Activ Update…..

Still nothing in particular to update you with, no photo’s any way, but….. a couple of our drivers we’re heading for Bremen and that sort of area last week. In my wisdom I mentioned it to the drivers and after the usual barrage for abuse for being such a sad-o, one driver said have you looked on Google Street View around the Airbus factory’s in Bremen………….. of course I hadn’t!! I popped onto the interweb and plonked the Street View man on a road right out side the one of the factories and low and behold an Activ spot!! A nice ageing Mercedes 814.

Activ Cars Spot in Bremen on Google!

Mini Artics

Dear Readers,

So far the info regarding mini artics has been a little sketchy to say the least. I have been trying to find out, what the weight combinations on these vehicles are. I NEED YOUR HELP!?
So far, i think it is fare to say that you can obviously have a minimum gross weight of 7.5 or 12 tons depending on what you require. This mini MAN artic is based on having a Gross Vehicle Weight of 12 tons, actually MAN’s are usually plated at 11,990kg. This particular one come’s from a German body builder and mini artic manufacturer called Pagenkopf. They claim that there trailer with an MAN TGL sleeper cab can still achieve a 5.500kg payload, which obviously means that the truck is designed to run at 11,990kg. This is also given away by the fact they call it “Maut-killer”, all vehicles under 12,000kg GVW dont have to pay the German Maut charges. The other thing I found yesterday on a quote for a 12 tonner from MAN was, they state the maximum Train Weight of a 12 tonner to be 24,000kg.

MAN mini Artic

MAN mini Artic

You may be wondering why i dont just ask MAN or Mercedes what the weight set up is. Well I have. MAN haven’t got back to me and Mercedes Benz UK have said they are on the case, so hopefully I will here some thing back, from one or both.

Activ Cars run these Mercedes Atego’s as you will be bored of reading by now. But they badge on the door say’s this is an “823” meaning 8 tons, 230 bhp. So how do they get away with pulling 11 and 13 metre long trailers behind. They can’t be using the GVW of 8 tons, so they must be going on the Train weight……………………..oh no i’ve gone boss eyed!!

Activ Cars

For a minute there I almost sounded like a right anorak! Can you shed any light on the mini artic debate?? If so email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk or leave your USEFULL comments below.

Activ Cars Spezialtransporte, Achim, Bremen

Right here we go again. Those who know me will know that i am not one to give up on some thing I want. Now for a good while I have been trying to get more photo’s and info about this lot as they don’t have a website. I did email them once and i did get a good reply with a couple of yard photo’s, but as you have guessed I want to get more of both! Activ Cars operate out of Achim, Bremen, Germany. They have a good looking fleet of Mercedes, mainly Atego’s. Perhaps my new friends at Mercedes Benz UK can even get in on the detective trail, surely there are some German colleagues you can contact?? Activ travel all over the continent and even regularly come to the UK. The main stay of there work seems to be for Airbus, delivering parts to manufacturing plants, such as Frankfurt, Toulouse and Broughton near Chester.

Activ Cars

Now, I have done an appeal before for your spots as you go about your daily drives, and we did get a couple of spots, one at Killingholme Dock and another up the M6, possibly heading for Broughton. I am going to try my luck by emailing the email address I have and hope the staff at Activ Cars don’t ignore my email. Now this is where you lot come in, while i’ll do the emailing, I need you lot to keep your eyes peeled and send me any photos you manage to get of Activ Cars mini artics on the road. Ideally one of you will find an Activ truck parked up and you can ask the driver to email me, ben@truckblog.co.uk or via the Truckblog Facebook Page. In fact who ever send’s in the best NEW photo of one of these trucks, will win a www.truckblog.co.uk sticker. In my previous searches I even put a thread on trucknetuk.com and did get some response, but i have renewed this Mini German Artic thread in the hope it too might get some new feedback.

Activ Cars 16.09.2010.jpg

Activ Cars A14 West 16/09/10

Just look at the backdoors, they have a lovely gap at the bottom for a nice new Navy Blue truckblog sticker! The detective work starts now, so best bi-nock-u-lars on and get detecting my loyal spotters. Hopefully now we have a load of new European friends reading the blog we may be able to spread the hunt further and wider than before and we may even get some results. Just imagine if an employee of Activ Cars got to hear about the search, they might email me direct!! Remember my email address is ben@truckblog.co.uk

Activ Cars A14 West 16/09/10

Activ Cars

Mini Artic Mercedes-Benz Removal truck

I know its officially a van, but this Mercedes Sprinter is such a cool looking thing and it does look like a proper mini artic, so under these circumstance’s i think it is allowed a VIP pass onto the blog. I came across it after our resident truck perv in the office (RF) came across it on perryolf’s page on flickr. I have to say there are a some excellent pics on his pages so if you have the time have a nose through, click HERE.

Mercedes-Benz Removal truck

Originally uploaded by perryolf