The Pinzgauer arrives

Saturday I arrived home from the Prescott Photo Walk to find this lovely parked at my house. The Sson's new back country toy had arrived from Iowa. A Pinzgauer, a military vehicle of choice in Mittel Europe and many other countries, originally made in Austria.

As yet, Sson had not driven said vehicle and it was time to give it a whirl. See all those controls? It's apparently a good enough off-roadster for the Swiss army to take almost anywhere in the Alps, for example.

And so, after he was comfortable enough, he invited me for a spin up the Thumb Butte Road. I have to say that we got plenty of respect on the road (below), though this is a much smaller, lighter vehicle than either the German Unimog or the American Hummer.

Before parking off the road, to give me a proper photo op, the Sson did suddenly pull off, circling over stumps and some pretty rough territory. Vehicle did fine, especially considering that its clearance is much higher than our civilian 4-wheelers, not to mention other serious features.

And, oh, what glorious shooting I could do through that high, wide and handsome flat front windshield. Assuming, of course, that it had been cleaned and no new splats had occurred.

Cool lacings!
According to Sson, there are fewer than a thousand of these neat trucks in the US, all made in the 70s and 80s. Though the machine is still made, now in the UK, the newer trucks don't meet our current American safety & other standards, though they're good enough for the picky folk in the European Community. Besides, they cost upwards of $100Gs+. The older vehicles basically qualify as collectibles; the Governator, for example, owns several.

I suspect the Sson has been lusting for a Pinz ever since he was stationed in Germany during the 70s. Though we have a nationally known Pinzgauer/Unimog dealer out Iron Springs Road, he was fortunate enough to find this particular vehicle on an eBay auction at a much better price.

Photo Walk Blogs: Several local bloggers have posted their pictures and reports of Saturday's big picture-taking extravaganza, including Rich, Sadira, Tombo and Dagny. Worth a visit to each!