as possible! Construction vehicles can be equipped to tow up to 45,000 pounds. And fire trucks can climb up to an 80 percent grade.

Unimog of North America began selling trucks through the Freightliner Group, part of DaimlerChrysler, in 2003. The Unimog was introduced in Europe in 1951. Contact TraceyRoad.com for pricing. Hopefully you’ll get a better answer than “If you have to ask…”

More info at unimog-trucks.com.