Mercedes-Benz short-bonnet trucks
motor vehicle
The Mercedes-Benz "Kurzhauber" (short-bonnet) truck is a conventional layout, cab-after-engine truck manufactured from 1959 to present day. In Germany, it is most commonly referred to as the Kurzhauber (for "short bonnet"). The engine intruded into the cabin underneath the windshield, all in the name of making a shorter truck to meet the strict period German regulations on overall length. The short-bonnet truck was built in many countries and remains in service throughout many of the regions to which it was exported.
History
The first short-bonnet truck model, the Mercedes-Benz L 337, was first produced in Germany in 1959. Its technical successors were in production for export until 1995, long after domestic German sales had ended. The short-bonnet truck was a big export success for Mercedes-Benz and became very popular in the Middle East, Asia Pacific, South America, and Africa.
Originally, medium-weight trucks (L 323 and L 327, with 100 PS or 74 kW inline-six diesels) intended for shorter delivery and construction work were built in Daimler-Benz' Mannheim plant. The heavier trucks, for long-distance and heavy construction work, were built in the Gaggenau plant. These were designated L 337 and L 332 B (L 334 B from 1960), with 12 t (26,500 lb) or 19 t (41,900 lb) total weights and 172–180 PS (127–132 kW) diesel six-cylinders.
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This entry incorporates text from “Mercedes-Benz short-bonnet trucks” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.