German trucks and cars after the war

[Acez84]

I couldn´t find a thread on this so im posting som pictures and examples of typical ways of "recycling" the equipment by farmers etc. Most pictures are from old books so I hope im not infringing on anything. If I am, please let me know.

Finding out what happened to german equipment after the war is a very interesting study. Many countries in Europe were very poor and had to put the equipment to good use after the war.

Sadly much equipment was destroyed, buried, and exported.



A Krupp transporting hay to the barn
(Reinli, Norway)


A Krupp plowing a ditch/field
(Reinli, Norway)


Steyr being used as a hay-wagon by farmers.
(Valdres, Norway)


German Tatra pulling a plow

If anyone has any examples of these phenomenons, please don´t hesitate to post something

[Acez84]

A few of the more tragic cases...


Nortag Glockner crashed/driven in a lake.


The streets of Berlin

[Acez84]

I´ll try and get an early picture of my fathers kubelwagen too. It was bought by a farmer from the government after the war. They sold equipment to farmers in need.

The farmer completly remodeled so that it wouldn´t look like a german car. A roof with a wooden frame was added and a lot of smaller modern items. Then they cut a hole in the floor and used it in the field to plant potatoes.

The farmer sold it to a local collector that bought up everything in the 60s, and 70s and hoarded it in a large carpark. Then he started to sell it off a few decades later...he earned a profit.

My father got it from him and about 8-years later he finally got it back into original condition. Some items he never found though...


Here is a german Horch. This was used as a firetruck in my home town after the war. Its in very good condition, although with some modifications...and the fact that its red..

[sdkfz2]

I have this rare photo: It is showing a 1940 Hanomag "schmalspur" "B13" used in the 50`s as a "tractor" on a farm in Norhern Norway. This Hanomag is still alive and is under restoration. Another fantastic thing is that this car might be the same car as shown on one of only two known war-time photos of Hanomag schmalspur. See page 36 in Frank Reinhardts book "personkraftwagen der wehrmacht". I know this because on my car I can still see three first letters of the WH-sign. It is same as on the car in the book (WH 607XX).

The car was made by Hanomag only for troops in the mountain areas, and was 35 cm narrower than the ordinary war-Hanomag 20B. This probably to fit in to bad norwegian horse roads in steep hill sides.

[VtwinVince]

Very interesting. I found a Schwimmwagen on a trash heap on the island of Rhodes in 1984. It was complete except for the wheels, but unfortunately I never took a picture of it