Mercedes-Benz Unimog Doppelkabine

The Mercedes-Benz Unimog is the German equivalent of the British Land Rover, the American Jeep and the Japanese Land Cruiser – It’s a function-first 4×4 with military, agricultural and leisure uses that’s spawned its own rabidly loyal, global fan club.

Much like the Land Rover, the Unimog was developed in the years just after WWII as an agricultural vehicle. The brutally simple design included a flexible frame to improve wheel articulation and a clever portal-gear system that allow the axles and transmission to be higher than the wheel’s centres – offering much higher ground clearance and reducing the chance of bashing the differential on difficultly placed rocks.

Modified Unimogs have won the Paris-Dakar rally on a number of occasions, they’re also in use with 26 of the world’s militaries. Mercedes-Benz has kept the model in production with occasional updates over the decades, many true connoisseurs of the German off-roader prefer the earlier versions, like the one you see pictured here.

Originally used as a German military airfield utility vehicle, this 1976 Mercedes-Benz Unimog Doppelkabine is fitted with the almost bullet-proof 84bhp Diesel engine, a converter clutch, a power take-off shaft at the front for an additional gear, a ‘Schmidt’ plate to attach further tools (snowplough, front loader, etc), a ball-hitch tow-bar, a rear luggage platform, a Webasto vehicle heater (fitted in 1995) as well as front and rear safety belts.

The current owner acquired it from the German Bundeswehr and gave it a sympathetic series of upgrades including new wheels and tires, a new interior, a fresh coat of army green paint and is now offered with German registration papers.

If you love off-roading but want something a little more unusual than a Jeep Wrangler or Land Rover Defender, this could be for you. Click here to visit the Unimog’s listing on Bonhams, where it has an estimated sale price of between €40,000 and €50,000.