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$3,300 East German: 1968 Multicar M22

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If you like small, oddball vehicles, this one is a winner! This is a 1968 Multicar M22 and it’s in Kehidakustány, Zala, Hungary, so if you’re anywhere across an ocean you’ll need to do a heck of a job lining up a shipper. It’s listed on eBay with a Buy It Now price of just $3,300! I’m guessing that if this thing was in the US it would be long gone by now, snapped up by someone who loves anything small, different, and inexpensive. (and, I’d be in trouble, yet again)..

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$3,300 seems like a great deal to me, I’ve paid that much to extend a warranty on a car that I drive 100 miles a year – I’d much rather have this thing! Multicar trucks (is that an oxymoron?) are made in Waltershausen, Germany, about as central-Germany as it gets. Although, at one time in the not too distant past, it was actually in the area that was known as East Germany in post-WWII. Multicar is the only company that has survived from the IFA, or “Industrieverband Fahrzeugbau” (Industrial Association for Vehicle Construction) companies, in what was the former Soviet-controlled East Germany. Fun stuff!

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In 1958, the first Multicar came out, an M21. Between 1965 and 1978, the company built 42,500 M22s at which point the M24 came out. At 16 mph it’ll take you a while to get to where you’re going in this one. The M21, known as the “diesel ant” because of an ant being a tough little creature that can carry an impressive amount of weight, would be the one that I’d really want to own. Come on, who wouldn’t want to own something like this?! Of course, you’re not going to get an M21 licensed anywhere near the US, but it would be fun to bring to car shows. Here’s an M22 and an M21 parked next to each other. Ok, I guess I want both models now!

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The interior actually looks pretty good to me. The body has a lot of little dents and dings on it but it was, and is, a tough little work truck so it was probably only perfect once, the day that it left the factory in 1968. This example has certainly been painted at some point but at least it probably helped to preserve it, and the seller mentions that it has minimal rust. These little trucks are so small and, dare I say it?.. cute! I mean…bbbb.. for a tough work truck from Germany..

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People actually do restore these vehicles and I think that it would be a super fun project and it would be a little jewel box when you’re done with it. There is no question that it would draw a huge crowd at any car show. This 1,000-pound truck is powered by a “new” engine, which should be a two-cylinder diesel with about a dozen horsepower. It’s not a heck of a lot of power but it must have worked well enough for the company to have made over 40,000 of them. If this little truck was in the US I’d be severely tempted to grab it, for what purpose I have no clue. It’s so different, which I guess is a purpose in my world! Would any of you have a use for a little truck like this?

Comments

  1. Avatar JW

    A purpose for it NO but would I love to have it HECK YES !!!

    Like 0
  2. Avatar Dylan Morgan

    Handy for a smallholding or large garden but then again, too nice to spoil.Looks a lot of fun!

    Like 0
  3. HoA Howard A Member

    Reminds me of the FC Jeep. Great little contractors truck, yard work, manure and such. Wouldn’t want to build a Hoover Dam with one, but for around the “compound”, it would be great. Hope it’s geared right with 12 hp. Barely enough hp. to raise the box. This model is known as a CBE truck, or “Cab Beside Engine” http://www.trucksplanet.com/photo/kenworth/cbe/cbe_2416.jpg

    Like 0
  4. Avatar Peter

    (1) The two photos with the tray lifted show a chassis rail that doesn’t look straight. It might have been built that way but much easier to produce two straight rails.

    (2) A great design to have the tray tilt on two planes.

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Glen

    Hauling around firewood comes to mind.

    Like 0

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