RHD 718's for sale

[Lightning]

Came across this article today.... http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/artic ... d=11978855

Really like the idea of a 718 for touring around Australia.. My research led me to the fact that the NZ army have over 300 Right hand drive TD pinzgauers..

Hopefully now that they are being replaced we might see a few come up for auction. Does anyone have any further info on this..

I'm a little bit excited..

[Pinz aus]

I looked into it last year and received a formal reply that the weren't planning to disperse any of their Pinzgauer fleet before 2020.
Gives you (and the rest of us) some time to Start saving!

[Garrycol]

RHD 718s do come up for sale occasionally in Australia but are rarely advertised - get sold via word of mouth.

Here is the story of one that was bought and sold in quick succession last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dytWzxPOZ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSz1oaZbLlE&t=5s

If I had know about it I would have been interested - though a 718 is a bit too long for high country areas but great for outback travel. A 712 converted to RHD and a diesel (Isuzu 4BDT 3.9 Turbo - as per Perentie 6x6) dropped in would be the go.

Garry

[Lightning]

I looked into it last year and received a formal reply that the weren't planning to disperse any of their Pinzgauer fleet before 2020.
Gives you (and the rest of us) some time to Start saving!

Whereabouts did you get that info ? I'm not in a rush, that time frame would suit me well...

[Lightning]

RHD 718s do come up for sale occasionally in Australia but are rarely advertised - get sold via word of mouth.

Here is the story of one that was bought and sold in quick succession last year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dytWzxPOZ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSz1oaZbLlE&t=5s

If I had know about it I would have been interested - though a 718 is a bit too long for high country areas but great for outback travel. A 712 converted to RHD and a diesel (Isuzu 4BDT 3.9 Turbo - as per Perentie 6x6) dropped in would be the go.

Garry

Yes, I followed that one on youtube Gary. There are also a couple of video's the previous owner put up... one on Fraser Island from memory..

I disagree that the 718 is too long for the high country. These things are great at climbing, and would handle the hundreds of water crossings well.

Such a rare vehicle down here in the southern hemisphere, but so well suited to Australian conditions.

Looking fwd to testing the theory anyway.... fingers crossed I'll be able to pick one up when the kiwi's offload them..

There doesn't appear to be any problems importing them into Australia, looks to be a straight forward deal.

[David Dunn]

If New Zealand reacts like they did when they ordered the Pinzgauers, you’ll be looking at releases in 2035. The Land Rover fleet that the Pinzgauer replaced was over 30 years old at the time of the Pinzgauer contract. And in this case, the new Supacats are an armoured up vehicles and make even a SBU Unimog look small, In fact, other than a little narrower, the lengths are about the same as the US FMTVs, either the 4x4 or 6x6 models. Roughly speaking, the 4x4 Supacat Extenda (or Jackal) is 20% longer than a Pinz 718 and a whole lot heavier. I wouldn’t expect NZ to scrap the Pinzgauer fleet because it not up to the role of a MRAP but to delegate them to other duties they are better equipped for.

As for an Isuzu in a gas Pinz, you need a redline of 4500 to make it roadable or replace the trans with one to have an overdrive and a short tailpiece to allow for the short cordon shaft. The 716 and 718s have a longer wheelbase of 8” over their gas counterparts. Even a TD with the longer auto trans, the cordon shaft is still almost 2” longer than the ones in a 710/712 with a manual trans.

As some general numbers, total Austrian made TDs was under 6000 (LHD and RHD), and the number of UK made soft skin Pinzgauer was 1029 , and 181 Vectors. And almost all the UK made Pinzes are RHD.

[one2many]

Looks as if there's a few fellow Aussies interested in these late NZ 716/718's...as am I but as far as importing one (or more) to Australia I don't think it'll be a straightforward deal until about 2030-2033 when they become 25 years old. IIRC the approx 320 Pinzgauers purchased by NZ are built between 2005 and 2008. So unless there is some kind of "special exemption" for importing vehicles newer than 25 years to OZ from NZ that I haven't researched or heard of yet I think we Aussies NEED NZ to keep them for another 20 years or they will all end up selling to countries much farther away that don't have the red tape associated with Australian customs and quarantine when importing newer than 25 year old vehicles.
The small amount of research I did about 18 months ago pretty much backed up Davids comments above....NZ will be keeping them until about 2035 which rings true with articles written at the time of purchase that stated "a 30 year service life expectancy from the new Pinzgauer fleet." This should give me just enough time to save if I start now...on that note what do others think the US dollar value will be on a 2006ish 718k RHD NZ Pinzgauer in 20 years from now, assuming they have been well cared for unlike the Defcon built Malaysian Pinny's.

[VinceAtReal4x4s]

Hard to tell because by then I think we will be driving electric vehicles mostly (or only). Hopefully lots of conversion options will arise so maybe they will hold a lot of value!

[Garrycol]

I don't think it'll be a straightforward deal until about 2030-2033 when they become 25 years old. IIRC the approx 320 Pinzgauers purchased by NZ are built between 2005 and 2008. So unless there is some kind of "special exemption" for importing vehicles newer than 25 years to OZ from NZ

You can always import newer vehicles but you do not get the tax concessions that you get with the older vehicles so it really has not been economical to import them.

Part of the reason for the high taxes was to protect local vehicle manufacturing but with all that ceasing last year there is nothing to protect so the good money is that once the bureaucrats get themselves sorted these taxes will be removed and only GST etc will have to be paid like the old cars. However there will be the expense of getting them engineered to pass the relevant Australian Design Rules.

Garry

[David Dunn]

Buying a RHD vehicle (mostly LR Defenders and Series vehicles) in the US has been a novelty to some and after driving them here, ended up selling them because they couldn't get used to them.

This Pinz was a sister to GG and built as a demo for ADI for the selling ATL Pinzgauers down under.

P1010884.JPG (169.76 KiB) Viewed 7363 times

As the story was relayed to me, it was sold at auction and a condition of the sale was that it had to be exported from Australia. It reportedly ended up in Scotland. Guessing from the chassis #, this truck was made in early 2005.

[David Dunn]

And as a comparison, a pic of GG as I had received it.

DSCN0254.JPG (485.25 KiB) Viewed 7359 times

From the exterior, there are 2 things that distinguish her as a LHD ( and one of only a handful of UK made ones, literally )