Unimog

PanhardPL

Does anyone out there know the history of the Unimogs that were purchased as a stop gap while Panhards developed an APC. ?
UNIMOG 2261 ZC

Clare gunner

Whats that yoke,in the previous posts picture?:D

source

The curragh, horrible i know........

oglaigh

What do you want top know?
15 were ordered in 1971, arrived 72. Interesting/funny incident happened in sweden as they were leaving for Ireland as a peace group thought they were for the PIRA and tried to stop them.
They were top heavy and were involved in a load of crashes and had poor off road handling. Their armour was far too thin, they could only transport 4 soldiers and very little kit.
The last one served with the FCA until 1984.
Basically they were very poor vehicles.

Incedently, the Irish unimogs were destined for the Belgium forces in Congo but once war broke out the Swedes refused to sell them and the swedish army refused to buy they...... so we did.

Clare gunner

Seriously tho...On Unimogs,I recall reading somwhere that Ireland had a few Unimog trucks and a few G wagon ambulance conversions.What happened to them?Are they up in the vechicle boneyard in the Curragh?Or are they serving duty as targets or have they been sold off??

PanhardPL

oglaigh wrote:

What do you want top know?
15 were ordered in 1971, arrived 72. Interesting/funny incident happened in sweden as they were leaving for Ireland as a peace group thought they were for the PIRA and tried to stop them.
They were top heavy and were involved in a load of crashes and had poor off road handling. Their armour was far too thin, they could only transport 4 soldiers and very little kit.
The last one served with the FCA until 1984.
Basically they were very poor vehicles.

Incidently, the Irish unimogs were destined for the Belgium forces in Congo but once war broke out the Swedes refused to sell them and the swedish army refused to buy they...... so we did.

Your information is correct on the Irish ones. They were built by Landsverk in Sweden on a prototype Unimog chassis which was fitted with a rear engine and some of the order had gone to the Congo before the war started. Eventually the remainder were purchased by an arms dealer who finally offloaded them to the Irish as a stop gap until the Panhard APC's would be available

PanhardPL

Clare gunner wrote:

Seriously tho...On Unimogs,I recall reading somwhere that Ireland had a few Unimog trucks and a few G wagon ambulance conversions.What happened to them?Are they up in the vechicle boneyard in the Curragh?Or are they serving duty as targets or have they been sold off??

Yes the Defences Forces had 6 Unimog 406's with steel cabs back in 1972, all were sold off in the mid 80's.

The Medical Corps had two G Wagen ambulances which were sold at Wilsons Auctions a few years back. Both had locally built ambulance bodies and were in a poor state when sold. Difficult to know if they were scrapped or maybe still lying in some dealers yard.

PanhardPL

PanhardPL wrote:

Your information is correct on the Irish ones. They were built by Landsverk in Sweden on a prototype Unimog chassis which was fitted with a rear engine and some of the order had gone to the Congo before the war started. Eventually the remainder were purchased by an arms dealer who finally offloaded them to the Irish as a stop gap until the Panhard APC's would be available

Just remembered the Unimogs came in minus any gun mounts that had been on them, and at Cav. Workshops in the Curragh, sets were made to slot into the ports.

Clare gunner

PanhardPL wrote:

Yes the Defences Forces had 6 Unimog 406's with steel cabs back in 1972, all were sold off in the mid 80's.

The Medical Corps had two G Wagen ambulances which were sold at Wilsons Auctions a few years back. Both had locally built ambulance bodies and were in a poor state when sold. Difficult to know if they were scrapped or maybe still lying in some dealers yard.

GRUMBLE....Mumble......:mad: ....and here was a chance I thought to get a handy unimog or Gwagon camper..... [goes away muttering and grumbling...:):(

Petrus

Some time ago in the Overalwagen forum (http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/) the Unimog armoured car was being discussed, mainly in connection with its use in the Congo.
Here are the links to the forum's threads, in which you'll find plenty of the Unimog photos as well as some info on the vehicle:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/thread/1106417747/Congo-Katanga
http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/thread/1107200695/Congo-Katanga+2
http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/thread/1112187722/Congo-Katanga+3+%28Unimog-Landsverks+in+Merc+service%29

And the manufacturer's website http://www2.landskrona.se/kultur/landsverk/militart/pansarstart.html
with a page of the Unimog:

http://www2.landskrona.se/kultur/landsverk/militart/pansarbilar/unimog.html

By the way, in the following photo


there is the Unimog variant (somehow different from the Irish vehicle) with the Bundeswehr number plates. So it was being tested by the Germans. Do you have any further info on that?

Best regards,
Piotr

PanhardPL

Petrus wrote:

Some time ago in the Overalwagen forum (http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/) the Unimog armoured car was being discussed, mainly in connection with its use in the Congo.
Here are the links to the forum's threads, in which you'll find plenty of the Unimog photos as well as some info on the vehicle:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/thread/1106417747/Congo-Katanga
http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/thread/1107200695/Congo-Katanga+2
http://www.network54.com/Forum/330333/thread/1112187722/Congo-Katanga+3+%28Unimog-Landsverks+in+Merc+service%29

And the manufacturer's website http://www2.landskrona.se/kultur/landsverk/militart/pansarstart.html
with a page of the Unimog:

http://www2.landskrona.se/kultur/landsverk/militart/pansarbilar/unimog.html

By the way, in the following photo


there is the Unimog variant (somehow different from the Irish vehicle) with the Bundeswehr number plates. So it was being tested by the Germans. Do you have any further info on that?

Best regards,
Piotr

There is a book on Unimogs (German Language only) and it shows the particular chassis that Landsverk used as being a prototype only. Does anyone know if any other countries used this chassis, which of course was fitted with a rear mounted engine.