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Old 03-25-2007, 11:13 PM   #1
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OK, it's not actually Fiberglass, it Polyester.. yes, just like the 70s!

Last week, I was parked next to the Pickle, this week, I have no idea what it's name is..I believe it is shukoppel 2, but we will call it the Lemon, for obviuos reasons.

Owned by Rolf and Ingelore Maciossek of Germany, this MANly monster arrived here at Applewhite CG in Lytle Creek after a 2 year journey thru South America and Mexico, as well as some bits of the States (I have a map of thier travels to post later)

They still are not done, another year of the PNW, Canada and Alaska, then back to Germany. What a dream!

I have shown them this site and post, hopefully they will join in and share more with us!

The brand, I THINK is MAN, but I can't find any reference on the net. I will look it up later when I gleen the info from a pic of an advert they had up.

The Motorhome is made for the Sahara, and they shipped it to So. Am on a boat and have been running since. It is actually a production motorhome, not a conversion.. and no, it's not Draco

The Truck bit is actually younger than the coach. Mr. Maciossek swapped the coach from his older model and put it onto a new chassis.

The coach is made of polyester, single piece, so it gets a Molded feather.

The rest is nothing like our rigs outside, but it is plush and wonderful in.. with the Euro styling we all admire. I was stunned, and it was a pleasure to see.

I tried not to ask too many questions, I suspect they get bugged all the time, so I will let the pics tell part of the story.

Thanks Ingelore, for your most gracious tour!
Attached Thumbnails
lemon1.jpg   lemon2.jpg  

lemon3.jpg  
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Old 03-25-2007, 11:16 PM   #2
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The inside is as impressive as the out.

The map has where they have been.. follow the red line!
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lemondinnette.jpg   lemonkitchen.jpg  

lemontravels.jpg  
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Old 03-25-2007, 11:21 PM   #3
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They gotta drive it.. and here is where they do that from.. as well as the power center, and bathroom.

I had to literally climb into the thing. It has a ladder you must climb up, it sits so high.

It did not feel wierd at all. There was something wonderfull about sitting so high above the campsite.. cat bird seat!

I am sorry I did not get a chance to ask about the technicals, I was just happy to have seen it.

They do rely on solar, and for when they have hook ups, they have convertors.

Engine size.. I dunno.. tires.. almost as tall as me
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Old 03-25-2007, 11:49 PM   #4
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Gina,
Thanks for sharing about the "Lemon". Looks as if it's a real offroad vehicle with probably all the comforts of home.

Kurt & Ann K.

P.S.,
I don't know about grunting, more like drooling..., where's a napkin when you need one?
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Old 03-26-2007, 12:40 AM   #5
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MAN is a truck manufacturer. They probably made the frame.
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Old 03-26-2007, 03:56 AM   #6
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The poster on the wall shows LKW. Here's their site.

http://www.lkw-walter.com/default.aspx
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Old 03-26-2007, 05:05 AM   #7
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Quote:
OK, it's not actually Fiberglass, it Polyester.. yes, just like the 70s!
Gina, I don't know what you mean by this.
In Europe fiberglass trailers are called polyester trailers.
Imho the material is a combination of both: fiberglass reinforced polyester.

Website of Man trucks:
http://www.man-mn.co.uk/en/Lkw_/Lkw_.jsp
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Old 03-26-2007, 05:42 AM   #8
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That's really cool! I never have anything interesting park next to me....in fact, it's often the "stuff" I wish would just move on.

Didn't something like this rig show up on eBay a while back It was all white..I think, or maybe it was just a picture someone had posted
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Old 03-26-2007, 06:37 AM   #9
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Lex, polyester was what liesure suits were made of in the 70s.. sort of a US joke now.

Thanks for the explaination. I thought there may have been a language issue there. She spoke english reasonably well, but the fine detail was lost on both of us. My german is.. non existant.

It was warm to the touch, and not hard like glass. I figured it was more like the stuff poly pipe was made out of.

It is double shell, with insulation in between. She did not know the english word for it. I suspect it was foam.
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Old 03-26-2007, 09:28 AM   #10
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Wonderful pictures!

Definitely NOT a camper for a sleep-walker!

I saw a similar one once in Ireland and lusted after it immediately.

Diesel 4WD no doubt?
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Old 03-26-2007, 10:01 AM   #11
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Gina,

Thanks for the pix. Great rig! (Now I only hope that the driver doesn't watch that TV while tootling down the road---at least now when I am coming the other way!)

Art

P.S. That was intended as a joke for I'm sure they don't---particularly considering the length of that red line on the map you showed of their travels. Otherwise, they wouldn't have survived so long.
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Old 03-26-2007, 12:14 PM   #12
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Old 03-26-2007, 04:28 PM   #13
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One of these pulled up behind me when I was waiting for a ferry - well, it was mostly above me, but a little bit behind too. As I was in a convertible, the lady on board had a short discussion with me by standing up through the escape/observation hatch in the cab roof. I walked around the back and found they had a nice BMW off-road twin sitting in the hoist with the spare tyres.

Gina, you were lucky to see inside - I got the impression that the couple I spoke to were heartily sick of giving tours, so I never got to see there.

Unicat : Big boy's toy, for sure.

Andrew
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Old 03-26-2007, 05:04 PM   #14
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I don't know much about electronics but I would guess that little TV is for backing up and would be very useful too.
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Old 03-26-2007, 05:39 PM   #15
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There was a beast exactly like that in a campsite we stayed in two years ago in northern Oregon or Washington. The owners weren't around while we were there - I wanted to compare gas mileage...
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Old 03-26-2007, 06:04 PM   #16
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That Unicat site is a lot of fun. Thanks for the link.

I notice they have a used one that is pretty close to Gina's Lemon. May even be the same model. A mere $325,000.

Here are the specs on the truck. Go to the site for the other specs.

MAN M2000 14.264 LAEC 4x4
Crew cab
MAN 6-cylinder inline turbodiesel with intercooler
Displacement 6.871 ccm (420 cu.in.)
Performance 191 kW/260 hp Euro 2
ZF 16-speed manual gearbox with crawler gear
2 speed transfer case with street and cross-country transmission ratios
All wheel drive, engagable
Differential locks for front and rear axle
Drum brakes
Anti lock brake system
Leaf springs front and rear
Tires 395/85 R 20 Michelin XZL, tubeless
2 chamber fuel tanks, capacity 650 liters (172 U.S. gallons)
Fuel prefilter with water seperator
Air suspended seats
Bench in rear of crew cab, converts to a bed
2 satellite navigation systems (GPS)
Music system with MP3 connection
Integrated airconditioner
Additional safety locks for drivers cab
Roof rack with branch guard
Crane for loading of spare wheel
Searchlights left and right
Truck horns
4 high beam lights, mounted at the roof rack
Hydraulic winch rear / front
Motorbike rack
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Old 03-26-2007, 06:44 PM   #17
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Wow! Nice set of wheels, if one was going all up South and North America, I could see why it would be handy, and being gone 2 or 3 yrs in it.

What would be nice would be a foldout deck just under the door of the coach. With a hot tub of course.

Thanks for sharing.
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Old 03-26-2007, 07:56 PM   #18
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Very much (in concept, but not size or floorplan) like the expedition camper (also MAN-based) in
Who in the world would want to look like..., They're camping in a garbage truck?.

I think the only techie detail I can add is that inner and outer layers of fiberglass (or FRP, or GRP, or glass-fibre reinforced polyester...) with something between them from a company like Unicat is likely a bonded structural sandwich, also known as cored composite construction.

Actually seeing one of these beasts in North America is certainly rare. The closest I have come is a Pinzgauer-based unit here in Alberta - same concept, half scale!
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Old 03-26-2007, 08:00 PM   #19
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While I certanly appreciate a rig "like this" .... it certainly isn't "my cup of tea!" I am more inclined to the simple stuff..... and a smaller thing to deal with. Having seen a couple of these "euro" units traveling around America..... I certainly give them the credit that they are due! But being a "local" I much prefer the simpler side of life! Lol, am now "rethinking" and may go back to the teardrop concept..... with a side-tent of course. (not sure if I want to tow even a 13' with my Jeep!)
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Old 03-26-2007, 08:29 PM   #20
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They gotta drive it.. and here is where they do that from.. as well as the power center, and bathroom.

I had to literally climb into the thing. It has a ladder you must climb up, it sits so high.

It did not feel wierd at all. There was something wonderfull about sitting so high above the campsite.. cat bird seat!

I am sorry I did not get a chance to ask about the technicals, I was just happy to have seen it.

They do rely on solar, and for when they have hook ups, they have convertors.

Engine size.. I dunno.. tires.. almost as tall as me
O.K. I saw a very similar rig at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico some years back. It was a UNIMOG made in Germany and was occupiesd by a very young German couple with a small child. they were out of their element and were asking me about the time zone change since thay had come from California. I had German in H.S. so I didn't get too far but was so intriqued with the rig that I took pistures and will try to find them to post. The Unimog had a crane on the top for swinging out the spare tire. The underbelly had plate steel to protect from boulders when crossing streams or small rivers. That's why the high clearance! The exhaust is high like a truck. It was funny thinking that they might have thought of America from the old Western films and were astonished that we had such good highways. Proably thought that they would have to cross deserts and rivers off-road to see America!
Most noticable was a life-size decal of a Motorcycle Racer bike on the side. This guy might have been famous in Europe and had the bucks to ship his rig over here.
(Unimog trucks have been used to tow ships along port cannels when tug boats can't maneuver!)
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