maximog

April 15, 2003 11:07 AM

Expedition vehicles range from customized Land Rovers, pickup-truck camper tops to tricked out Ford F550's. European-style expedition vehicles include the Unicat, Pinzgauer, Langer & Bock and American-made Earthroamer. For those with no budget the MaxiMog was recently showcased at the New York museum of Modern Art. The specs are unbelievable "It costs more than a Unicat and less than a Boeing 777" and with a dashboard like this it will make your SUV neighbors green with envy.
posted by stbalbach (39 comments total)

[drool]

That MaxiMog is like a GI Joe vehicle, but for real. (Is that what they had in The Lost World?)

I wonder how long it'll be before we see the consumer version (MyMog? Mog²?) rolling through the hills of Bel-Air and Westchester.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:22 AM on April 15, 2003

Thanks for posting this. You see, living in the most abundant and wasteful country in the world isn't enough for me. Taught from birth to disregard interpersonal relations and all immaterial forms of beauty, my life seems empty if I don't constantly spend my money on the most blatantly ostentatious material possessions in childish attempts to one-up my neighbors.

And besides, it's patriotic to spend money. If it weren't for this arms race-like competition in status symbols, combined with my inquenchable thirst for gas-guzzlers, the entire world economy would collapse. Or so I am led to believe by my political leaders.
posted by goethean at 11:22 AM on April 15, 2003

This raises an interesting question: is it quicker to market to consumerize military vehicles or to weaponize winnebagos?

will make your SUV neighbors green with envy.

Until they one-up you by getting an A-10.
posted by George_Spiggott at 11:33 AM on April 15, 2003

I would take flying lessons for a license if they consumerize the A-10.
posted by linux at 11:39 AM on April 15, 2003

Hey, I saw the maximog at moma a couple years ago.
posted by mathowie at 11:42 AM on April 15, 2003

Oh god, look at the ads on the right.
posted by machaus at 11:46 AM on April 15, 2003

Just to clarify things like the Mogs are not SUV's. They are expedition vehicles. Totally diffrent class, often need a truck license to drive. They are designed to go unsupported for months at a time into off-road areas such as Siberia, deserts etc... Water, generators, fording 6 foot deep rivers, etc..
posted by stbalbach at 11:50 AM on April 15, 2003

Hi, I have more money than sense, can you help me?

Great! Thanks!

*vroom*

Just to clarify things like the Mogs are not SUV's. They are expedition vehicles. Totally different class,

Which means a few pro athletes will have them by the end of next season.
posted by Ynoxas at 11:56 AM on April 15, 2003

Stb...This is Metafilter, though, where driving any vehicle bigger than a '72 Vespa is the cause of dead African orphans, the SARS disease, the black plague and that comet that hit Jupiter a few years back.

I, on the other hand, think that it's both a) entirely impractical for normal driving (which is why it was never intended for such) and b) ridiculously cool. If it could become a Transformer when you pushed a button, then we'd really be talking.
posted by Kevs at 11:57 AM on April 15, 2003

It's got a jet boat and a fucking UAV! Somebody clearly wanted to be Q when he grew up. It's like Spyhunter with extra rollovers.
posted by furiousthought at 11:57 AM on April 15, 2003

When I get a car, I'm going to stick a bunch of extra switches onto the dashboard that don't really do anything, but I make a show of flipping them all 'on' when I start the car up. And another row of them across the top of the windshield.
posted by wanderingmind at 12:07 PM on April 15, 2003

Any ideas what he plans on doing with it? Night vision periscope zoom video cameras, radar, etc.. it would make an awesome spy vehicle, and he'll probably get stopped at every border along the way with that much electronics surveillance.
posted by stbalbach at 12:15 PM on April 15, 2003

Storing gas cans on the front bumper seems, well, risky.
posted by tomharpel at 12:45 PM on April 15, 2003

For hi-tech transport, nothing compares to the full scale Robby Jeep.
posted by snez at 12:50 PM on April 15, 2003

I guess the people buying the MaxiMog either don't notice, or get over the fact that it looks like a modified Good Humor truck.
posted by dglynn at 1:17 PM on April 15, 2003

Stb...This is Metafilter, though, where driving any vehicle bigger than a '72 Vespa is the cause of dead African orphans, the SARS disease, the black plague and that comet that hit Jupiter a few years back.

I have an '80...damn.
posted by black8 at 1:23 PM on April 15, 2003

This is cool.
posted by Dick Paris at 1:40 PM on April 15, 2003

Good Humor truck.

Ahhh! Suddenly another piece of americana falls into place. We call them 'ice-cream vans' in the UK. Which is a little more descriptive IMHO...
posted by inpHilltr8r at 1:48 PM on April 15, 2003

I understand that owning one of these vehicles results in the owner's having an absolutely enormous penis. Can anyone confirm?
posted by MrMoonPie at 1:58 PM on April 15, 2003

Thanks to this post, I now have an R. Kelly song running through my head. (The one about rollin' in a stretch Navigator with food everywhere as if the party was catered.)

Damn you! Daaaaamn yoooou! [/Charleton Heston]

Besides, everybody knows real off roaders drive rusty, jacked up '83 Jimmys with camouflage paint, rifle racks and Calvin stickers.
posted by arto at 1:58 PM on April 15, 2003

Hey, come on, as stbalbach does point out, these vehicles are (or should be) for folks doing overland expeditions, not dropping the kids off for soccer practice or picking up groceries. Also, note that many of these are European manufacturers ... Maybe people in Europe do this more, going overland to Asia and around Africa. Traveling around Europe and Morocco, I've come across some amazing ex-military and industrial trucks, buses, etc., completely modded out as self-sufficient mobile homes. Also included in this scene are tricked out off-road motorbikes, including modded BMWs.

As a sidebar, some of these poeple have been being kidnapped in the Sahara recently.
posted by carter at 2:05 PM on April 15, 2003

it's like MeFi is being poisoned by the smoke-spewing Ford ads on the right column!! aggh! run for your liv@#@ NO CARRIER
posted by shadow45 at 2:53 PM on April 15, 2003

These things are based on Mercedes Unimog trucks: incredibily capable vehicles used in variant form by numerous armed forces of the world. You can get your own if you want.
posted by jammer at 4:05 PM on April 15, 2003

I hate Luxury SUVs as much as the next guy, but I'm all for expedition vehicles, these things are incredibly cool and useful. If I ever need to drive from San Diego to the Strait of Magellan, I'll have my eye on a unimog.
posted by mosch at 4:06 PM on April 15, 2003

Which means a few pro athletes will have them by the end of next season.

You do realize these things have been around for a little over half a century now, right? I think the Unimog's moment as a hot fashion statement has probably come and gone a couple of times already...
posted by Mars Saxman at 4:21 PM on April 15, 2003

Although it's not quite as "gee whiz" as these yet, my uncle has a joint venture with GMC that is planning some outrageous SUV's. This is the first model.
posted by Dean_Paxton at 4:57 PM on April 15, 2003

Soon to be seen on the streets of LA, Chicago, and NYC driven slowly over the speed bumps and dodging potholes. Specialized vehicle at best that some marketing guru will manage to sell right in there with the SUV/Hummer class. What a waste of resources. I'll take mass transit thank you.
posted by {savg*pncl} at 7:12 PM on April 15, 2003

I'll be happy in my 93' Jeep Cerokee...

Tough as nails... they don't even make them anymore... and when they did later on in the 90's... they plastic-ized them... ugh...

Driving this thing feels like I am driving a real MACHINE... the steering wheel only takes a feather touch to turn on a dime... wonderfull...
posted by LoopSouth at 8:14 PM on April 15, 2003

What a waste of resources. I'll take mass transit thank you.

Soon to be seen on the streets of LA, Chicago, and NYC

I'll be happy in my 93' Jeep Cerokee

owning one of these vehicles results in the owner's having an absolutely enormous penis

my inquenchable thirst for gas-guzzlers

I don't think a lot of people posting here get the concept of an Expedition Vehicle. Let's say you wanted to drive around the world for 2 years takeing the backroads (and places with no roads) and live out of your car. Thats what these are for. The last place you'll see them is on the paved roads of America rather in the outback of Australia, the Sahara desert, the Gobi, Siberia, Nepal, etc..
posted by stbalbach at 9:10 PM on April 15, 2003

stbalbach, you have just described what the engineers designed these vehicles for.

The last ten years have proven that you can sell military vehicles to people that will pay a bunch of money to drive them to the grocery store.

Expedition vehicles will become the next Hummers for the foolish rich.

And maybe if you respect what the expedition vehicle is you might see how foolish a pavement restricted H2 looks to the rest of us.
posted by dglynn at 11:34 PM on April 15, 2003

I'm at work and pretending to be good, so I'll not go visit the site... But someone remind me, is it the MaxiMog or the UniMog that has the retracting wheels for running up and down railway lines?

I want one!
posted by twine42 at 1:27 AM on April 16, 2003

Stb...This is Metafilter, though, where driving any vehicle bigger than a '72 Vespa is the cause of dead African orphans, the SARS disease, the black plague and that comet that hit Jupiter a few years back.

No, SUV's make sense if you live in the Rocky Mountains or other rough territory I suppose. These "expedition vehicles" only serve a purpose if you happen to commute through lower Borneo. But, I imagine I'll soon see them on Park Avenue South joining the platoons of Hummers and Range Rovers braving the rugged terrain of 19th street all of which seem to be driven by yuppies who would sooner eat fried cockroaches than drive in mud.

Let's say you wanted to drive around the world for 2 years takeing the backroads (and places with no roads) and live out of your car. Thats what these are for.

Right. Sounds like a huge target market.

And if you say you need it to haul stuff then go buy a pick up truck or a station wagon. Or are those vehicles too downmarket?
posted by jonmc at 6:01 AM on April 16, 2003

Canyonero
5F10 - 22nd February 1998

Can you name the truck with four wheel drive,
Smells like a steak, and seats thirty five?
Canyonero! Canyonero!
Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down
It's the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown
Canyonero! Canyonero!
Hey, hey!
Twelve yards long, two lanes wide,
Sixty five tons of American pride!
Canyonero! Canyonero!
Top of the line in utility sports,
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!
Canyonero! Canyonero!
She blinds everybody with her super high beams
She's a squirrel-squashin', deer-smackin' drivin' machine
Canyonero! Canyonero! Canyonero!
Whoa, Canyonero! Whoa!
posted by blue_beetle at 7:57 AM on April 16, 2003

These are not production vehicles. They are custom. You don't go to a dealer and buy one off the lot. They are loaded with high-maintaince systems. Electric, water, generators, kitchens, showers, etc.. they are a LOT of work. In essense Winnebegos that can go 4wheeling offroad. The comparison to SUVs like Hummers and Ranger Rovers is funny but not practical. Expedition Vehicles are not SUVs, the are EV's I doubt anyone will be spending the 100s of thousands on one for ego only when they are so obviously for a single purpose. SUVs have valid reasons to be on the road such as hauling gear, trailers, bad weather, dirt roads etc..
posted by stbalbach at 8:40 AM on April 16, 2003

stbalbach, I understand your frustration with many of the responses comparing these to SUVs, but I think the responses are valid. Manufacturers are one-upping each other in vehicle size, and these are the next logical step. It doesn't matter that these were designed for African expeditions — they're going to end up on the L.A. freeways.
posted by letitrain at 9:29 AM on April 16, 2003

Thank God for the small penis Giganotosaurus SUV drivers.

They're the only cash cow keeping the U.S. automakers afloat, which is why you are seeing 10 grand rebates on Cadillac Escalades. Too bad their buyers don't realize how badly they're being ripped off.

stbalbach:

SUVs have valid reasons to be on the road such as hauling gear, trailers, bad weather, dirt roads etc..

Hmm, I guess that's why 99% of people I see in Ford Expeditions and Chevy Surburbans are driver only surburbanite commuters. One of my neighbors up the street has a polo pony sticker on his Expedition so I suppose he's not a poseur, huh?
posted by mark13 at 10:19 AM on April 16, 2003

Well, whatever, the purpose of the thread isnt to bash SUV owners but seems to have gone that way. Kind of a cliche discussion, I was hopeing to see more people post examples of other custom made EVs, they are cool vehicles where form and function create works of art. I'll be posting a new FPP today that may make the whole argument against SUV's moot anyway.
posted by stbalbach at 10:37 AM on April 16, 2003

Keep going, stb ... Perhaps the reason people think of EVs as SUVs is because of sites like this; whereas I think of EVs as more like this.
posted by carter at 10:58 AM on April 16, 2003

St Balbach, I don't have a custom EV but I do have this. I am lucky to get 20 mpg with this tired old beast. It has been an expedition vehicle for my family (starting with my mom + pop) since 1978. The expeditions it lead were mostly through the narrow streets of europe. (At times we would fold in the mirrors to make passage.)

I found this FPP interesting even while being troubled by that strange affliction that swept America, SUV syndrome. These custom EV's have little to do with that phenomenon and if they do start showing up, it will be one more example of bad taste and people not understanding the value of money. When I was working as an architect in western Maryland, the office vehicle was an SUV. Not completely necessary but sometimes helpful. Of course no one called them SUV's then...
posted by Dick Paris at 10:11 PM on April 16, 2003