Favourite picture: Transporting wood in the jungle

Favourite pictures

Transporting wood in the jungle.

Forty years ago. Tough work for round-bonneted trucks in the Malaysian jungle.


A powerful performer: the LK 2624/6x4 with a body manufactured by Doll KG. In 1975, trucks towed huge tree trunks out of the forest on deep jungle tracks in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo. Huge trees weighing 40 tonnes and 15 metres long were no rarity.

The paths and tracks in the region, which the 130 trucks used to drive along forty years ago, were quickly silted up or flooded in the rainy season. So the drivers would force the very last bit of performance out of their trucks – there was hardly a truck without a dent or broken headlamps. Often, the vehicles with a load of up to 50 tonnes sank to their axles in mud and morass. If the paths became too steep or slippery, they were towed by bulldozers. As soon as they had mastered the steepest inclines, they set off at full throttle. Instead of the permitted 30 miles per hour, Jeeps and cars used to hurtle through the jungle at speeds of up to 70 or 80 mph. The trucks were hardly any slower.

Photos: Daimler AG


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