THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

Hi Scott - Is the book that you refer to an english translation or available in german only? Fahrzeuge Der Schweizer Armee, (By Markus Hofman). Tried googling it but didn't come up with anything; maybe it is out of print probably never made the "Best Books List"!!

GenevaPinz wrote:...now the Land Rovers are a mystery to me. I always thought that Land Rover lost the Swiss army market to the G-wagen ...

When the Swiss were buying the LR Series 2s, the G Wagon was 10 years off before dripping their first drop of oil . Haflinger manufacture was going good ( The G Wagon was the demise of development of a Haflinger 2 ), and the first Pinzgauers were still in development.

Scott got to his copy of "Fahrzeuge Der Schweizer Armee" before I did.
You have to have a program, if you want to know who the players are.

[bThe G Wagon was the demise of development of a Haflinger 2 ][/b]

As Dave said the G Wagen really was the demise of the Haflinger!
The factory was working on a new Haflinger and it was called the H2 (Haflinger 2) Project.
When the G wagen came about they switched the H2 team onto the G.
People often read the G Wagen history and wonder why it was initially called the H2 project.

It was a real pity the Haflinger 2 never came about. The initial drawings and updated motor, drivetrain and features etc look great!

On a side note, when I was looking at buying my Pinz, this dealer claims to have on of two 1968 fixed prototypes used in the Pinzgauer factory video.

http://www.buypinzgauer.com/

Its listed the 3rd one down in the center column on the home page

You got me intrigued with the Swiss Army Land Rovers!! so I googled a bit and found the following website, which gives quite some detail about the history of one of these Land Rovers:
http://www.nasenoviny.com/landy/mylandy.html
First, as mentionned by Dave, their time in the Swiss Army was anterior to the Pinz, which explains why I never saw one during my service (which started in 92, just in time to see one of the last Jeeps). Competition with the G-wagen was for another generation of vehicles altogether.

Second, it seems they belonged to the soldiers who were driving them, who would use them privately during most of the year and drive them for the military during their yearly time in the army. This probably made sure they were not seeing as much abuse as the Pinzes who were seeing a new potentially uncaring driver every 3 weeks!
This explains why nobody in my family ever drove one. My father drove Pinzes, jeeps and M113 APCs in the artillery, an uncle drove jeeps and Dodge WC/M37s in the infantry, and another uncle in the "road police" drove loads of different vehicles (jeeps, pinzes, kondor motorcycles and even lambretta scooters...), but none of them ever mentionned a Land Rover. This makes me think that I'm the only one in the family who wasn't selected as a driver in the army... which may explain why I ended buying my own Pinz eventually .

I believe the book is only available in "Swiss German". I picked it up at one of the military bases in Switzerland, so I do not know how common it is. Has some great shots of Pinzgauers, Unimogs, and Haflingers...in use. I usually have it with me at the events, just ask.

Cheers,

Scott