performance. practice. personalities. unimog e-news 08/2021

Ludwig Weinfurtner tells real life stories on his YouTube channel.

Ludwig Weinfurtner lives in Trasching in Bavaria and is training to be a systems mechanic. So far, so normal. But when he does agricultural work with his Unimog 411 in his free time, he sometimes has up to 22,300 viewers watching. That’s how many subscribers 20-year-old Ludwig Weinfurtner’s YouTube channel currently has. This shows the special passion for the Unimog – both Ludwig Weinfurtner’s and that of his viewers.

When pictures speak for themselves.

When he enthuses about his Unimog the listener can easily forget he’s talking about a vehicle. He describes it as "easy-going, confident, powerful, reliable." And Ludwig Weinfurtner soon confirms what is fairly obvious to his listener: "The Unimog is more than just a vehicle for me."

What his videos really convey is authenticity: the 20-year-old takes the viewers and shows them his real everyday activities, showing videos of his work and repairing and maintaining vehicles – and he makes no bones of the fact that his native language is the Bavarian dialect. But his enthusiasm comes across the whole time. One of the many comments under one of his videos sums it up well: "I’m from Saxony and I don’t understand you very well, but Unimog mechanics understand each other without words."

The fame of Ludwig Weinfurtner and his Unimog extends far further than Bavaria and Saxony. "I have viewers all over the world," he says. The English, Spanish or even Korean comments under his videos bear witness to that. All these people are connected by what Ludwig Weinfurtner lives: a love for the all-rounder.

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Unique DNA.

The Unimog and Ludwig Weinfurtner: both have the stamina and passion for challenging work in their genes. The Unimog was developed 75 years ago by clever engineers as a versatile all-purpose tractor (or Universal-Motor-Gerät) and Ludwig Weinfurtner acquired his enthusiasm for agricultural work from his grandfather from early childhood.

The early years of the Unimog and the first successful models.

His granddad bought the all-rounder for working with wood, Ludwig Weinfurtner reminisces. But the vehicle was easily able to cope with those tasks. Today in the possession of the grandson, the Unimog is allowed to show its strength in the forest, on fields and on meadows.

The young trainee mechanic doesn’t want to be someone who just takes his Unimog out of the garage for a Sunday outing; he really puts it to work. "And the Unimog really can manage everything. Regardless what work you give it to do, you always know that it’ll manage it. And it does it better than the others," says 20-year-old Ludwig, adding: "It’s one of the family for me."

Everything began with Ludwig Weinfurtner’s grandfather, who inspired him not only with his enthusiasm for agricultural work but also with his love of the Unimog.

And Ludwig Weinfurtner’s grandfather also passed on the Unimog 411 to him. That was the basis for his video work.

Ludwig Weinfurtner makes regular appearances on YouTube, showing all the different things the Unimog can master in many different situations.

Equipped with a sidecar chipper-shredder, the Unimog 411 cuts a fine figure.

Ludwig Weinfurtner and his Unimog works in forests and on meadows, surrounded by lots of greenery.

As a mechanic-to-be, 20-year-old Ludwig has lots of technical skills and he enjoys working on Unimog, MB-trac and co.

From minor to major repairs: Ludwig Weinfurtner takes on every challenge – "just like the Unimog does."

Ludwig Weinfurtner likes to express his love of the Unimog – sometimes stylishly, too.

As versatile as the Unimog.

The Unimog 411 is the protagonist of the YouTube channel. The supporting actor is a sidecar chipper-shredder. "This vehicle combination demonstrates well just what the Unimog can drive all at the same time: a mowing attachment at the front, a shredder at the side and a trailer at the rear." Ludwig Weinfurtner acquired the shredder through the large Unimog fan community. "That’s a strong symbol for the effectiveness and power of the vehicle and the community," he says, clearly pleased.

He really enjoys the Unimog community. He likes looking over other people’s shoulders with his camera and filming them working with the Unimog. His channel conveys an interesting mix of love for older things and respect for newer ones.

The Unimog shows us everything that’s possible, the things we can manage.

Ludwig Weinfurtner, Unimog and agricultural videos

From Bavaria to the world.

In his workshop, Ludwig Weinfurtner is currently working on an MB-trac. He wants to get the tractor that is based on Unimog assemblies up and running as soon as possible and then exchange it for a Unimog – for Ludwig Weinfurtner there is nothing that can beat the all-rounder.

"You can see the Unimog as a role model," the young enthusiast sums up. It shows us everything that’s possible, the things we can manage. That we should be able to do useful work universally and that we should take an interest in as many different things as possible. Because then you understand the context. Lots of things can be taken from the Unimog and transferred to human nature: you can learn from it how to get enthusiastic about things." That motivates him. That’s why Ludwig Weinfurtner puts an average of 15 to 20 hours into editing a video – so that not only he can learn from the Unimog but also his 22,300 subscribers.