6 unimog - Mercedes-Benz España

Convincing technical superiority
If proof were needed that the Unimog is
appreciated at the highways administration
department of the Czech local
authority of Eger in beautiful Bohemia,
the crew of Director Radomil Havrda has
certainly delivered it in a convincing way.
Within a month — October 1999 — the
workshop employees restored and made
operational a U 900, which was left standing
in a corner of the yard in an almost
scrap-like condition.
Today the shiny as-new U 900 complements
the vehicle park of Správa a Údrzba
Silnic Cheb (SUS) — Eger s Highways Administration
and Maintenance Department —
and is being fitted with implements such
as a rotary snow plough and add-on
spreader or Schmidt s road-sign cleaning
unit and roadside mowing system. A total
of six Unimogs are in service, along with a
Mercedes-Benz SK 1824 and an Atego
1824 with drain cleaning system, which
will be delivered soon.
There are 72 highway administration
departments in the Czech Republic, some
are using Unimogs but none are so well
equipped with them as Eger. This fact is
astonishing and is making some speci-
The Mercedes-Benz fleet at the Eger
Highways Maintenance department
12 UNIMOG
JOURNAL
alists amongst Radomil Havrda’s colleagues
rather envious. In a country such
as the Czech Republic, where there are
four domestic manufacturers — Tatra, Liaz,
Karosa and Praga, all of whom have made
a name for themselves in the all-wheel
truck sector, it is extremely difficult to
find arguments for premium foreign products
such as the Mercedes-Benz Unimog
or other truck brands. But for Radomil
Havrda it is simply the technical superiority
of the products from the Black Forest and
the truck factory in W rth in municipal
work and road maintenance that counts .
Even the Department of Transport in
Prague, the highest authority of the highways
administration departments in the
Czech Republic, has accepted Havrda’s
Four-lane motorways, main roads and even
the historical market square in Eger,
the Bohemian town rich in history, are part
of the Unimog U 400’s operating area
Eger
Karlsbad
Marienbad
Prag
Tschechien Tschechien
Budweis
Mährisch-Ostrau
Brünn
opinion in the meantime. We could undoubtedly
save money at first if we bought
a competitor s product , says the Head of
the Highways Administration, but in
terms of performance, payloads and axle
loads, add-on implements, lifespan and
universal applicability we would have to
reinvest several times over the amount we
saved on the purchase in the course of the
vehicle s operating life. The Unimogs are
therefore a convincing argument with
their economical lifecycle costs and it s
really no wonder then that under these
conditions the first new-generation Unimog
U 400 has now been put into service.
At the official handover, Radomil Havrda
remembers that at the beginning of the
Unimog era in Eger one of the fitters remarked
on the sheer versatility of the Unimog.
I was fascinated because I d never
seen anything like it before. Today nothing
can surprise him anymore in this area.
The new Unimog generation offers a
great deal technically and ergonomically
that relieves the driver, but also improves
the vehicle s operational diversity. I was
impressed immediately by this equipment
carrier and its facilities, he explains.
The U 400 in a
historic setting in
Eger, where Albrecht
von Wallenstein was
murdered in 1634
(photo at top)
The oldest U 900
Unimog is 26 years
old, and poses here
with the new U 400
pose as a symbol of
26 years of Unimog
presence in Eger
(centre photo)