Since August 2021, MAN Truck & Bus is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Traton Group, which in turn is a daughter company of the Volkswagen Group. The production of commercial vehicles started in 1915, initially in a joint venture with Saurer from Switzerland.
Fast forward to 1971, when MAN took over the legendary truck and bus manufacturer Büssing, founded by Heinrich Büssing in 1903. So there’s the reason that Büssings of yore are very welcome at classic MAN events. More than two years ago, I visited such an event, held in the east of the Netherlands. So it’s about time to post my final report of the 2024 edition of the ‘MAN & Büssing Oldtimer Treffen’.
1956 M.A.N. Diesel 745 L1 4×2 tractor. Its cab-to-hood ratio seems to be in favor of the driver.
A traditional furniture hauler, Visser’s 1968 M.A.N. Diesel 770 truck. Both its bodywork and the 1962 trailer were built by the Ackermann company. And beware of the dog!
M.A.N. Diesel 15.212 ‘Pausbacke’ (chubby cheeks) 6×4 dump truck, a life-sized Tonka toy. These heavy-duty cabovers were offered from 1960 to 1967.
Saviem from France, Renault’s truck division of yesteryear, designed and built the more stylish tilt cab successor. M.A.N. Diesel, later on simply MAN, used the Saviem day and sleeper cabs on their 1967-1986 F7/F8/F9-series of trucks and tractors.
For that time, we’re talking about the late sixties, the cab was roomy and comfortable. Mind you, originally these MANs were offered with a column shifter!
A fine example is this robust 1971 M.A.N. Diesel F7 19.304 6×4 tractor with a day cab. It’s powered by a naturally aspirated, 15.4 liter V8 with a maximum power output of 304 DIN-hp (as stated on the grille). A bigger and more powerful V10 diesel was also available.
On a related note, massive V engines were widely used in the German trucking industry during the seventies and eighties, all the way up to the air-cooled, 19.1 liter V12 diesels in the Magirus-Deutz cabovers.
1984 MAN F9 19.321 4×2 tractor, which must have been retrofitted with a bumper and sleeper cab from an older F8, given the fenders and the position of the smaller turn signals.
1985 MAN F9 19.321 4×2 tractor.
An F9 22.361 tractor from 1986 with a 6×2/4 drivetrain. In the same year, the long-standing F7/F8/F9-series was superseded by the new MAN F90 cabovers.
Merely a rebadged Saviem SG (Super Galion), this 1970 M.A.N. Diesel 485 4×2 truck with a three-way dump body.
1967 M.A.N. Diesel 415 ladder truck, serving the Stadt Kleve voluntary fire department until 1999. Body and equipment by Carl Metz GmbH.
A Büssing BS 12 FSA from the late sixties with an Ackermann body for transporting furniture. ‘Möbelferntransporte’ is one word to describe the job of a long distance furniture mover.
In 1966, Büssing introduced their final generation of cabovers, known as the BS-series. Pictured is a Büssing BS 16 L 4×2 flatbed truck (16 tonnes GVWR).
A famous and distinctive Büssing feature was the Unterflur engine, mounted on the right side of the chassis. After MAN had taken over Büssing in 1971, the new owner offered the Unterflur (underfloor) layout till the late eighties. Initially with Büssing engines, from the late seventies onwards with MAN’s own horizontal power units.
A Büssing BS 15 AK 4×4 dump truck. The letters AK stand for Allrad Kipper, an AWD dump truck, and were used in the model designations of all German brands.
Back to the late eighties with a stunning MAN F90 24.362 Unterflur 6×2 truck, carrying a swap body.
Not much to see here, as the six-cylinder MAN underfloor engine is completely encapsulated.
Here’s a special treat, and that’s an understatement, in the form of a 1992 (year of first registration) MAN F90 19.422 UXT. The Unterflur Experimental Tractor was unveiled at the 1989 IAA commercial vehicle exhibition. Just a handful of them were built in the following years, it never went into series production.
The F90 19.422 UXT came with a horizontal turbodiesel (420 DIN-hp), full-time AWD, and air suspension on both axles. Experimental, indeed.
Ending the tour with the most modern MAN, present at the event as a gatekeeper. The 2021 TGS 18.400 4×2 tractor is equipped with a PM (as in Precisione Meccanica) knuckle boom crane behind the cab.
Thanks for this trip back in time; this is a great collection. I saw quite a lot of these back in the ’50s and then again when I spent the summer of ’69 in Austria. I fondly remember “chubby cheeks” MAN trucks as well as the style like that red fire truck. And the Bussings, with their underfloor engines and no radiator grille.
That F90 UXT is pretty radical.
Yes, seeing a Büssing’s face was enough to figure out if it had an Unterflurmotor or not.
I always loved the Unterflur concept; especially in a 4×2 tractor it allows for more load on the driven axle, which is often lacking a bit when either unladen or carrying a light load. Also, it would allow for a flat floor without sitting too high up. Unfortunately it was abandoned.
The UXT is the ultimate expression of it, in a way – traction would have been magnificent. Fuel consumption probably less so, with the whole setup being predominantly mechanical. Nevertheless, I like it a lot and I would love to develop a modern ‘reboot’ of it, suitable for jobs like pulling more than one semitrailer with superb traction within the physical confines of ‘standard’ 4×2 tractor as opposed to using a 6×4. Too bad it’s not going to happen.
…’I like it a lot and I would love to develop a modern ‘reboot’ of it’…
Are you working in the trucking industry Yuri?
Great post Johannes.
Indeed, I am working in the automotive industry in a research and development capacity (not directly at an OEM, but in a research institute); I always gravitate towards the heavy truck projects.
Aha, thanks for the reply Yuri.
Thanks Jim!
Ease of access was a key argument in favor of the underfloor engine in trucks. However, this argument lost its weight as more and more manufacturers began equipping their vehicles with tilt cabs.
Proponents of the underfloor drive also frequently highlighted the quietness inside the cab. That may well be true. Yet, it was all the noisier outside whenever a Büssing with an underfloor engine roared past. Man—I remember covering my ears more than once as a child (Büssing had a strong presence in our region; not least because it was, so to speak, their home turf).
The underfloor engine was problematic for Büssing not only as a unique technical selling point but also from a commercial standpoint. In the 1960s, Büssing offered a total of three truck families that allowed for virtually no design overlap (and thus no cost savings): conventionel cab trucks, so-called cab-overs with underfloor engines as well as cab-overs without underfloor engines. Too much for a medium-sized, family-owned company that—in addition to trucks—also produced city buses and coaches.
At Büssing, the engineers always overruled the bean counters, so to speak. Maybe they didn’t even have any bean counters/bookkeepers on their payroll, given the financial results in the sixties…
Astounding that such a small truck maker developed and built their own engines, both verticals and horizontals. Not to mention they also came up with something called the ‘Supercargo Decklaster’.
As mentioned, a legendary (and beloved) name in the industry!
“As mentioned, a legendary name in the industry!”
Yes – highly respected even by their competitors. The fact that MAN still displays the Büssing lion on every one of its own trucks and buses until today can be seen as a reflection of this high esteem.
The underfloor is intriguing, and elegant. Wouldn’t work well on rough and dusty roads, though. Too vulnerable and too dirty.
Fancy that column change! From having driven a variety of Japanese vans over the years, the ergonomics of a flat or flattish steering wheel and a shifter on more or less the same plane do not work (let alone some extra shambles of linkage to bind and bend about). The floor (or underseat) stick going (more or less) up and down (or forward and back) right next to you is simply far more conducive to human physiology.
Yes, Büssings with an Unterflur engine were dedicated Autobahn cruisers.
Johannes’ show reports are always great and this is no exception. And clearly he knows his stuff, as usual.
+1
Thanks guys! Here’s the trick: if you want to know something about, in this case, classic German trucks (specs, brochures, etc.) you go to German websites. Which means the Google search terms have to be in German too.
Just an example when I looked up info about that F90 UXT tractor:
https://www.eurotransport.de/fahrzeuge/oldtimer/unikat-mit-unterflur-der-man-uxt-4×4-von-stegmaier-nutzfahrzeuge/
That Saviem/MAN F cab got around. Roman in Romania license built variation of the F7/F8/F9 and I think it may have also been used by another builder. Saviem actually used it the least since when RVI was formed in the early 70s they opted to use the Berliet cab for heavy trucks and the Club of Four cab (also Saviem) for lighter applications.
Saviem, MAN, ÖAF, Roman, Rába, Hongyan, and Huanghe used the cab.
Scroll down until you see them all: https://www.renaultoloog.nl/samenwerking-english.htm
The rather timeless Berliet cab was also bought by Ford for their heavy-duty Transcontinental.