Spectacular recovery of a vintage coach!

Mercedes-Benz freed from the woods after 50 years

We have rescued a Mercedes-Benz bus, built 1951, type O 3500 with Kässbohrer coachwork. Tino Ertel and Thomas Turnwald of the Bavarian Pickers have discovered the vehicle and organized the mission. As it has a length of 8.5 meters and as it was concealed in a more or less inaccessable piece of forest in Northern Bavaria, they have called on ATG ACROSS THE GROUND.

We have developed a light but sturdy lift gantry and with its help we have freed the bus from its bed in the forest. We than moved our radio controlled transport crawler underneath, tight it down safely and drove out of the impenetrabel countryside. For the final leg on a low loader the 5to coach was transshipped on the first truck accessible road. The whole operation was done in two days in the mid of September 2018.

 

During the recovery not only the bus was treated with care but the enviromentas well. Here the crawler was of the utmost advantage due to its very low ground pressure. Besides that only two trees, that grew next and through the bus, had to be felled.

 

 

As this is the first official operation of our transport crawler, we have decided to carry out the mission as “pro bono”, a.k.a. cost free. As the Bavarian Pickers have carried out the recovery as nonprofit, we wanted to act the same.

On first sight the vehicle looks a bit wretched, still it will be exhibited at some car shows to present its history and recovery. According to some specialists the coach could even be rebuilt especially as almost all aluminium parts and bumpers are present and in good shape. The rusted sheet metal and the rotten wood can be exchanged easily. As the undercarriage of trucks and coach were identical at these times, spare parts could be found with managable efforts.

 

The Bavarian Pickers

Usually they recover VW busses of the T1 and T2 type. They are known for their surprising discoveries in Germany. Vintage car magazines and TV have had reports about their sudatory hobby. Their focus is to salvage the wrecks as gentle as possible, as over the years out in the open the vehicles have become very instable.

The Pickers came together in 2014 and are driven by pure idealism. They want to rescue as much vehicles as possible, to keep them from total loss and preserve them for the posterity. They derive their rewards from the gleaming eyes of the beholders. Their opinion is that not only fully renovated and gleaming cars , but the natural finish of the contemporary witnesses have their own attraction.

Tino Ertel and Thomas Turnwald are both born and reside in the Oberpfalz in Northern Bavaria. They both have their own vintage car shops.

Email: mail@bavarian-pickers.com      www.bavarian-pickers.com

 

The coach

The undercarriage Type O 3500 of Mercedes-Benz is married to a body from Kässbohrer. This variant only was build in the year of 1951. The recovered bus is one of only very few known examples. The present object was used as a public transit bus in the 50th and 60th. After it was put out of service a teacher and beemaster of Mendorferbuch/Oberpfalz bought it. He moved it far into the forest as a beehouse. After he passed away the buyer ot the piece of land accidently found the coach in the woods. After contacting the Bavarian Pickers they quickly agreed that the bus has had to be retrieved and be exhibited to the public. As the recovery was very challenging technically they contacted the specialists for cross country heavyload transports of ATG ACROSS THE GROUND.

The coach will now be given a set of new rims and tires to be movable and except to this will be kept in its present condition. At the beginning of December 2018 in Nuremberg/Germany and in March 2019 in Stuttgart/Germany it will be shown at the Retro Classics fairs.

We get started !!!

Well, it took a while, but it is a beautiful machine – our first transport crawler, that was build purposely as a compact cross country transport device.

Besides that we have got the necessary periphery. Transport truck, container, mobile fuel station and tools. And we have a full set of protective pads that we use on the steel tracks on delicate ground . They are even casted in our company colour! They were produced by our partner Felasto-Pur in Beverstedt/Germany.

Our four axle truck is an ex-firebrigade vehicle from Duisburg/Germany. It is a real eye-catcher! The truck looks impressive, especially after our friends from Feit Oberflächentechnik in Aufenau/Germany have had it in their hands! They even discarded our colour scheme in favor of their own ideas – and right they were! We have got a lot of compliments for the truck.

On our transport plattform not only the fixtures for the tracked crawler are in place but the container, that has been redesigned to our needs, has its own brackets.

So we can get started!

And the first job will be VERY interesting!

All she wears are shoes…

This is the text of a typical German drinking song! Well our transport crawler TC30 does not wear shoes at all! But we have been shopping and found an alternative to a pair of highheels in the right green colour!

The track cushions are made of PU bei Felasto-Pur in Beverstedt/Germany. We paid the company a visit after BAUMA 2016. Mr. Riesenbeck gave us an interesting tour through the production facilities. We were impressed! Not only cushions in all variants, sizes and colours are being produced, but fenders for ships and harbour walls as well. They are of impressing size!

Our company colour was not easy to mix, but thanks to the expertise in Beverstedt we will get the exact colour for our little power crawler. We will have pictures posted as soon as they are mounted!

Große Resonanz auf der Messe WIND 2017!!!

Eine erfolgreiche Messeteilnahme können wir nach vier stürmischen Tagen feststellen! Wir hatten zahlreiche Gespräche und Kontakte. Dabei hat sich gezeigt, dass das Ausstellen unseres ersten Raupenfahrzeuges der entschiedende Punkt war! Die eindrucksvolle Präsentation und der auffällige Stand im Außenbereich haben dazu beigetragen, dass wir mit den verschiedensten Anwendern aus einer Großzahl von Ländern ins Gespräch gekommen sind. Viele Projektleiter, Bauleiter, Investoren oder Hersteller haben erkannt, was man mit dem Fahrzueg alles machen kann. So mancher Seufzer der Erleichterung kam vor allem von Besuchern aus der Schweiz oder Österreich! Aber sogar ein indischer Betreiber hatte großes Interesse an der technischen Lösung.

Ebenfalls war festzustellen, dass es auch um größere Gewichte gehen wird. Da ist die nächste, im Bau befindliche 70 Tonnen Raupe ein richtiger Schritt. Aber die Gewichte werden wohl noch größer werden. Das können wir mit einer entsprechenden Lösung ebenfalls anbieten.

Und es zeigt sich ein Bedarf an Allrad-Lkw, möglichst mit Spezialreifen, Winden, etc. Wir prüfen ob auch diese Nische zu uns passt und wie eine wirtschaftliche Lösung dazu aussehen könnte.

Nach Hause ging es dann wieder in unserem Vierachser-Hakenlift Lkw, auf den wir den gesamten Stand und die Raupe in Rekordzeit verladen haben.

Vielen Dank an die Mitarbeiter der Messe Husum, die immer parat standen und jederzeit pragmatisch und unkompliziert unterstützt haben. Nur das Wetter konnten sie nicht beeinflußen. Aber deswegen ist es ja auch die WIND 2017…

Interalpin 2017

Das war ein interessanter Ausflug nach Österreich! Eine kleine aber feine Messe, die alle Themen rund um den alpinen Sport, Skifahren, Lifttechnik, Schneebearbeitung bis hin zu Helitransporten abdeckt. Zwei komplette Helikopter, die live und in echt an der Eingangshalle standen! Die Anlieferung mitten in die Innenstadt war sicher spannend!

Wir haben interessante Gespräche mit potentiellen Anwendern unserer spezialisierten Transportdienstleistung geführt. Hier dürfte ordentlich Potential vorhanden sein. Das wird sicher etliche hochspannende Projekte ergeben.