First forgotten, then cherished

TRUCKSTOP

The history of an MAN 15.168 HK in Westerwald

For almost forty years, an MAN 15.168 HK was forgotten on a parking lot. The “sleeping beauty” has now been revived again.

To transport freshly extracted clay from the Westerwald mines to the production facilities, Dr. Schliebs & Co. decided almost 50 years ago to purchase a brand-new MAN tipper. A 15.168 HK short-bonnet truck was chosen. The snow-white Hauber was registered on 4 April 1975.

But in November 1983 it was over: for unknown reasons, the company decommissioned the tipper and parked it in the corner of a warehouse on the company premises. The truck with the pontoon hood, which fell into the peaceful sleep of sleeping beauty, was simply forgotten behind the pallet stacks over the years.

Revived in 2022

Just under four decades later, in the summer of 2022, the five-cylinder engine, which had now become a classic, returned to the spotlight. The long-forgotten MAN 15.168 HK had to leave its parking space to create more storage space.

It was great luck that ‘Veteranenhalle’ in Selters received the news of Dr. Schliebs & Co.’s intention to sell in time and won the contract for the tipper truck, which was received in almost new condition. After a major overhaul, the replacement of all oils and filters as well as the replacement of various fuel and water hoses, the engine was brought back to life in a completely unspectacular manner. A few minor repairs to the compressed air system, an overhaul of the entire brake system, manageable cosmetic repairs to the body and unfortunately also a change of all six tyres – nothing stood in the way of an initial test drive.

Worthy buyer found

In search of a worthy buyer for this remarkable piece of Westerwälder industrial history, the Veteranenhalle team quickly found one: Marco Müller from nearby Dernbach was very impressed by the unique condition of the MAN. Together with his family, he founded “Tippergarage Westerwald” and has since visited meetings all over the Republic with his small but quite fine collection of classic cars.

Probably the most important selling point for the MAN 15.168 HK: Marco grew up in Ransbach-Baumbach. From his childhood bedroom, he had a direct view of the premises of a small construction company. Even before school started, the little boy excitedly watched what was going on at the construction yard. No wonder he was infected with the classic truck virus quite early on. Marco is also pretty sure that he had already seen the white MAN pass by at the front door back then …

Images and text: Florian Dasenbrock / Source: Historischer Kraftverkehr 02/24