This week I was in Stuttgart, Germany to see some new Mercedes-Benz vehicles that I can’t talk about yet, which is too bad for you. But luckily for you, I also got to spend a few hours at the fabulous Mercedes-Benz Museum and can talk about all the wacky shit that’s in there, like this 1938 O 10000 that was used as a mobile post office after World War II. While that’s very cool and right up our alley here at Jalopnik, what made this bus initially catch my eye was its ridiculous front overhang.
I mean, just look at it! Have you ever seen an overhang like that before? It reminds me of a proboscis monkey, or a character from an off-brand cartoon. This O 10000 is powered by a 683-cubic-inch diesel six-cylinder engine that sits almost completely ahead of the front axle, and with 148 horsepower it could hit a top speed of 40 mph. Not bad for something this gigantic that I assume weighs about a million pounds. To make up for the long-ass nose, there are guide rods with round mirrors attached to the front bumper to more easily maneuver the bus in cities.
In normal configurations these 14-meter-long buses could hold up to 60 people, and this one was originally built as a long-distance people carrier. After World War II it was put into use by the Austrian Postal Service to carry packages between Salzburg and Vienna, but at some point (Mercedes estimates in the 1960s) it was converted to be a mobile post office that offered “the complete range of services of the state-owned Austrian post and communications service provider on a temporary basis.”
On the outside of the bus you’ll find a letter box with a polished flap, where customers could drop off their mail, and windows where customers could interact with employees sitting inside the bus to buy stamps, send telegrams, exchange packages or do anything else that a normal post office could. The bus also has private telephone booths accessed by doors on the left side, where you could even make international long-distance calls via the rotary phones screwed to the wall. Inside the bus are seats attached to the floor that can slide around, folding desks, a refrigerator and a sink. While it didn’t have air conditioning, a screen door at the back of the bus brought in some fresh air.
Its yellow and black livery is a nod to the postal service’s long history, as the museum explains: “In the late 15th century, Maximilian I, a member of the Hapsburg dynasty, bestowed them on the House of Thurn und Taxis as its emblem. The Thurn and Taxis noble family were to take over the postal service in the Empire. In 1615, they were appointed Imperial Postmasters General. To this day, postal vehicles in various European countries are painted in shades of yellow – and often have a Mercedes star on the front.”
Mercedes said this bus remained in service by the Austrian post through the end of the 1970s. Now the O 10000 sits in one of the best areas of the museum: the Gallery of Carriers, which showcases all sorts of buses, transport trucks and other vehicles that you might not expect to be on display at a car museum.
