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Is it wrong to buy a vehicle just for revenge? Okay, I’m sure it is – but what if said revenge vehicle is also otherwise useful? Let me set the stage so that you understand my question a bit better; I live in the middle of a semi-large city. Being a city, it’s full of fairly unpleasant people – one of which owns the house next to me. Now, she doesn’t live there, but this woman has become a bit of a slumlord who randomly works on her house generally when it is least convenient for us – you know, major holidays, evenings until 11 p.m. and quite early in the morning seem to be the only times she’s capable of working on the house. Not only that, but the “work” she needs to perform often is generally superfluous – things like raking the cement driveway for an hour or two at 10 p.m., for example. The list of reasons I hate her is pretty extensive, but I’ll share one more story that relates to today’s vehicle.
I dream of owning a Unimog camper, but most of the time the barren, ex-military examples available require a lot of imagination to create one that could actually be lived in. Not so today, as this owner has created one of the most complete Unimog RVs I’ve ever seen, fully ready to climb mountains, ford streams, and escape the zombie apocalypse. If any vehicle could single-handedly circumnavigate the globe, it would be this one. The fast axles make it appropriate for highway use while the insulation means traveling at those speeds won’t destroy your ears. The generator and roof tent show that you mean business, while the living area could serve as an attractive $2k/month studio in San Francisco. It even has an insulated dog house!!! There are quite a few 4×4 Sportvans that serve as mobile apartments in SF – this would be a great choice to do the same and would give you the option to change locales should you become suddenly interested in Patagonia or Mongolia.
We’ve seen some differing takes on the Unimog recently, including a more modern 90s example and a nice change of color on a white 416. Those were cool, but today’s rings truest to the original inspiration of my Mog love, owned by my childhood best friend’s dad (also owner of an Estoril E36 M3 sedan and a strong collection of Ducatis). When it comes to affordability, even restored versions of the barebones original 404 are way up there when it comes to cool, weird, classic 4x4s. For less money than a brand-new, 2WD, no-option pickup, you could scare every other car off the road. These are certainly a want and not a need, but their impracticality in everyday life (or at least my everyday life) is strongly countered by rather low prices.
Most of the Unimogs we write up are from the 60s and 70s due to ease of import and cost. They’re still capable but have interiors like the old Willys Jeep we used to have as an island bruiser. Fond memories of bouncing around and sore elbows indeed! Today’s Mog has come a little ways inside and looks similar to all the other drab-green examples we’ve seen, but a slightly modernized grill hints at much newer running gear. Unfortunately, the cost for this newer 90s model is not just higher monetarily, but also brings the inability to register it for the road in the US. Canadians can rejoice or Americans can plan on having it as a badass farm vehicle, but part of the allure of the Mog for me would be to see the terrified looks on passing motorists’ faces as I towered above them. Alas, the price demands this Unimog be seen as a useful truck as opposed to an awesome toy.
This is a refreshingly not-drab green Unimog, a long-wheelbase 416 model looking awesome in white on black with a convertible top. The paint makes it look significantly more modern than a lot of the Mogs we see, even though they were exactly the same for 25 years and look similar still. The aesthetics make me want it, but the auction starting significantly higher than similar models we’ve seen makes me want to stay away.
