Event report 20080503
It has been a few years since I last hosted a Mogger's BBQ. The objective was to get friends with common interests together as well as to meet some new members of the Unimog community. Like last time, I hosted this event at my home in San Diego.
The photos below are what we saw.
The big and the small: these are my 2 trucks. The 1300, on the right, is my primary party vehicle and currently serves as both my camper and my toy tow vehicle. The 411 on the left, is a bone-stock 1957 model 411 with a 30 hp 4 cylinder diesel motor and is the hard-core trail machine. The 411 dominates the really hard core routes like Sledgehammer and the Rubicon, but it is not road capable. The minimog is capable of perhaps 30 mph (on the flat), but nothing more. So, to accomodate this, I have a car carrier trailer that I use to get my "trailer queen" from home to trail and back.
Kai's trail-proven 416 DOKA.
Kai's truck has a big PTO-powered winch which, sadly, has been used a few times for others.
Randy's freshly-painted 1300L with radio box camper.
Al's new U500. He is building a custom camper for this vehicle. The box is fully completed, but the interior is still under construction.
The old and the new. On the left, a 2005 truck. On the right, 1957. Besides just the age, there were a few other differences between the trucks, the very least of which is the size.
The U500 has a really high loading height. The rear door panels are temporary and will be replaced by the final structure "soon" according to Al. The blue strap allows closing the door after it is opened.
Totally unexpected. Many mogs have 3-way tip beds, but I did not expect it to operate when the camper was attached. This would be a great addition to my camper to help get Kathleen out of bed in the morning!!.
Details of the under-bed equipment of the U500. In the center of the photo, the hydraulic tipper ram is visible.
My 411 is nearly as old as I am. And, when you get that old, subsystems start to fail. Here, two fuel lines finally failed after all those years. The grey tub is catching the leaking fuel. The problem was quickly repaired by replacing the failed hoses.
A gatherering of unimogs. In this photo is a 411, a 416, four 1300s, a 1450 and a U500.
Parker is taking the 411 for a test drive after the fuel line was repaired.
I had to dig deep into my pimp wardrobe to find this nice hat. But, Kathleen wears it well.
Richard checks out this very clean 1450L.
The boys check out the cargo box on the 1450L.
The dashboard of the 1450.
Steve and Deborah's clean 1300 with custom camper.
The 411 minimog comes up short compared to the 1300 and the U500.
We had a great time and were very pleased that we had a good turn-out of trucks. Of course, there was plenty of food, beer and wine. We look forward to hosting this event again next year.