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Mercedes-Benz Unimog sticker, is this factory?

3K views 8 replies 7 participants last post by  yarr 
#1 ·
This sticker is on both rear doors of one of my 416 Doka's. ( don't look at the rust!) Was one time black with white in the lettering and the star. They were on the truck when I got it, and have never seen them since. I would love to get another set for my other Doka, has anyone ever seen these before? I don't know if they were something from the factory or just something someone made up. Let me know what you guys think.
 

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#2 · (Edited)
Well, I don't know, but I did some looking through the Graphics section to see if I could find anything similar. I might have, sorta, but that still leaves the door open for any number of explanations.


My Guess - I don't think that they are factory (As in Germany), but they might have an official connection. If the truck was originally sold in Europe, and then imported by an individual, I'd lean towards the graphics being generated by an owner along the way.

I think that if they were Original Factory stuff that was applied in Europe, then, with the thousands of restored 406/416's that appear at the UNIMOG Treffens in Germany, I'd expect to see them reproduced and applied to the restored trucks. I have never seen that graphic there or anywhere, so I tend to think it was not something that has a European origin. I could definitely be all wet here, but so many German UNIMOG owners go the extra mile to get their restorations factory correct, that I think I'd have come across them somewhere. The nature of a guess....

If, however, it was imported by Ma Benz to the US, or by one of its dealers / distributors , then I think the stickers may have been generated here, and applied to help promote Brand Recognition, on trucks that by American Standards carry fairly modest branding.

I think something similar was going on along the East Coast when there were a pretty good number of U1200's -U1700's imported into the US for snow removal and other municipal duties.They seem to be mainly of late '70's through the 80's vintage. A lot of these were Schmidt equipped Unimogs, geared towards one duty or another, and they often had the Original UNIMOG headlights removed and replaced with DOT approved plow lights which incorporated an amber turn indicator light as well. Often, these trucks had a second pair of these lamps mounted on the cowl, where the optional Mercedes (Hella) plow lights would be.

What I'm getting at here is that these legally imported Square Cab UNIMOGs, often shared something else : A Non-factory Vinyl UNIMOG graphic on the doors. This Graphic, which looks to be about 5"-6" tall was added by somebody in the US to a lot of these 'plow light' UNIMOGs.

This was done East of the Rockies, I'd bet, and probably East of the Mississippi. This was done en Masse, and although I'm still making wild guesses, I think that the added UNIMOG graphics were intended to put the somewhat intriguing name out there, and was part of a marketing plan by somebody.

I'd guess the Distributor or whoever was the middleman between the Docks and the number of Airports and municipalities that would up with these trucks.

OK, that was a long run for a short slide, but the sticker on your truck could be an earlier embodiment of the same approach. The Fonts on your sticker look more factory correct than the Bland 'UNIMOG' stickers that appeared on many of the Square Cabs. There are many fonts used over the years, and I found at least one UNIMOG sign that isn't far off from the SBU graphics.

I don't think they would have originated on either model of truck in Germany, simply because I don't think there would have been any confusion as to what the vehicle was called, or who made it in the fatherland.

I know better than to think I've seen enough UNIMOGs to make definitive statements about them, but I do not recall any Square Cabs in Europe with that clunky UNIMOG on the door. Of course, now the floodgates will open, and they'll be nothing but such photos for a while.

The "2 year Guarantee" sticker with the Red SBU on it shares a layout and fonts that look pretty close to your sticker, which might indicate some MB lineage. The Silver camper shares the same general layout, and I'd guess that the graphics were generated by the owner.

Anyway, all of the above is rife with speculation, but if I find anything else that helps, I'll post it up.

If I had to bet, I go with 'Perhaps made by an Owner, but made in North America'. The import history would skew that bet, if the truck was imported by MB, rather than an individual.
 

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#6 ·
I think I can attest to the provenance of the white SBU. Looks like what came out in the Schmidt Engineering (Wisconsin) literature. You can tell by the snowplow headlights. That Helvetica lettering always bugged me...pulled right out of the Letraset catalogue. Rant over.
 
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