My Mercedes is a ........................... Sprinter.

Here she is - a trusty old girl.



She's LHD - but not a personal import - bought her new from Main Dealer in Aberdeen to my spec back in 1998 - for running emergency medical supplies to war-zones ans ex-war zones in the Balkans.

5-cylinder 2.9 litre turbocharged and intercooled.
2.8 tonne GVW
Alloys
Air-com
Eberspracher fuel-burning heater with timer
Rear bench seats
Full mini-bus style headlining
Full carpeting and fitted M-B velour mats
Driving lamps
Bull-bar.
Sliding side door with fixed window on both sides
Headlight washers
Hydraulic diff-lock
Electric front windows
6 extra power sockets for fridges/coolers etc
Up-graded alternator
Long-range fuel tank
Heated rear windows
Sun-screens and black light-tight velvet curtains for all windows
Fitted storage boxes and luggage nets

Now that we have relative peace in Europe the old girl is now kitted out as a camper - hopefully her days of running humanitarian aid are over - but if the occasion arises ..........

During the war (Kosova that is) she was partnered with our UL1700 6litre Unimog to reach places other folks couldn't get to.

 

Looks great, but then I am a van geek!

Could you post us some pics from the inside??

 

I'll try and get some up in a few weeks - embarrassingly the interior needs a good valet at the moment and it's still full of boxes and bicycles from our moving house.

We need to get everything sorted out for a family bike trip next month.

 

Exterior looks in great nick though, especially given Mercs are known for their rust and thin paint.

 

Unfortunately the Unimog has now been sold (along with it's NATO trailer) to a company drilling water wells somewhere in rural Scotland.

We bought it in 2002 - it was a 1982 German Heer reserve stock - meaning it had sat in some emergency army camp for 30 years - regularly serviced and new tyres - full set of chains and even still had the quilted soundproofing and gun-racks at the back of the cab - as well as grenade holders and the roof-hatch.

It came with full service history and had done less than 300km when we bought it!!!!!!!

Amazing gears - 16 forward and 8 reverse - it could go as fast in reverse as forward - max 80kph.

Can you tell I loved driving it?

It went up the main road from Skopje in Macedonia to Pristina the same day as the German Army moved into Kosovo the first day after the NATO bombing campaign stopped - it was the first time the Germans had gone into active service since WW2 - that's excluding military exercises and such of course.

I even got them to service it and stamp the book for us.

The German squaddies were great - they had live ammunition for the first time and were very wary of the many snipers.

I found it great that they had painted Afrika Korps insignia on their cab doors - a few of the British army guys painted 'Desert Rat' logos on their LandRovers too - but the best of friens - no animosity at all -only respect - the soldiers all had an good time there, driving without any restraints on gravel roads.

In the mountains of Kosovo with no real asphalt roads, Unimogs ruled. We even drove up river-beds where the roads and bridges had been blown up.

We had M-Benz 1017 4x4 army lorries too to deliver to remote villages, but they were accompanied with the Unimog as a precaution in case they got stuck.

However the fuel consumption was such that one would need your personal oil-well though.

Happy days - and sometimes 'happy daze'. hic.

We also used to have a 709D M-Benz transporter (the biggest size of van M-Benz make) kitted out as a camper, with bunk beds, tables, and chairs to carry 6 people.

I'll have to see if I can find some pics of it.

We used it in Bosnia during the war there when Sarajevo was under siege it went over forest tracks through the mountains in the snow with chains on all wheels to avoid the road-blocks. Great adventures and great companions.

Everyone should have a big van/camper at some point in their lives.