Schwimmwagen

[unclescott58]

A little over a week ago I posted my recent Kubelwagen build. Today I present you with a Kfz 120 K2 Schwimmwagen. Another Tamiya 1/35 kit of the amphibious version of the Volkswagen Kubelwagen. A neat little vehicle. Not only can the Schwimmwagen go in water, but unlike the Kubelwagen it also has 4 wheel drive. Though with no doors, one has climbing over the side to get in. And with the narrow windshield and no heater, I think I'd rather have had a Kubelwagen on the Russian front. By the way, it is fun to go on YouTube and watch them in use for recreation purposes today. They look like fun. And the fun reason is why I left the machine gun and it's front mount off of mine. I like the idea of using both the Kubelwagen and the Schwimmwagen for peaceful recreational pursuits. 

 

[cobraman]

Nice. Just saw a couple of those on Jay Leno's Garage TV show.

[unclescott58]

1 hour ago, cobraman said:

Nice. Just saw a couple of those on Jay Leno's Garage TV show.

Really?! A recent episode? 

[cobraman]

I watched it last night but it was recorded so it could have been a week or so.  Jay drove one and that Jeff guy with the puppets drove the other. In and out of water and a little off road driving.

[unclescott58]

1 hour ago, cobraman said:

I watched it last night but it was recorded so it could have been a week or so.  Jay drove one and that Jeff guy with the puppets drove the other. In and out of water and a little off road driving.

I'll have to check out. Thanks for telling me. 

[Snake45]

Very cool! I've always thought this car was the inspiration or jumping-off point for the original Meyers Manx dune buggy. The Manx reminds me of one of these, customized and "cool-ified." 

[Mike999]

I just found these pix of a Schwimmwagen on a desert jaunt...in the 1960's!  They were posted at the Missing-Lynx armor site.  As the subject line says, the poor little Schwimmer is seriously over-loaded.  Nobody seems to know anything else about these pix. 

The oval plate on the rear says "CH," short for Switzerland.  I believe the ZH license plates mean Zurich, and there's a Swiss flag sticker on one of the jerry cans.  So I guess the owners were Swiss.

Here's a link to the thread so you can check it out:

https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/missinglynx/seriously-overloaded-post-war-schwimmer-pic-t324313.html

 

Edited June 16, 2020 by Mike999
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[unclescott58]

Cool photos. ?Sleeping outside like the one guy above, does not look fun to me. Interesting vehicle to pick for desert trip. 

 

[David G.]

Cool little bits of history, nicely done.

On 6/17/2020 at 5:56 PM, unclescott58 said:

Cool photos. ?Sleeping outside like the one guy above, does not look fun to me. Interesting vehicle to pick for desert trip. 

 

Now that's what I call optimism: "It's gonna rain... It's gonna rain... and when it does... I'll be ready!"

David G.