The Opel Maultier Panzer-Werfer 42 Was Literally Built Like A Tank

Not many vehicles are cooler than an ex-military Humvee, but an Opel armored truck, with its own rocket launcher, could top it.

Produced at the peak of World War II, when conditions on the Eastern Front were already poor, the Opel Maultier Panzer-Werfer 42 demonstrated its combat skills by providing mobility and protection for the crew.

Based on a standard Ford 3-ton VS000S 4×2 truck, with sets of Carden-Lyd tracks, and wheel assemblies from captured British Universal type carriers, the vehicle is 19-feet and 5in long, 7-feet and 2in wide, and 8-feet and 6in tall, to the top of the rocket launchers. It tips the scales at approximately 7 tons, when loaded, and benefits from 8mm armored plates at the front, sides, and rear, and 6mm at the top and bottom.

When it was operational, the Opel Maultier Panzer-Werfer 42 used to carry a 15cm, 8-barreled Nebelwerfer rocket launcher, mounted on an armored swivel mount, and could transport a crew of 4, at approximately 20mph (32km/h), on almost any terrain surface.

From 1943 to 1944, Opel, which was a division of General Motors at the time, built 300 units of this military vehicle, and one of them is going under the hammer at AuctionsAmerica, on May 12, where it’s estimated to sell for $40,000-$50,000.

It may look ready to conquer the field, but it lacks an engine and transmission. The vendor says that the buyer could use a late model diesel unit and gearbox to get it in running order.