Looks like a baby mog

5 replies [Last post]
prwales
prwales's picture
Offline
Joined: 30.05.2007
Location: West Glamorgan
GWOA Groups: Members
mortinson
mortinson's picture
Offline
Joined: 05.11.2003
Location: Old beehive, Madrid, Spain
Re: Looks like a baby mog

Yep. It was marketed as the UMM Jabato in Spain. Tough as anything you can think of and probably impossible to break. Proven Peugeot 2.5 litre diesel power.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMM_(Uni%C3%A3o_Metalo-Mec%C3%A2nica)

They still exist as a company:
http://www.umm.pt/

mortinson
mortinson's picture
Offline
Joined: 05.11.2003
Location: Old beehive, Madrid, Spain
Re: Looks like a baby mog

Another Peugeot diesel powered beauty made in France was the Auverland A3: light as a feather and extremely capable:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae3Iu-zTYUc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0F9n0rSP7FA

prwales
prwales's picture
Offline
Joined: 30.05.2007
Location: West Glamorgan
GWOA Groups: Members
Re: Looks like a baby mog

a very common site in Portugal but I have only ever seen 1 in Britain, photo is a lwb open top parked up near Monchique

Quercus
Quercus's picture
Offline
Joined: 02.02.2004
Location: Hampshire, UK
Re: Looks like a baby mog

 The UMM Alter was imported into UK by SMC of Bristol originally and then by an off-shoot company based near Bournemouth airport. This would have been in the late 'eighties and early 'nineties. It was a rugged beast with a monocoque steel body in 2mm plate and an integral box section chassis in 3mm plate. It was heavy, but immensley strong. It used the turbocharged and intercooled Peugeot 2.5 litre diesel with a five speed manual gearbox and two speed transfer case, plus it had live axles on leaf springs. It wasn't very refined and the interior was pretty tacky, but it was pretty fast - good for a ton with a following wind - and was a brilliant towing vehicle. It also performed exceptionally well off-road. 
I visited the manufacturing plant just south of Lisbon and also observed the factory entered team taking part in the Portuguese "Baja" Rally in which they were quite competitive. However, quality control was an issue and the factory itself had management problems which interfered with production. I don't know exactly how many UMM Alters were imported into UK, but it was in the hundreds, but most of them seem to have disappeared into the woodwork, or are lurking in barns, disguised as rusty heaps.

There was a coil-sprung prototype at the factory which I was able to drive briefly, but it was being prepared for the Rally, so time was short. It was awesome, 'cos it was tweaked as well, but still ugly as sin.

It was a great shame that it sort of fell by the wayside and I never really found out why. It was, potentially, a brilliant vehicle, albeit pug-ugly. But of course, anybody who loves a G, couldn't help but feel a touch of affection for the UMM. There was an earlier model and the marque originally had links with the French Cournil 4x4 vehicles.

prwales
prwales's picture
Offline
Joined: 30.05.2007
Location: West Glamorgan
GWOA Groups: Members
Re: Looks like a baby mog

thanks for the information, I do like them a lot.