SD 251 half track

[Pb2au]

Don't mind me, I'll just be posting this picture of a 2/3 restored Sd 251 half track I had the pleasure of riding in today. That was right before I got to ride in a Schwimmwagon. In a lake. Generally speaking, a pretty awesome day surrounded by history.
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Here is one of the swim wagons,
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[Garyshome]

I'm Jealous!

[WILCO]

What's the story?

[WILCO]

I'm Jealous!

Me too!

[Pb2au]

A friend of mine invited the wife and I to a Kubbelwagon(spl?) meet in northern Ohio.
A group of collectors of Kubbels, Schwimmer's and other WWII German vehicles get together on a big private wooded campground for the weekend and goof off with the vehicles.
The half track was the belle of the ball. It is about 2/3 done. They have to finish the interior and do final paint on the armor.
The Schwimmer's and Kubels are essentially military VW's. The Schwims are four wheel drive by the way! Pretty cool design.
There were a couple of Zundapp cycles there as well. Anything with a sidecar is cool in my book.
This thing was used for support for paratroopers. It is basically a small tracked vehicle used to haul ammo and small field guns around. It sports an Opel engine. It was designed to fit inside aircraft doors.

[Pb2au]

The fellow restoring the half track actually does that for a living. I wish I had known that was a career choice.
He travels to Europe once a year to search for parts. He actually bought some road wheels for one that a farmer was using as a floor in a dairy barn.

[Don Purcell]

The last photo is a Kettenkrad. Lots of photos of them being used to tow things including aircraft. Neat.

[375supermag]

Hi...

Pretty cool!

I have been studying military history and AFVs since my teenage years. I have a particular fascination with half-tracks, including the SdKfz 250/251 series vehicles. A favorite is the SdKfz 215/9 "Kanonenwagen" armed with the 75mm L/24 gun, which is based on the primer-colored vehicle in the photo you posted.

[SGTM9]

Man I want one. Don't matter which one. Of coarse I can't afford to buy one so it could be donated to me. I would not be to proud to accept said donation.:bigsmyl2:
Seriously though looks like it was a very cool day.

[Pb2au]

From what I can gather, the half track runs in the neighborhood of 350k$. The Schwimmer's are in the 160k$'s. That is a little rich for my blood!
It is very cool that there are people willing to invest the time money and time into these though.

[bob208]

well you have a some what of a chance. the Russians when they over ran Germany took the bmw motorcycle plant back with them and have been making them ever sine with the side car. it is called the Ural.

it still has the side car wheel hooked to the rear wheel and is driven. that explains why the Germans were able to go any where with one. there are videos on you tube with people using them for mudding like they do jeeps here. if you are a country or have clearance you can order one with machine gun mounts or even a anti tank rocket option.

[SharpsShooter]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO6SoC6u_XI

SS

[dagger dog]

The Kubel Corps, I helped my friend maintain his 1943 Kubelwagen, he invited me to the annual reunion, the schwimmers are a hoot, true German simple engineering that works. He sold his Kubel (not a schwimmer) for $28,000.

The rear seat passenger uses a steel rod to lower the out drive manually. Lots of hard work put into those vehicles !

I worked on one of those Urals that was a ComBloc, it had a side car, the BMW logos are still on the crank case and cylinder head castings ! I asked the owner for a wiring schematic, he provided one , it was written in a Slavic language, but the pictures were worth a 1000 words.



I think the Germans had 2 different bikes, the Beemer and the Zundapp, the BMW I worked on the side car wheel wasn't live, but I think the Zundapp was, it had quite a bit more power than the beemer.