Having evolved from farm truck to its current heavy duty hardware, there’s no denying Unimog’s place as the ne plus ultra of 4x4s. Wrangler, CJ, Land Rover or FJ guys all quit slapping at each other with limp wrists to acknowledge its superiority. Unfortunately, most examples that come up for sale are later, massively heavy-duty examples from a German fire and rescue crew or the like. In fact, that’s exactly what our own Dearthair test drove so many years back. It’s with great excitement, curiosity and a little skepticism that we present this 1971 Unimog 404 (there’s a “404 Not Found” joke in here somewhere but I’m too tired to make it…). There are no obvious condition or maintenance issues. The seller’s gone through a lot of recent maintenance, per this response to a question:
Yes original gearing. Never had it on highway I’m told they can go 60 but that would be winding it up. The only issue is all the gauge and switch info is in German or whatever. I don’t know what all the switches do. I have done all hard stuff (front axle seals mega bitch, etc) engine front oil seal has a very small leak, a few drips after running. I don’t think it is worth fixing. Everything else I have gone through. It also has a compressor for trailer breaks that works but I cut off the belt because unless you wanted to pull trailer with air breaks or to power air tools it’s just a drag on the motor because it pumps all the time.
That response really makes me want to buy it just to equip it with “MEGABCH” vanity plates.
Bidding’s at just $9,600 as of this writing, which is a damn good deal for a vehicle that could drag your house down the street in low range.
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