The G-Class may be Mercedes’ de facto go-anywhere SUV in the eyes of many but there’s an even more competent off-roader in the company’s vast portfolio. Originally manufactured by Boehringer from 1948 until 1951 when the luxury automaker took over production, the Unimog is still going strong 75 years later. It’s a highly customizable truck that can be adapted to a wide array of purposes, as evidenced by these special builds for emergency situations.
Mercedes will be bringing no fewer than six Unimogs to Welzow, Brandenburg in Germany where the FIREmobil trade fair is scheduled to take place this week. Touted as being “virtually indestructible,” the specialty vehicle has been converted to a fire truck in single cab and crew cab body styles based on the U 5023. There’s also an ambulance version while the smaller and lighter U 530 model will be presented as a fire truck as well.
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The Unimogs will be joined by an Atego 1630 4×4 belonging to the fire brigade of Weddingstedt (a municipality in the district of Dithmarschen, in Schleswig-Holstein) and an Arocs 1842 from the German Federal Police.
It’s worth noting Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks lists more than 10 versions of the Unimog, from the U 219 to the mighty U 5023 with its portal axles. Although diesel engines are a dying breed, these Unimog models are all equipped with either the 5.1-liter OM 934 or 7.7-liter OM 936 oil-burners with up to 354 horsepower and a whopping 1,018 pound-feet (1,380 Newton-meters) of torque.
Unlike the G-Class manufactured by Magna Steyr in Graz, Austria, the beefier Unimog is assembled in-house at the Wörth am Rhein in Germany. The customized fire trucks and ambulance will be on display at the 2023 FIREmobil between September 14-16.