Unimog Club UK

Hi Nathan and welcome along.

Sounds like you have taken on a nice challenge for your self 👍. Stick some pictures up of you get time, it's always nice to see how people get on with there projects.

As for insurance, I think there all as bad as each other 😂. Mine was always insured through business but I'm fairly sure NFU cover mogs  (saying that, they didn't know what ones was when I rang my local branch😂)

Cheers, casto

Hi Nathan lovely chassis the 1550 was classed as the best offroad chassis at the factory for many years, I have a camper and find that Adrian flux very good.
What is it registered as at the moment ?
Moose

Hello again folks.

I'm excited to say that I've been making progress on my project over the last few months even though it's been very slow - mainly of the planning kind working out the design for my camper box and details like integrating diesel heating into the engine coolant system etc. 

I'm pretty close to having some work done on the vehicle by Atkinson Vos including installing said heater, spare wheel frame, extended fuel tank etc. etc.  it will be exciting to get this done and take delivery of the vehicle after lots of months.

However I am having a complete nightmare finding insurance and I really need to reach out for any help people can give.  I have tried all the usual suspects, flux, nfu, towergate, etc.etc. and nobody is able to quote for a domestic policy for the vehicle. 

So this is a big (desperate?) reach out to anyone who has managed to get a social domestic and pleasure policy, or a camper van conversion policy on a mog  - particularly one less than 20 years old - to say please could you PM me and let me know who has covered you so I can try to find a solution.  If you wanted to speak to the Atkinson Vos folks to check my credentials I'd be very happy for you to do so. 

At the moment it feels like my only other option will be to lock the vehicle in a shed until 2020 when I will be able to get a vintage policy from flux (as long as their rules don't change).  This would be super sad as I'm just itching to take it our for a little run!

Yours in hope

Nathan

Hi Dan,

Very happy to share thoughts.  My vehicle is a U1550l37 already fitted with turbo and intercooler.  Benefit as I see it is that I will be able to maintain a modest pace when I hit gradients and not be too much of a pain to following traffic.  I'm happy with 55mph and so not too worried about fast axles. 

I don't have experience with these before, but have had a past of upgrading drivetrain in race cars and the issue with doing stuff like changing portal ratios could be that you need to think about every other link in the chain to eliminate weak spots.  (In race car terms increasing tyre size or switching to slicks required upgraded uprights, drive shafts, diffs, etc etc.  )

I'm swapping the standard tank for bigger.  One of our goals is long bush trips in Australia and Africa so extended range is important.  This also leads to considerations like water filtration etc.

I started building the body at the weekend.   I'm building an al frame with foam composite panels. 

I'm tall and so am lifting the cab roof by 20 cm.  I will have a roof mounted centre console for radio and other cab related stuff. 

I'm properly stuck on insurance though.  I'm having zero luck.  Given my build will take a couple of years I'm beginning to be resigned to sticking the truck in a shed until it's 20 years old (15 months) and then getting vintage cover.   

I've tried every phone number I can think of or Google and I'm at my wits end at present.  It is crazy after 30 years totally clean driving including some fairly "capable" machinery that it's so difficult to get cover. 

Let me know what you're doing - it's always good to have someone else exploring the same stuff. 

By the way, get Uli Dolde's book, it's super helpful.

All the best

Nathan

Hi,

I'm around 6 months behind you but would be interested in your woes so far. Did you sort insurance as I am about to head down that track?

KR

Brett

1550 is a lovely chassis