It's Baaack! And Gone Again! Highly-Capable 416-Based Unimog Expedition Motorhome

[mhiscox]

Looks like it will be serving food soon: https://twitter.com/ApolloCarts/status/378153151372607488/photo/1

Nice catch, Trev.

So, assuming the cat is now officially out of the bag, presenting, TA-DAH, the soon-to-be Motofish CoffeeMog:



The truck will, as best I understand the plan after hearing it third-hand, serve coffee, etc. at events in the Seattle area.

I've got mixed feelings about this, as the truck made multiple long expeditions through the Sahara and was one of the more famous overlanding trucks to come out of The Netherlands. But one can look at it as an easy retirement, and a respectable comeback after being without a working engine. She was a great truck with a good heart. Maybe not as happy on the U.S. highways as the African pistes, but she never broke anything and never stranded me. I hope she has many more happy days.

 

[mogwildRW1]

Mike,

I have the same feelings. When I was first discovering Unimogs that one kept coming up in search's, I combed over the pictures and it still has it's own folder on my computer that I browse now and again. Honestly I'm not much of a camper these days but if I was, I would have possibly considered it.

It will always have the linage of one of the nicest Camper conversions done, no matter if it's serving coffee or cruising the wilds.

 

[fourstringfletch]

I've always considered ways to make money on the road and travel indefinitely....
Clever way to keep the tank full, and a good excuse to properly install some great equipment that will surely come in handy around camp.
You'd have to keep moving as you get shewed away by rangers, but imagine the business you could do in campgrounds worldwide!

 

[Lorretto]

Update - Mods if this is a no-no please delete

Lifted from Craig's list ad posted five days ago so may be gone soon

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/fbh/4217038050.html



A brand new, one of a kind business is weeks away from beginning operations in Seattle and we are looking for the right person to manage it from day 1. Opportunities are plentiful and this is a chance to get in on the ground floor and begin a longstanding investment with a company that has tons of growth potential.
We are looking for a general manager to run our mobile coffee business in Seattle. This isn't some mediocre coffee served out of an old laundry truck. This is Lighthouse, Herkimer, and Doma coffee made on a brand new Synesso served out of a completely rebuilt and refurbished Unimog. The coffee is stellar, the truck is unique, the idea is there -- all that is missing is the right person to put it together. $35,000/year with incentives and potential profit sharing.
Responsibilities include:
- daily operation (40hrs/wk)
- scheduling and hiring of crew
- advertising and promoting of business
- management of truck and locations
- ordering supplies, etc
Qualified Candidates should possess the following:
- BA
- high end coffee experience w/o a high end attitude
- 3-5 years of coffee shop experience incl at least 1 year of management experience
- drivers license and clean driving record
- social media experience and comprehension (twitter & instagram)
Please submit a resume and cover letter. Please also include your Twitter and Instagram handles with your cover letter.
We will conduct interviews in the middle of December.
Thank you.

• Location: Seattle
• Compensation: $30,000 - $35,000 DOE
•Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.

 

[mhiscox]

Lifted from Craig's list ad posted five days ago so may be gone soon

http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/fbh/4217038050.html

It's so cool that you found that. Thanks!

So, inmates, here's your chance to combine coffee and urban overlanding. Expedition Barista . . . makes perfect sense to me.

 

[mk216v]

Very interesting concept, I look forward to seeing how it works. The old girl should definitely help picque people's interests as to what level of coffee lies inside.

PS--Trev, good to see you in a minty Mog. Where'd the feuerwehr go?

 

[pugslyyy]

very cool - lots of people will get a chance to enjoy that unique vehicle now.

 

[zimm]

a BA and 3-5 years experience to serve drinks out of a food truck, for 30,000.... wow.

young people need to take trades in HS.

 

[mk216v]

Slideshow of CoffeeMog; http://motofishcoffee.com/

 

[mhiscox]

I just now came across the website of the company in BC that did CamperMog's conversion into CoffeeMog. I'm still having pangs of guilt about this, particularly the part about gutting her insides (wonder what happened to the good electrical stuff and expensive tools?). But she must be doing well, and their driver must be pretty competent . . . she's at Second and Pike in Seattle today, a destination which, between the traffic and people and some impressive nearby downtown hills, I personally would not have been eager to drive to.

In any event, here's her coffee truck buildout:

http://www.apollotrailers.com/unimog.php

Click on a picture for bigger photos in a slideshow.

 

[pugslyyy]

That's a very nice looking finished product. I dig the paint job.

 

[cellularsteve2]

Could you tell if it was paint or a wrap? Looks nice in the photo. Thanks for posting.

 

[mhiscox]

That's a very nice looking finished product. I dig the paint job.

Yeah, looks nice. Motofish coffee is a subset of Motofish Images (http://www.motofishimages.com/), a seemingly talented/artsy Seattle-based commercial photography company. The story I heard somewhere--perhaps accurate, perhaps not--is that Motofish was attending all sorts of Seattle-area events anyway to take their photographs and had the brainstorm that if they were going to be their anyway, they could leverage their attendance by selling upscale coffee. How they came across CamperMog when Chris was reselling it, or why an old Unimog seemed ideal for the task, is a mystery to me.

Could you tell if it was paint or a wrap? Looks nice in the photo. Thanks for posting.

Interesting question, and I don't know. I'm going to guess a wrap, given that CamperMog, while quite pristine for her age and history, might have taken a bit of work to yield a good paint job. Vinyl would cover over the occasional wobble and patch of oxidized finish. Someone from Seattle should go get coffee and check for us.

 

[mk216v]

Goodness, even with the food cart craze in Portland, who knew there was such a lucrative business in building food carts!
http://www.apollotrailers.com/pricing.php

Paul should really start in on it. :elkgrin:

 

[eblau]

young people need to take trades in HS.

TRADES? HA! Computers are the future, we need more brainy kids to run the computers that run other computers that run robots that fix robots to fix other robots to build our stuff!