Picture of the day

[Dark Alley Dan]

You give me too much credit, Plinker. I work indoors, but have enormous sympathy for anyone who has to work outside in temps like we have these days.

Hey, XRC - Here's a fine project, freshly dug in Norway:

http://2.bp.########.com/-StJoz_GTytY/T9Ef28tcugI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/2zmpuptvL-g/s1600/P6070052.JPG

I love Kubelwagens too, and VW products in general, but I think a guy would have to be both very dedicated and very talented to polish this particular wreck into something drivable. Poor old girl.

 

[points]

True, but how often do you guys get shot at?

I was a core hand on the rigs in the 70s and early 80s. A rig engineer started screaming at me because I wasn't coring fast enough. He said he was going to get his gun an shoot me if I didn't speed it up (he was hammered drunk). Next thing I knew, he was stumbling up the steps trying to load his rifle on the move. I hopped in my truck and never looked back.

 

[flying pig]

True, but how often do you guys get shot at?

Guess that depends on how close to the Ludwig clan's place you were working.

This last week has been a brutal one on us field service techs. Supposed to be around -40 with the windchill tonight and tomorrow here near Grande Prairie. Can't imagine what it would have been like for those guys on the Eastern front. At least I have a service truck to warm up in every once in a while, winter clothes, gloves and FOOD. It's unreal how much more grub I pack away on a cold day. Come on spring!

 

[XRCD011]

You give me too much credit, Plinker. I work indoors, but have enormous sympathy for anyone who has to work outside in temps like we have these days.

Hey, XRC - Here's a fine project, freshly dug in Norway:

http://2.bp.########.com/-StJoz_GTytY/T9Ef28tcugI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/2zmpuptvL-g/s1600/P6070052.JPG

I love Kubelwagens too, and VW products in general, but I think a guy would have to be both very dedicated and very talented to polish this particular wreck into something drivable. Poor old girl.

I know about that early kubel in Norway, while the car is pretty much finished it would yield a ton of bits and pieces (in fact I covet its VW in a cog shift knob). In Europe nothing goes to waste and so very many new made, and very nice, repro panels are available one could pretty much build a "new" kubel. It really comes down to rising to the restoration challenge and pushing the limits. What that sad, squashed, car yields is a data plate and ID (and lots of pickings) to build new again.
Check out Lehars panels here http://www.leharmilitaryvehicles.cz/

 

[762shooter]

All this love for jeeps, but give me a nice Type 82 Kubel and you can easily go anywhere a MB/GPW can and you will NOT get beaten and shaken to death on the way. And if the kubel is good off road, a schwimmer is freakin GREAT. I can also respect what Dark Alley Dans getting at about working on anything mechanical in cold or adverse conditions, whenever I go out to my unheated "Garage of Dreams" in the winter its like reenacting the Battle of Stalingrad over this past winter.

Will a 2WD kubel really go anywhere a jeep will go? An honest question, just askin.

 

[XRCD011]

Will a 2WD kubel really go anywhere a jeep will go? An honest question, just askin.

Yes, with both rear wheels on a kubel being driven and the car itself being so light its very, very, capable offroad, and if you get it stuck (an we have done so) being light in weight its far more easy to manhandle out of a bog. While I love my jeep I find a kubel ride far more civilized also, I have been on trail rides with my MB where I thought the end of my spine would be jammed through the top of my skull. A kubel just floats along without the drama.

 

[762shooter]

Yes, with both rear wheels on a kubel being driven and the car itself being so light its very, very, capable offroad, and if you get it stuck (an we have done so) being light in weight its far more easy to manhandle out of a bog. While I love my jeep I find a kubel ride far more civilized also, I have been on trail rides with my MB where I thought the end of my spine would be jammed through the top of my skull. A kubel just floats along without the drama.

How does the VW "Thing" compare to a kubelwagon as far as capability and ride is concerned?

Also, when you say both rear wheels are driven, do you mean no differential action ever or do you mean a locking differential?

 

[infideleggwelder]

I can also respect what Dark Alley Dans getting at about working on anything mechanical in cold or adverse conditions, whenever I go out to my unheated "Garage of Dreams" in the winter its like reenacting the Battle of Stalingrad over this past winter.[/QUOTE]

yes, even though we`ve had it slightly better here, it still does not encourage one to go out into the shop.
just remembering that if the engine wasn`t running, there was no "heat" in those rolling ice boxes we used to drive. engine panels off was best in winter

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

I know about that early kubel in Norway, while the car is pretty much finished it would yield a ton of bits and pieces (in fact I covet its VW in a cog shift knob). In Europe nothing goes to waste and so very many new made, and very nice, repro panels are available one could pretty much build a "new" kubel. It really comes down to rising to the restoration challenge and pushing the limits. What that sad, squashed, car yields is a data plate and ID (and lots of pickings) to build new again.
Check out Lehars panels here http://www.leharmilitaryvehicles.cz/

That Lehars site is incredible. I had no idea one could build a fresh Kubel from the ground up. Thanks very much for that. I dump tons of money into our '85 Vanagon. I shiver to think what it'd cost to manufacture a Kubelwagen.

Here's a neat look-see at the Kubel's core:
http://thevolkyland.com/site/military1.html

In Puerto Rico of all places.

 

[DaveMachine]

True, but how often do you guys get shot at?

And that right there is the difference.

 

[XRCD011]

How does the VW "Thing" compare to a kubelwagon as far as capability and ride is concerned?

Also, when you say both rear wheels are driven, do you mean no differential action ever or do you mean a locking differential?

I have no idea how a thing would compare to a wartime kubel and would just be speculating it would be nearly as good. A couple things work against it being so, 1. its heavier and 2. I do not believe it has a liminted slip differential.
This site lays it out why the 2WD kubel can certainly hold its own against a wartime jeeps http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2010/04/vw-kubelwagen-and-schwimmwagen-germanys-ww2-jeeps/

 

[XRCD011]

That Lehars site is incredible. I had no idea one could build a fresh Kubel from the ground up. Thanks very much for that. I dump tons of money into our '85 Vanagon. I shiver to think what it'd cost to manufacture a Kubelwagen.

Here's a neat look-see at the Kubel's core:
http://thevolkyland.com/site/military1.html

In Puerto Rico of all places.

If you like Vlads site (there are a couple other venders in the CZ also) check out what those crafty Germans have been up to http://www.vwschwimmwagen.de/ and http://www.vwschwimmwagen.de/Wannenbleche.html

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Holy hell - a factory fresh Schwimmer. Now all I need is time, talent, and a lottery win.

I like the original Wermachtpaddel - mit Waffenampt und everyzing!

 

[fingers284]

True, but how often do you guys get shot at?

Actually, in all seriousness, more than you would expect. You hear about the incidents on the news where someone gets hurt or worse but many other incidents not even reported. I know of 4 that happened over 20 yrs ago, 2 involved a lot of gun waving and swearing ( One in the Hanna hotel bar, emptied the bar in about 10seconds) and 2 that involved shots fired, one was multiple shots from both parties but no one was hit and another where a bullet went thru the muffler of a machine (Cat 631c while it was being operated) on a jobsite I was on.

 

[ipscgraz]

All this talk of taking care of machinery (that gets beat to h*ll) in the cold is giving me flashbacks of Ice camps from days past. 300 Hr inspection plus swashplate change plus turbine change plus plus plus, all in the friggen cold and wind and dark.

Flashlight in your teeth = helicopter good times!

 

[points]

Back to tanks and WW2 Top picture is my grandfather third from left standing
Bottom is my father third from left foreground. He was Polish attatched to the Brits.
I'm glad they never met untill after the war, or I might not have been here

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Life's funny, ain't it? I assume they got along fine after the war. Had they met during, they would have been obliged to try to kill each other.

Neat lil' tankette, BTW. Anyone know what that is?

 

[Desert_Fox]

Looks to be a "Converted for German Use" 1935 Renault UE Full-Track Armored Carrier... Very cool!

*EDIT* It's designation is UE-Schlepper 630(f) (f, is for Französisch/French)

 

[Desert_Fox]

UE-Schlepper 630(f) airborne, discharged by a Me323 Gigant in Tunisia, 1943

UE-Schlepper 630(f), Towing a German 50mm Howtizer

Oh, and PS: "Panzer Rollen in Afrika Vor!"

 

[points]

Life's funny, ain't it? I assume they got along fine after the war. Had they met during, they would have been obliged to try to kill each other.

Neat lil' tankette, BTW. Anyone know what that is?

They got along for the short time they knew eachother. My dad moved to Canada on 1950 and my mother followed in 51.
The story gets strangely familiar. I had a brother in East Germany (long story). He was in the East German army the same time I and my other brother were in the Canadian army serving in Lahr. I also had lots of relatives in Poland, all under the Russian umbrella. Had the cold war turned hot, it would be brother against brother. Nuttin ever changes does it?