Thanks for telling me what to do in attaching photos. I'm attaching three photos of my 1990 MWG Esarco 8X8, as a test. If it works, I'll post a few more. Hope they're not too large.
The truck is Land Rover-based, with a 4-cyl Perkins turbo diesel engine and auto transmission. With the weight of the truck, it is underpowered.
It has a 2-speed transfer case, and four-wheel steering (front and rear axles). Suspension is by coil springs and track rods all around. The drive train layout is unique, using two transfer cases.
There were only three prototypes and one production example of this 8X8 truck made. MWG lost out on the British Army contract to Steyr-Puch, and that was it. Of the four made, only two prototypes survive. I have the only one outside of UK. I found it in a Land Rover magazine classified ad, and it took 5 years of going around and around with EPA, DOT and US Customs to get it out of bonded storage at the Port of Anchorage, and into my back yard. (Don't think that wasn't expensive, and money down the drain, to boot!).
The drive train layout is like the S&S300 made under license from Esarco in Texas, but the advantage of mine is tht it is a crew cab.
Avatar: XM757 in OK prepared for 1,000 mile trip home. Part of 6,000 mile journey in 2006.
1968 M49A2C modified with 1960 M756A2 truck bed and 1975 HIAB 765A knuckleboom, exhaust brake, VIC-1 and more.
1969 Ford XM757 8x8, 5-ton Pershing 1A truck tractor...the "improved MV".
"Some things can't be made better, just differently......a lot of things actually"
Location: A View of the Bay and Half the Pay, Northern Lower Michigan
Posts: 648
RE: 1990 MWG Esarco 8X8 truck (UK)
Nice truck. Even more rare than the XM410 which was a Chrysler prototype from 1959. Does Esarco make another 8x8? I thought I saw an ad for one (not a hard top crew cab) a long time ago.
__________________
Brian M.
MVPA 8536
GLMVPA
Michigan Museum of Military Transport
I've got 80 some and they all fit in one garage.
Mostly 1/35 scale.
And the "toys-r-us" jingle doesn't work on model half-tracks, just so's ya know.
That is AWESOME!!!!
I want one!
Incredible drivetrain but a pity about the tiny engine.
I've always been a big fan of Land Rovers, it's the first thing I ever drove in the military.
Must be a buggar getting 8 snow chains on it. If you ever get tired of it, I'm interested.
Is it aluminum (aluminium)?
-Sarge
The cab is aluminum (aluminium) with the curved-profile doors from the familiar Land Rover Defender. The bed is steel.
The unladen weight of the truck is 7837 lb. and the payload is 4415 lb. I guess it could be called a2-ton truck.
Esarco made some earlier 6X6 prototypes (extremely nose-heavy!) and 8X8 protptypes, but these all had slab-sided bodies, and most had soft tops. A friend in UK is attempting to negotiate the purchase of one of the surviving slab-sided 8X8's right now. It was sold about 6 months ago on eBay UK.
Here is a photo of my prototype 008, taken in UK when it was near-new, with Terra-tires fitted.
Location: A View of the Bay and Half the Pay, Northern Lower Michigan
Posts: 648
Found this AD
Found this ad in my file from about 1990--came from one of the Auto Trader magazines. Don't know what happened to it . Doesn't look much larger than the Ramcharger behind it.
The pic is a blow up of one very small ad, so I hope the image comes through ok.
__________________
Brian M.
MVPA 8536
GLMVPA
Michigan Museum of Military Transport
I've got 80 some and they all fit in one garage.
Mostly 1/35 scale.
And the "toys-r-us" jingle doesn't work on model half-tracks, just so's ya know.
1990 MWG Esarco 8X8 truck (UK)
