Mercedes 1222A.. The beginning!

Sitec

Adventurer
Hi all. Long time lurker here, and now finally the owner of a suitable platform for an Overland Truck build. Being an ex Dragoman driver, I have them to blame for the love of Mercedes trucks. :) Having had a selection of Land Rovers over the years, the last being a Cummins powered 101 Forward Control, the time has come for something bigger. We have been 'too cold', 'too hot', 'short on standing room' too many times now. So, with wife as keen as I (especially after I showed her around Spudboy's MAN Crewcab), a purchase was made. As luck would have it a later Mercedes 1222A came up on Trucksales here in Oz. SK cabbed Mercs are not common here especially in 4WD form. I was looking at an older V8 6x6, but it would have been too heavy, too long and involved a lot of work. The one we now own is a sensible size, the last of the mechanical engines, making it fixable out bush, its clean low kms, and most importantly its wife friendly to drive.

Soooooo, here's our 220hp, 6 speed, 4x4 1995 Mercedes 1222A! image.jpg
 

Sitec

Adventurer
The plans are to use the crane and tray to collect and position the rocks around our new house build, then collect and position the Enviro Cycle Septic Tank, and finally collect about 30 tonnes of Gum from around the place so we are stocked up with firewood. Once that's done, and hopefully by that time my new workshop will be up, then it'll be time to remove the tray and crane, selling them to fund the body build. :)

Between now and then the truck will get some later 22.5" tubeless rims and either a full set of 12R22.5 drive axle tyres all round or something bigger, twin tanks, and a few other things that can be done between now and starting the build. Open to suggestions re tyres... bearing in mind cost of course!
 

Sitec

Adventurer
Thanks guys. Re building trucks, its something I have a past with. When I was still in the UK, I was lucky enough to have 6 yrs working with Richard and Wayne at PRB Horseboxes, where I learned a huge amount about body building in Aluminium, and what is available to us as travellers. The body I build will be very different to what I used to build, but will have a lot of the bits I learned at PRB. Here's the style of vehicle I was involved in building. image.jpg
 

Sitec

Adventurer
Re fuel consumption, I purchased the 1222 in Tamworth NSW. I drove it home to The Barossa in South Australia, and it had a whole load of clutter on the tray. I ran at between 90 and 100kmh and it returned 26lt/100km. A little higher than I'd like, but similar figures to an over laden four wheel drive towing a giant caravan! ;)
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pairospam

Observer
Looks like a very nice and well preserved truck, congratulations and very welcome here, where you won't feel alone in the long path you have decided to walk through.
 

Sitec

Adventurer
Cheers. Yeah, there seems to be some very good projects on the go here. It seems that the Expedition Truck scene is a lot bigger in Europe. From what I can see its only just catching own in Australia. NZ have something called house trucks... Interesting things... :)
 

Sitec

Adventurer
A very interesting thread that one! Some money and time been put into it!! Thanks for posting.. Just had a good read thru.. I like the way he's done the cab access door! :)
 
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Holger

Observer
Yeah, it's not unusual in Europe to enter the cab through the wet room/ toilet.
That way you safe room in the cab, when it is snowy or muddy you step into the wet room, get rid of your wet clothes and dirty boots and step into the heated cab. Also keeps it warm inside while people enter and exit the cab. Easy to clean too, just rinse it off with the shower.
The pull out steps are a beauty too.

I miss the small/ medium class here in Australia. In Germany it's easy to find 4x4 transporters like Sprinters, Ivecos and so on.
Here you go from the Landcuiser straight to the Fuso/ Canter/ NPS.
 

Sitec

Adventurer
I miss the small/ medium class here in Australia.

Yeah, I recon I was lucky to find this one.. I'd been looking at older bigger Mercs as I didn't think I'd find a late 4x4. I'd ruled out importing one as price and import seemed a little hard! Then as if by magic, a week after I sold the Land Rover, this one appeared! A lucky find, as I believe there were not many imported down under.
 

Sitec

Adventurer
Had a bit of a play today. Started to collect the Moss Rocks for our new build. Once done and a few others jobs completed, then it'll be off with the crane and tray and the start of a mammoth project! :)image.jpg
 

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