The usual questions again: Who was the manufacturer? What was the model name? When was it created?
Up to the Experts.
This one can be more complicated than it seems!
We'll start with the UNIC 340 V8
Quote from: Bill d isere on May 17, 2026, 05:00:20 AMThis one can be more complicated than it seems!
You're right about that, it is a UNIC V8, but not a 340. I'll give you three attempts to correct it.
Locked for Bill.
270
No (I)
Serie 190
No (II). It is a very, very rare model.
Vercors
No (III). Your answer #2 was pretty close.
I'll lock it for two more attempts.
697N
No, stick with V8 for now.
270T
No. This is not a series vehicle!
Prototype ?
Unic produced two prototypes. The puzzle vehicle, however, was a later one-off.
Why didn't I recognize Moritz Thommen, founder of Unic Center AG, in Ziefen, Switzerland, at the wheel of his 1976 T370A!
Yes!! Details follows when we are home again.
I'd have loved to have seen the look on your face when you realised you were 'short-sighted'. I was wondering why it took you so long to get the message.
On the history of the Puzzle Truck (source: "Last & Kraft" 06/2016):
Although Unic had been part of the Fiat Group since 1966, it remained independent for some time. The V 85 S was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 1969. A V8 engine producing 340 (SAE) or 310 (DIN) hp from a 14.88-litre displacement, which was fitted from 1970 onwards, for example in the Unic T 340 A.
The next step saw the development of four prototypes of the 15.55-litre V 86 S, producing 370 (SAE) or 330 (DIN) hp. Two of these were entrusted to renowned customers for use in heavy-duty tractors, whilst a third was used for test bench runs. As the group was no longer interested in the Unic engine, the project was terminated and the units scrapped. Except for the fourth engine! The fourth engine underwent a test programme at Saurer and was subsequently forgotten until Moritz Thommen, a Swiss Unic specialist, discovered it and fitted it into a 1975 Unic T 340 A. This is how, in 2009, a truck came into being that really shouldn't exist: the Unic T 370 A.
I'll tell you what woke me up: the semi-trailer's marker lights... I remembered I knew that trailer!
;)