Fantastic Photos…thanx for posting them.
no problem, glad you liked them!
You noticed, that that restored Schwimmwagen got Afrika Korps markings? xD
Is that a prototype?
The shorty General Hasso Von Manteufel onboard a Typ 166, the guy in the Panzerbefehlwagens Panther is the Oberst (colonel) Lagkleit, both officers belong to the Gross Deutschland armored division.
Reguarding post war production , All schwimmwagen and kübelwagon bodies were built at the american owned ambi-budd presswerks near Berlin. Bodies were shipped by rail to wolfsburg for assembly with VW components. At wars end the ambi-budd plant was in the russian zone of occupation and its tools and presses were quickly disassembled and shipped back to russia. The earliet typ128 and typ166 scwimmwagens were built at the Porsche factory near stutgart and had 128 and 166 prefixes to their serial numbers. The VW assembled schwimmwagens had a 7- prefix as did the engine block for this was a VW typ7 , bug typ1 , kubel typ2 , bug with kubel chassis typ5, industial typ9 .The typ166, typ82,typ82e,typ87,etc. were all porsche numbers not VW! I’ve got a 42 typ166 at my shop and a 44typ7 thats driven daily.
Have been very close to a Type 166.
It was a “mid series” production, from details I could discern, and thoroughly restored to operability.
However: less apparent than may be thought is the relatively low freeboard, a drawback it shares with its’ American cousin and French grandchild.
As to producing the vehicle today: seeing that the Grosser KubelWagen is still marketed (albeit under another name), I cannot see it as unreasonable that the Type 166 could be produced, especially if in somewhere like Poland, Brazil, or Spain.
Certainly a modern version would be a reasonably affordable alternative to the existing hugely expensive amphibious vehicles in the “motorcar” class.
Regards, Uyraell,
interesting thread
Nice pics
The picture here is unusual, in more ways than one.
I’ve had a couple days to think about this. The vehicle driven by the officer, climbing the slope is Not a Type 166, nor do I think it to be a Type 128.
I’m thinking the Einheits Schwimmwagen prototype Authorised from Hans Trippel Motor Works.
Trippel produced several vehicle prototypes, none of which were adopted by the Wehrmacht. The “best known” of these rare vehicles were the “Schildkrote” (“Turtle”) series, of which the vehicle climbing the slope is most likely a direct ancestor.
Regards, Uyraell.