Rule the Roost With This 1987 Mercedes-Benz Unimog
For when your one-ton pickup just doesn’t cut it.
This is why we love Bring a Trailer: Where else do you casually stumble upon an old French Alpine Fire Truck up for auction? Nowhere. This Mercedes-Benz Unimog Doka is the grandpoppa to all of the decked out 6x6 G-Wagens you see today, but without all the glitz and glam. This is a workhorse in every sense of the word, holding up duty for a French fire brigade with plenty of onboard equipment to boot. It's in decent condition and with recent refurbishments to keep things up-to-date, all while maintaining the books from its French Municipality. What's not to love?
The Unimog was recently imported and includes a clean Massachusetts title in the seller's name. Although it's been stripped of its department graphics, it still sports the trademarked red paint that you'd expect from a retired fire truck. It features an integrated water pump which is powered by a 1.4L Renault engine to keep things under control, ya know, just in case.
Although it's considered to be a short wheelbase, the Unimog is anything but small. It's bed is 102 inches long and 91 inches wide. Sadly, there's no fire hose included. It does feature a reel, but you'll have to find the missing piece to use it yourself.
The truck's 5.6L I6 diesel motor provides the torque to push the hefty lump around. The buyer will receive a full list of maintenance records from its time in France while the current owner has performed recent services as well. The odometer shows just 45K kilometers (~27K miles), so there's still some longevity to squeeze out of the compression-ignition powerplant. You'll be able to row your own gears, because the Benz has a manual transmission for the high torque application.
Although this will probably end up being an ornament to someone's collection, we can't help but hope it goes to someone who appreciates its history. Although not particularly significant to many enthusiasts, this did lay the ground work for work trucks of today—as well as the luxo-barges that Mercedes does so well.
The sale ends on the 30th and the bidding at time of posting is $19,750, so hop on it before it gets out of your reach.