60 Years of Mercedes-Benz Unimog

Question. What is the most durable and versatile off-road vehicle in the world? Many people would answer either a Toyota Hilux or Land Cruiser, or a Land Rover Defender or even a Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen. There is no right or wrong answer to such an open-ended question but there is however one little known vehicle that beat all other off-road vehicles hands down in the area of versatility - the Mercedes-Benz Unimog. Unimog is short for Universal-Motor-Geräts (tool). This 4-wheeler is so universal that it can be configured to operate as anything from a military transport, snowploughs, rail car movers that can operate on both on-road and on-rail, it can also be equipped with a crane and serve as utility services vehicles, construction vehicles, tractors, agricultural farm vehicles etc etc. The list of application for the Unimog just goes on and on. There is even a Brabus tuned civilian version, called the "Funmog." At one time, the Funmog was quite a hit as a "disco-mobile" amongst Japanese youths.

Mercedes-Benz Unimog - the most versatile 4-wheeler in the world. When the world finally implodes, with zombies running around, this is what you want to travel in.

In the same way iconic off-road utility vehicles like the HUMVEE spawned a civilian version Hummer, the Unimog also has civilian cousin named "Funmog," and featured interior gadgets borrowed from the S-class, including the voice activated COMAND user interface.

Black Funmog is from the Heavy Duty series, red is a Medium Duty series model.

Turning up to red carpet events in a Funmog - attention whore celebrities will like the idea.

Funmog featured leather seats, carbon-fibre trim, brushed aluminum pedals and toys from the Mercedes-Benz S-class.

Brabus tuned Unimog U 500 Black Edition - loved by Dubai and Arab oil sheikhs.

ATF Dingo - the German military's armoured personnel carrier, modified from a Unimog chassis.

A little known feature of the Unimog is its VarioPilot feature, which allows the Unimog to be configured either as a left-hand drive or right-hand drive vehicle. I maybe wrong, but in my reading so far, I am only aware of the Unimog having such feature. No other car, either in production or already out of production can have its driving controls swapped from left to right and vice-versa.

Yes, the Unimog can have its steering and instruments swapped from side to side.

Switching from LHD to RHD is easy as 123 - with the engine off, steering pointed straight ahead, press and hold (2), lift the latch (3), and the steering wheel is free to be moved across the cabin.

The steering can be released with a latch and moved across the cab. A safety lock-out feature ensures that the engine can only be started once the controls are properly latched in place. The benefit of VarioPilot is that certain manual operations which would normally require two operators can now be completed with just one operator.

The Unimog's history stretches back to 1951. Post-war Germany was struggling to rebuild itself and needed a versatile utility vehicle. The original brief was to create an agricultural vehicle. But as how things were back in old-fashioned Germany, things were over-engineered way beyond their original design brief. The Unimog quickly found applications outside the agricultural field and soon became a favorite choice by the military as well as civilian users.

The first generation Unimog. Note that Mercedes-Benz's tri-star logo is missing on the hood. In the early years after the war, Daimler was barred by the occupying Allied forces from building all-wheel drive vehicles. Daimler only took over manufacturing of Unimogs in 1953, after which it can placed its logo on Unimogs

Between 1951 and 2011, over 380,000 Unimogs have been produced. This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Unimog and Mercedes-Benz is celebrating it with a wild off-road vehicle concept, painted in Incredible Hulk green. Mercedes-Benz calls the car Concept Design 60 Years Unimog.

The Concept Design 60 Years Unimog is similar to the first Unimog (below) in having an open-top cabin

The first Unimog was originally meant to be an agricultural vehicle.

There is no way you can buy the Concept 60 Years Unimog, and even if you are rich enough, you have to be quite an eccentric person to want to own a Unimog. There is however one Unimog that you can buy without risking the missus throwing you out of the bedroom or getting disapproving looks from the neighbours - a 1:12.5 scale LEGO Unimog U 400. Sold under LEGO's Technic brand, this is the largest Technic model in LEGO's history. So detailed is the model's function that it features electric drive and pneumatics that can power the lifting crane and gripper arm, plus a front winch and individual suspensions all around. European retailers will start selling the model from August onwards at 190 Euros.

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