There’s a fantastic-looking, 1985 Unimog U1700L/38 DoKa for sale near Seattle at the moment. This truck, and its square-jawed, 1980s brethren represent my favorite iteration of the Unimog concept. They look more purposeful than their round-nosed, 70s-era forebearers, and not as tall and ungainly as Unimog’s most recent offerings. The ” L/38″ means it’s a long-wheelbase version and DoKa is, of course, what Mercedes-Benz engineers like to call a crew cab.
This particular one, an ex-Swedish-Fire-Brigade truck that’s ” Räddningstjänsten” to all of you Nordic types has just about every feature you could ask for: front and rear locking differentials, front and rear hydraulic winches (a 12,000 lb. Warn in front and a 20,000 lb. Braden in the back), a rear high-speed PTO, two-piece beadlock wheels, and an 5.7L turbo-diesel engine. Payload capacity? Over 3 tons more than you can load into three F350s combined!
Unimogs often top out around 50mph. This one, however, has a Claas overdrive and high-speed axles which enable it to reach speeds of 60 70mph. The 85-gallon fuel tank gives the truck a 1000-mile range. Just don’t calculate your fuel economy.
Creature comforts include power/heated Range Rover front seats, a rear bench that folds out into a bed, and a Webasto diesel cabin heater with a thermostat. The truck has 56,000 km on the clock and is offered at $85,000. That certainly isn’t cheap but I suppose this level of awesomeness has its price.
For more on the Unimog U1300/U1700 line, read this article at The Unimog Center.
For specs, click here.
Hat tip to my friend Mas for pointing this one out!
