For me, it’s all about the MAN F2000

What do professional drivers do to combat the great summer heat? Turn up the air-conditioning system or convert the tipper body into a pool – at least, that’s what Matthias Ernst did with one of his MAN F2000 trucks. In his Truck Life Story, he tells us how he came up with the idea and about his very personal passion for Lion trucks.

When the temperatures outside are high in the summer, the car parks in front of outdoor pools and lakes are full to overflowing – finding a space for a truck is nigh on impossible. But you don’t have to if you have creative ideas. Just like industrial designer and professional driver Matthias: he converted the tipper body of his MAN truck into a real pool. He has also shown that he is open to alternative ideas and paths during his own professional career. In his case, truck driving and studying were combined with each another almost naturally.

“I liked machines of all kinds even as a child, the bigger the better,” says Matthias, “and trucks have always fascinated me in particular.”

Back then, the Austrian discovered his passion for the brand with the Lion when he saw a MAN F 2000 in a TV advert. From then on, he drew only this truck and was interested only in this model. And even back then, he knew: “I’ll get a truck like that later.”

Through his technical drawings of machines and trucks, he found his way to his degree course, Industrial Design. At the age of 18, he had already realised his greatest wish and obtained his truck driver’s licence. The connection to Lion trucks also continued while he was studying: Matthias bought his first truck at the age of 21, and it was the model that fascinated him during his childhood, a MAN F2000. And in other areas too, he also remained true to the brand: Matthias went to the Design department of MAN Bus in Munich to complete his bachelor’s degree and then wrote his master’s thesis at MAN Truck.

An attempt to bring together two worlds

After his studies, he immediately began working as a driver at an agricultural company in southern Styria – where he also found an appropriate use for his own trucks. “The farmer then transported things with my MAN instead of the tractor.” “I move between the world of work and driving and the academic world and try to get the two worlds to move closer together,” explains Mathias. And also to eliminate the false opinions that exist on both sides.

He himself now owns three MAN F2000s.

“I like the simplicity of the design of the F2000 – for me, it is really almost only about the F2000.” That’s why it was only natural that be also bought another one after buying his first truck: when searching for spare parts, he found a parts dealer near Graz who had what he considers to be the “top model” of the MAN F2000, a 19604 V10, of which only a few models were built. “Despite the engine damage, I still had to take it with me,” laughs Matthias.

With his MAN F2000 Euro 3, which he mainly purchased because the other two Euro 2 models are now no longer allowed to be used except in the agricultural sector, he is currently trying to set up his own transport company. Nevertheless, he will never stop seeing his trucks as more than just instruments to earn money. They are also used time and again to implement a wide range of creative ideas from the graduate designer. So, one of the three semitrailer tractors was used as a small bathing paradise over the summer. The Austrian created his own swimming pool with a trailer lined with a pool tarpaulin and filled with 25,000 litres of water – and then celebrated a pool party on his birthday.

Matthias himself finds a nice closing sentence for his Truck Life story: “In principle, everything that I have ever planned in relation to MAN has worked out.”