Good morning! We’re getting closer to the end of the alphabet, and the pickings are a little slim from here on out. Tomorrow will be easy, but the rest won’t. Today, I managed to find one make that starts with U, and one model name. They go together because they’re both big, boxy things with furniture inside.
On Friday, we looked at two clean inline-six sports cars, and the purple Triumph TR6 won handily. From the sounds of it, a lot of you were put off the Toyota Supra because it’s an automatic. I had hoped to find a manual Supra, but every one I found had been modified in some way. This one was a better match to the Triumph, because of its originality and low mileage, despite its transmission.
Honestly, I don’t mind the Supra with an automatic. Maybe I’m going soft in my old age, but cars like the Supra, along with the Corvette and the Camaro/Firebird, just seem suited to automatics. Mash your foot down when you want to go, don’t hassle with shifting when you want to relax. It just makes sense to me. But there’s no way I’m choosing any Toyota over a TR6 in the best color ever.
All right. Let’s look at two vehicles with big rooms in the back, each outfitted for a specific purpose. One is an old mobile military communications center, and the other is a veteran of the kebabs and burritos brigade.
1965 Mercedes-Benz Unimog 404 – $24,000
Engine/drivetrain: 2.2 liter overhead cam inline 6, six-speed manual, 4WD
Location: Denver, CO
Odometer reading: 19,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives great
The Unimog needs no introduction to fans of off-roaders. For everyone else, here’s the gist: it’s a go-anywhere, do-anything 4×4 vehicle with low gearing, portal axles, and a power takeoff. Think of it as a tractor that can (just barely) do highway speeds. This version, the 404, was a common military vehicle for the German army, and that’s where this one came from.
The Unimog came in a bunch of different configurations with a bunch of different engines over the years. This one has a 2.2 liter gasoline inline six, powering both axles through a six-speed manual gearbox with two reverse gears. Top speed isn’t even sixty miles an hour, but put it in low gear and it will practically climb a tree. This one has had a bunch of mechanical work done, and it runs great, but they didn’t mess with anything else. It was some sort of mobile communications center, it looks like. There’s a bunch of old radio gear and a desk in the back.
It’s a military vehicle, so don’t expect much in the way of luxury. Vinyl seats and steel floors are the order of the day. This is a “Cabrio” version, with a soft top and a windshield that can fold down. It’s in really good shape inside the cab, which tracks with its low mileage.
The seller says this truck is “ready for its next adventure,” which I assume means a camper conversion at some point. Unless, of course, the next owner has a thing for ’60s German radio equipment.
1993 Utilimaster Aeromate – $16,800
Engine/drivetrain: 3.3 liter overhead valve V6, three-speed automatic, FWD
Location: somewhere in Illinois
Odometer reading: 241,000 miles
Operational status: Runs and drives
There are vehicles we interact with all the time and hardly notice, even us car folks. They’re just part of the scenery, doing their job, thanklessly and invisibly. Often, you don’t notice them because you’re focused on other things at the moment you see them, like, for instance, lunch. We’ve all eaten at food trucks, but unless it’s one of those twee Citroen vans or a VW bus or something, have you ever actually noticed what kind of truck it was? Of course not. Because the pulled pork sliders and tater tots in the plastic clamshell container are far more important.
This old food truck is a Utilimaster Aeromate, the pride of Bristol, Indiana. It uses a Chrysler minivan drivetrain and suspension, in this case a 3.3 liter V6 and an automatic transmission. I’m pretty sure it’s a three-speed Torqueflite, but don’t quote me on that. It’s been around the block a few times – 241,000 times, actually. My guess is that it had another life before becoming a food truck, something that required more driving around.
It’s a mess inside; clearly after this truck closed up shop no one bothered to clean up. There’s stuff in the sink, boxes on the floor, and I think I even see a bag of burger buns in that wire rack. There’s a fridge, and a toaster oven, but whatever grill or oven did most of the cooking appears to have been removed. The seller refers to it as “ready to customize,” which in this case means gut it and start over, I’m afraid. Though, since it already has a sink, I suppose you could turn this one into a camper too.
I can’t read the menu on the side, so I can’t tell you what sort of food was once served out of this truck, but I suppose it doesn’t matter. If my years in Portland taught me anything, it’s that you can serve almost anything out of a food truck. So let’s have a little fun in the comments: tell me what you’re cooking in this thing, once it’s all newly-outfitted.
So yeah, food truck versus army truck. Hey, U is a tough letter; I did my best. We’ll get to some less weird and less expensive things tomorrow. In the meantime, you’ve got two boxes full of old crap that need to be cleaned out. Which project are you tackling?
Yup, this is one of the EASIEST Showdowns ever! The Unimog is a LEGEND and fuckin awesome…that should be the new Autopian event vehicle…it’s perfect for a communications hub on the road…and off! Go anywhere, do anything is right. Just add some cots, chainsaws to cut batteries, cooking area to make spaghetti,
(since I’m not picking food truck)
outdoor shower area to eat said spaghetti, a small dishwasher to wash car parts, and sprinkle some rust all over, in, and around for good measure…oh, and an area to soak shirts in oil so they all match!
Sincerely, I am curious if that Unimog belonged to a former co-worker of mine at some point. This was over a decade ago, but we had an enthusiast who I know had two. In Denver. There can’t be that many.
Said co-worker moved out of state and I believe sold them, but really looks like one of his.
I’d take the Unimog and sell ice cream out of the back. Best of both worlds…
No contest – Unimog all day, every day. If anyone voted for the Utilimaster, I’d like to see their twisted rationale.
Ugh.
Anyone who voted for the Utilimaster needs to log out of this website, delete their bookmarks and clear their cache. This isn’t a fair fight and you’re just trying a little too hard to be contrary.
Weird, I just saw a Grumman KubVan the other day and was surprised to see what looked like a mail truck from someone other than GM or even AMC from that era, now this Minivan based unit that also looks suspiciously like a mail truck.
I will say that even though painfully slow and extremely pricy in my book, I would take the Unimog all day everyday in this contest. I would probably end up getting rid of it after a season as I would find it too big and overall kind of useless on the trails. But, Maybe not. it would be worth the experiment as long as a recession does not stick me with a worthless vehicle in a year.
Grumman made the LLVs (as you know with the GM goodies inside). The KubVan was the predecessor to the 1986 contract for the LLVs. Why they are very similar in body.
I missed out when the military was dumping FLU419s. That’s the Mog with a backhoe and a front end loader. They were all over at 3000 a piece.
They seem to have gone the way of $3000 Ferrari 250GTs
This vote is going the way I expected it to. The Unimog was probably my favorite Matchbox toy back in the day. (But the BP fuel tanker was also kinda cool.)
I’m pretty sure there was never a Utilimaster Matchbox or Hot Wheels toy.
This Unimog is not equipped with the drivetrain I’d want. I once read about one with a diesel engine (don’t remember which one or how big) and a 4×4 transmission that yielded 16 gears. In the lowest, it would go 0.49 mph, but be able to pull a freight train.
Unimogs have more attachments than a Kirby Vacuum. Lots more. One of the kits is for use as a rail locomotive. I remember reading that they used them to pull trains of sugarcane in Cuba.
Are we talking Doodlebug Tanker? Because I would definitely take a doodlebug tanker converted to a camper if any of them survived of course. Based up availability, I suspect none survived.
I think the Doodlebug was a Texaco thing. The tanker Matchbox vehicle I mentioned was for British Petroleum. And I got a kick and was kind of particular about refueling at their US locations, when they started popping up, based on how much I liked their logo. I think they sold off all the stations to ARCO. And now I refuel based on price or convenience of location.
There is a matchbox Grumman LLV which is kinda similar
Unimog matchbox was my first. It’s blue and I still have it
I can picture the blue one. And sadly, I don’t have any of the little scale model toys anymore. When I was 15, we moved to a house half the size of when my brother and I had those. It’s a little fuzzy, but the culling of stuff was tough. And by then, I was more into audio equipment.
Meth. The only thing you can reliably cook in that van is meth.
Unimogs are not my mate, but it’s in good shape. So there it is.
Breaking Bad? Walter and Jesse had more options in the RV.
Well, if you are on a budget…
I think their budget rapidly got bigger than mine in a much shorter time. But I’m okay with the choices I made over time. And I never had to kill anyone about those choices.
That Unimog is like the mobile tiny house I dream of. Not practical to park around the city, though, which is probably why the owner is selling it. But the Utilimaster is beat, so I voted for the Unimog.
Unimog is badass, though I wouldn’t want to own one in my current place in life. Maybe if I had a big piece of property or lived near some difficult trails.
I know of a few guys up north that have these and offroad them, it’s amazing how capable they are. They’re always the designated recovery vehicles since for the most part, they’re basically “unstuckable” up here.
When out in the middle of nowhere, it’s comforting knowing so-and-so and “the Mog” are nearby and will have your back.
A Unimog with ONLY six gears? That seems… Odd.
Difficult group of bad choices here.
Biohazard food truck minivan at the end of its life…or an all-road go anywhere beast that can’t outrun the zombie apocalypse.
I’ll sit this one out and keep my powder dry for tomorrow.
Paint it like cinema’s most famous Aeromate and sell insect-based food:
https://www.imcdb.org/vehicle_10516-Utilimaster-Aeromate-1990.html
Then go out of business in less than a month, but it’ll be fun while it lasts.
“The seller says this truck is “ready for its next adventure”
With 19k on the clock about the only adventure this thing has had in its 60 years of existence is being parked.
Jeez, this is the “neither” day of all “neither” days for me. I have no business owning either of them. I guess the Aeromate would be a fine ice cream truck, but I have no interest in putting around neighborhoods selling treats to kids. I could at least amuse myself by putting little “US Government” signs on the Unimog along with “Nothing to see here, just go about your business” on the side in big letters and then parking it in various streets around town. Unimog it is.
“I could at least amuse myself by putting little “US Government” signs on the Unimog along with “Nothing to see here, just go about your business” on the side in big letters and then parking it in various streets around town. Unimog it is.”
Make sure to wear your best army surplus NBC hazmat suit too.
Maybe you could turn the Unimog into a food truck and have the best of both.
I’d sell German sausages, and I’d have a tube system like at old banks to deliver the sausages down to the customers.
Unimog all the way and my wife would probably kill me if I had the funds to drop on it. I’d come home with it today. In Denver lol
Rip out the workspace in the back and…all the fun
You could save $24k and just lose a split-screen knockout in NFS III, then you get the Unimog for free.
Utilimaster, I’ll serve Dutch style tosti and uitsmijter, toast with hagelslag on, maybe boerenkool stamppot in the winter. Say the codeword and I’ll slip you a cold Bavik.
No benzin-mog for me, I already have a tractor and I’m not paying that much for something that won’t even go the speed limit on the road to my house.
I don’t need a food truck.
Well, I don’t really need a Unimog, either—but I’d definitely find uses for it.
The food truck is nasty. The interior is worn and dirty, the cooking area is stripped of equipment and also dirty (really, how hard is it to remove expired and possibly rotting food products before selling???), and it has relatively high mileage. I don’t want to set foot in a truck like that, and I certainly don’t want to buy food from a truck like that. I have no idea what this thing is worth in this condition, but I doubt it is $16,800.
I don’t know what a Unimog is worth either, but at least this one is clean and in good condition. I don’t have a great use for this vehicle, but for someone who does, this seems like a good choice.
Lemme get my fedora and leather bomber jacket so I can cosplay fighting Nazis in the Unimog.
I voted the uniomog. Though I was tempted to vote the ice cream truck because when I was a child for who knows what reason I wanted to be an ice cream man. Glad that your dream jobs as a child change multiple times.