Unicat MXT

[AZTRD]

I spotted one in downtown Madrid Spain early this morning parked in front of a hotel. Had California tags on it. Anyone here on the board maybe??
These things are impressive in person..

[JRhetts]

I would hazard a guess that this vehicle is owned by Avi Meyers (or his father in law) and is the first one that Avi has had built on the MXT truck - possibly on a shake-down trip to test it out before shipping back to the USA.

[Squob]

You're right, this one was being driven by Avi Meyers.

We ran a piece on Unicat recently on Squob, and Avi got in touch to say:

"I just returned from a fabulous trip with a new International MXT-based Unicat. In four weeks we test-drove the vehicle from Germany to Morocco and then back through Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and back to Germany.

“Unfortunately, International has pulled the rug from under our feet by ceasing production of the MXT after just one year of production. Because it’s now a one-of-a-kind, we won’t be promoting it but it is available for sale if anyone is interested. We are now looking at the new Dodge 5500 or Sterling Bullet as potential replacements for that model.

“In the meantime, I would greatly appreciate if you would let your readers know that Unicat can build any body they see on the European website on US street-legal chassis.”

The article is here.

Cheers,

Chris

[Kurt]

Probably not.

The last few generations of military vehicles have been deemed 'not roadworthy' by the DoD, and can only be sold as un-restorable scrap. Although there were a few M151s and HMMVs that snuck through, the vast majority get destroyed. Of all the HMMVs that have seen military service, only a very small number have become available as surplus, and all the one's I've seen are 1985 USMC units that somehow sidestepped destruction.

Personally, I think it's a ploy by AM General (manufacturers of the M151 and HMMV), who convinced the DOD to destroy them so as not to hurt sales of their civilian Hummers. But that's just the conspiracy theorist in me talking.

I drove M151A2s while in Korea, often at highway speeds (or above ) and would love to have one. I think they were awesome vehicles. Granted, the early M151s reportedly had high-speed stability issues, but that was resolved in the A2s. Yet they still get destroyed. What a waste.

This is true.

It's too bad that Navistar discontinued their MXT.

The problem with stripped down versions of these trucks [Civilian converted military spec vehicles] is that the dealer network doesn't want them. They want to upsell the versions loaded with options for a larger profit Margin.

I'm sure this is the case with Navistar, the dealers would rather sell a leather/dvd/navigation system equipped truck then a bare basic interior truck. More profit.

AM General experimented with low cost H1's. First the recruit edition for $35,000 in 92-94 [stripped down 4 door hard and soft tops with basic features and interior] and again in 99 with the sportsmans edition for $40-45,000. They only got 2 orders for the sportsman edition and never made any more [the dealers wanted to sell the 65,000-85,000$ versions].

Then GM got involved and things got weird.

The leaked out HMMWV's were mostly from the United Defense auction. They were a private contractor who worked out a deal with the Marines to gain surplus humvees for credit or something like that. UD turned around and sold them off in auction lots, about 1500-2000 of them. Apparently theres a guy in the north east who purchased the majority of them.

AM General keeps trying like heck to get DMV's to revoke on road registration for it's military trucks. And it's most likely to protect their civilian sales. After all they don't seem to mind the $1,200-$3,500 AM general deuces that are sold on government liquidations.com every day.

[Atweddle]

Guys,

I am the proud owner of the MXT from unicat, and saw your speculation on available front lockers for the Carraro axel. I actually am fortunate enough to have a relationship with the Aftersales and parts director at Carraro, and he tells me there is not a locker available from Carraro for this axel. (their is a Detroit locker in the Dana rear). I anybody has a lead on an aftermarket locker for the front, I would appreciate the tip, might save me another 4 hours of digging and winching!

Thanks

Andy

[charlieaarons]

Sorry. don't think you'll find a front locker for that vehicle. Do you have bead locks on the wheels?
Even if the answer is know, you can let pressure down to ~25psi in the rear and 18 psi in front which will immensely increase traction.
Be sure you have a good compressor to reinflate asap when conditions permit.
I have 395s on my Unicat U500 and the computer lets me go down to 32psi in the rear and 15 psi in front. But since I don't have beadlocks, and since it is almost always the rear that gets bogged more easily, I don't go below 18-20 psi in front (this is with CTIS system).

Charlie