Speaking of seat belts, it was a Volvo engineer who invented the modern 3 point belt system. They left the patent open for all car makers, as Volvo considered safety more important than capitalizing on it :)
@@Lassemalten not to mention the rearview windows break in a special way so u can use the shatter like a knife incase you need to cut somones seatbelt :)
The purpose of having a front window that opens is so that you can see better during night driving. This was common on military vehicles in Sweden prior to night vision.
Thats Bullshit. you could drop everything down, even partial the rollcage for huge loads, like a anti-tank gun and to drop it when you just cant see anymore or need to navigate in ruff terrain. the view through the window or not at night makes no big difference ... similar to the jeep
@@Teo317 there are window versions for the passenger side with an hole to stick a rifle through., on the roof is an trapdoor with mounting points for an threepod
The red button on the blackout switch is just a mechanical guard so one can not accidentially switch into blackout mode. It does nothing electrical, but for switching the blackout rotation switch the red button needs to be pressed.
I was a tank mechanic in Sweden but did work on these as well from time to time. It must be one of the easiest vehicles on the planet to work on, so much space no matter what you are doing.
That's how you want it ideally, one of the nicest things about the old Datsun 120 series cars was you had so much room in the engine compartment to access anything, made them a great car for beginner mechanics to own and learn on.
What memories this video brought me! In the early 90s I used one of these during my conscription military service. We called then "terrain vehicle 1112" or just "11-12". They had a nickname, "the puppy". Enormously fun to drive off road. Just remember to keep you thumbs on the outside of the steering wheel as it may spin violently if you touch a big rock with one of the wheels.
Valp, or "puppy", isn't this. It's a 903, or the L3314 Laplander if you prefer. Specifically, it's the Pltgb 903. The 1112 is the radio version, the proper military term for the 303 is the Tgb 11.
As a conscript soldier in Sweden back in the early 90's we runned the open top variant with ATGM and I can ensure you those heaters are very effective.
I drove Valpen... I drove the one without the syncro mesh and that was an experience trying to double clutch, force the gear in and making certain of not going too fast or it would just tip over. Made out of plywood and hope.
I've driven these and other similar ones when doing my military service. Basically this fulfilled the role of the old WWII jeep, cheap, plenty of them, and you needed something, get in one and go get it.. They were really bare bones, but reliable and good for driving in "normal" off road conditions.. The flippable windscreen did many different duties, if it was stinking hot, open it.. If you drove in mud and caked your screen, flip it open.. Drive at night and using those night lights.. open it to see the guy in front before you ran into him.. And they could handle our winters, you had enough juice in the battery, it would start at -45...
@@siggyincr7447 Actually no, we had diesel trucks, and those had a heating system for the engine where you used kerosene burners to keep the engine warm, plus ether start. No probs getting the engine running as long as you heated the engine every four hours or so.. I would guess it's different today, but back then diesels were heavy and not that powerful for small engines.. I would compare this to a Willys jeep of WWII, and I bet there was a reason for it being petrol too. This was a barebones runaround for shit roads and terrain built cheaply en masse. The engine was a detuned B30, originally built for volvo 164s. And it was built for idiotic 18 year old conscripts to handle badly. :D
You make a lot of fun, about the basic nature of the "Valpen" (puppy). It was made to be repaired in the woods, during wartime. Not for leisure. And its forty-seven years old, still runs!
@@eskileriksson4457 Haha! It is like calling you Erik Eskilsson.
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You have to expect a 50 year old army truck to be a bit quirky. Having driven the sister model Tgb20 / C306, which is a 6x6 troop transport with 18 soldiers in the back which weighs almost twice as much loaded, driving the Tgb11 / C303 felt almost like driving dad's Volvo 144 sedan. No servo and a long stick shift was nothing new for men born in the 60's in Sweden... Actually, the B30 engine in C303 was the same as in the Volvo 164 luxury sedan. The C303 was obviously built more for cold than for hot weather, even if a C303 won the sub 10 ton truck class in the 1983 Paris - Dakar rally. Also, it was build to drive on narrow forest tracks where the farmers otherwise pulled out timber to the roads with their tractors. The predecessor, L3314 / Pltgb 903, was even narrower, but also lighter and a bit easier to drive, and rusted less. When I did my service in the mid 80's, the 10 year old C303s were a lot more rusty than their 20 year old predecessors. Regarding this particular vehicle, the owner also replaced the stiff standard suspension with "american style" soft suspension and mounted stuff on top of the roof which was deliberately built to be as light as possible to keep center of gravity low, since the vehicle is narrow... If it felt scary to drive, it's probably not Volvo's fault...
Thing is that the guys in this video makes a laugh out of the C-303. The driver has no idea that he drives the probably most capable 4x4 that ever left any factory. I say this as a Land Rover man. Everyone in the Scandinavian offroad scene knows that nothing beats a C-303 off road. You can modify other cars to stand up, but then you can modify the C-303 even further... The Volvo C-303 is a beast. My dream offroader is a C-303 with modern disc brakes and a modern diesel engine. Nothing made in USA or Canada would come close.
@@sallhame Exactly. The C303 can almost climb trees, it is the only vehicle I would want in a post-apocalyptic world. Laughing at C303 reveals the bearded schmucks incapacity of understanding how good these vehicles are.
@@tamastabar5526 I've ridden on the external roof rack of a Tgb 1321 as the driver crushed down a few 3m tall Juniper bushes when he needed to shift it so we could get the cammo net up properly...😆
I drove a TGB11 (the military designation in Sweden, "Terrängbil 11") everywhere and all the time in the Military during the 80-ies. Really miss the wild terrain driving we did. This one was actually a lot better than the 6x6 version TGB13 or Volvo C304. Still working at Volvo by the way 🙂
I might have built that one. I worked on the jeep line in the A-hall at Volvo Lundby in 1976 as production was running down. My job was to go and fetch the body from the other line, and then fit it onto the chassi and connect it all up, I think it took about 40 minutes. Towards the end we were only building three a day, it was great, never played so much cards (skitgubbe was the card game we played IIRC). Lovely crowd of guys worked there. When they stopped production the A-hall became a restaurant, I think it's all offices now. I was moved off to TLA which was market adaption, and when they asked me if I could drive a truck I lied and said I could, so I spent the winter of 76/77 moving trucks. The thing was we had a C303 to fetch drivers, it was wonderful to get back into the C303 after digging a truck out of the snow , that heater really worked. I also drove the C202 quite a lot, they were producing a series in Hungary , they were pretty awful, I remember a lot of them couldn't reverse, so you had to be really careful where you parked. In the end I think they sort of gave them away if you bought a truck. They also highlighted how much better the C303 was compared to the C202. The C303 was comfortable and always worked.
When you shift to low range front wheel drive is also engaged without pressing the button. Front wheel drive is also engaged when braking to prevent rear wheels from locking. Front wheel drive is also engaged when ignition is turned off which means parking brake works both front and rear.
I've had the honour of driving the Pinzgauer 6x6 in the military. Absolutely amazing vehicle. It could scale anything I threw at it. A true apocalypse vehicle. I have a large place in my heart for that vehicle.
I drove one 29y ago, during military services in Sweden. In the back, the seats was on the sides, so you could put a stretcher between the seats on top of the battery house that was in the middle behind the engine, not on the side. We never used the side hooks. The roof hatch has a machine gun mount. (KSP-58, based on FN MAG) The "Pizza cutter" spare... Thin wheels was used during the winter, to "Pizza cut" through the snow. Max speed was 70km/h by military rules, but it did 110 km/h. (You could make it go faster, by opening the front engine cover, and fiddle with the carburetor. But also fiddle with it again at lower revs, so it wouldn't die. ) It was mainly used as people carrier. But think of it as a "Fast tractor" . (At low gear setting, and 4wd, it really was a tractor. Stupidly strong)
One cool feature is that the wheels are not centered on the axles and the engine is kind of backwards because of the 1:1 gear that gives the 303 a few extra centimeters clearence .. Diff spärr - diff lock ur- disengaged bak- back fram - front framhjulsdrift - front wheel drive. We had these back in the 90s when I did my mil service. I have never seen on get stuck ever. Sometimes sarge had to use the front diff locks but thats it.. Oh the dayz.
Swedish engineering…….long before canbus,bluetooth,touch-buttons…….without powersteering this wasn’t made for Grandma But i guess it can take an EMP and still running Cheers from sweden
Hi there. I also drowe this in my army service. An then we bought one. But sold it last year. After 18 years of fun. Now i am going to participate in Aurora 23 military repetition. Love this cars soo much. Greatings from sweden😊
Cool to see. We used to have one of the later civil versions of this vehicle when I was a child. We lived in Rwanda and they were marketing NGO aid-organisations with that model. We were seven in my family. It was the first vehicle my father let me testdrive ...
The C303 is Terrängbil 11 (4x4), the C304 is Terrängbil 13 (6x6) and the C306 is Terrängbil 20 (6x6). The Tgb 20 were a troop carrier that could carry 19 soldiers or an AA unit of 11 men and equipment.
What all the other Swedes said. Also, switching high to low while rolling is pretty common on trucks. It's basically a small truck. Back then, Volvo the trucks and Volvo the cars were the same company, so they obviously borrowed a lot between the divisions. Also, you for a very long time could order parts for these from the Volvo dealerships in Sweden, because most of the sundry items are standard bits, sometimes painted olive drab. I've got a friend who owns one, and he got the spares for his engine rebuild by doing exactly that. Same goes for the Scania SBA111; it's 80% standard Scania truck parts. They still stock those as well. The engine indeed is a B30, like in the 164 luxury sedan, but the cam is a bit different, being tuned for more low rpm torque.
The blackout switch doesn’t affect anything except the lights. One setting for semi- dark, which allows the use of special lights that point the light beams downward so the driver gets a little aid in driving in the dark while at the same time it hard to see the vehicle from a distance. The next setting turns all lights off, including inside the car (dashboard). We were trained to drive the car in pitch darkness with only a luminous weave tape attached to the car in front of you to keep track of where we were going. Great memories
I drove one of these when I was in the Swedish army 1986-87. The Swedish designation is tgb11 (terrängbil 11 - "terrain vehicle 11"). Never flipped up the front window. The snow/terrain chains were a chore to deal with. For driving in rough terrain, I preferred the 6x6 sister, tgb13, which felt less prone to flip (not that it ever happened). At 16:05, they talk about the roof hatch. It was for the plane spotter, as it was SOP to have one guy standing there while driving in a column, looking out for enemy aircraft. There's a mount for a ksp58 (Swedish version of the FN MAG) machinegun there. As for power steering, there was a steering wheel, and the driver supplied the power. Spending a cold March night sleeping in the driver's seat is one of my least favorite army memories - I ran the heater intermittently so I didn't made the battery go flat. Anyway, it was a fun vehicle in it's way, and I appreciated having access to it and the freedom of movement it provided.
my father served during the 80s in Sweden, and he have told me so many horror stories with these cars, how they would sway around almost tipping over during hard winds( and some did according to others), and also when he and his buddies lodged one of these between to trees austinpower style haha, they much preferred the old gray 60's volvo disel trucks, me as a kid i always dreamt of having one of these as i saw 100's of these in my region near P7
My grandfather bought one of these here in Nova Scotia. Ge got it running with a new engine and got to enjoy it a few times before he passed.. his was brought here to transport linemen and parts into hard to reach areas to service lines ..
The old Swedish electrical and phone line services also used the civilian version of this for the exact same purpose your grandfather did, back when those services were still 100% govt owned up to the mid 1990ies. Theirs were painted bright orange. The fire services also had some for forest fires and for beach rescue, painted bright red with red and white quarter painted wheel rims.
@@SonsOfLorgar I know I got one that was a Vattenfall-operated C303 (so it was white). 12V electric system and a transfer case mounted PTO mounted mechanical winch (117hp winch power...), so 4 gears winching speed (when high/low range are in neutral) and it can operate at the same time as driving (preferably selecting low range), so wheels driving and winching at the same time from low 1 to low 4 with locked axels, it will not get stuck... The winch can lift the C303 straight up on a single line. 45-meter wire. But my C303 also has power steering through hydraulic power amplifying steering assist. The hydraulic pump replaces the engine fan so it has an thermostat electric fan. Off-road you never use the clutch, low range, first or second gear, speed regulated through the accelerometer pedal only. Diff lock only when needed. You use the torque and traction, not the inertia to pass obstacles. One correction to the info in the video. TGB11/C303 does not have SU carburetors, the carburetors are Zenith Stromberg 175CD-2SE.
UK here: That seems very reminiscent of our Land Rover Forward Control 101 and similar to the Pinzgauer all very versatile vehicles, horses for courses. Respect to anyone keeping these old girls on the road, they deserve respect.
He said something like »Pinzgauer from Germany« - no, it is from Austria. There is something like a little brother, the Haflinger, only 1.35 m wide in order to drive on about any Alpine trail a cow can walk on.
During my military service in -86 I was once the passenger in one of these, driven at high speed on curvy roads. Let's just say I'm glad to still be alive.
I had the predecesor to this here in Norway, the 1960s Volvo l3314. a bit smaller and with a B18 engine, a superstiff and super barebone military offroad truck, awsome for what it was buildt to do. Onroad it needed a really defensive driver.. Drumbrakes all around, topheavy and slow.
Great to see, worked with these 4 and 6 variants for 20 years in the Swedish Army, very durable. One advice if you are going up or down steep rocky roads. Always go in low gear, only use the differentials when really needed (mud) and get chains and use them in rough terrain even in summer. Greetings from Sweden PS we called this Tgb 11
The manual says 97 octane RON, so you are good with the 94 octane (AKI) fuel. The red button on the blackout light selector is just a stop to prevent accidental change of the switch. The B30 engine that's in this vehicle is the same engine as you can find in the Volvo 164, and that was available in a fuel injection version.
Okay, Warn makes a 24v 8274…even if they didn’t, you can just swap a 24v motor onto a 12v winch. Put air bags on the front to help with parabolic springs instead of the rubber bump stops. Regarding it not wanted to crank when hot, he needs to wrap his fuel lines with insulation to prevent vapor lock.
so in sweden it's called a TGB11 , you also have the TGB22 and TGB33 , of course there are c-class names for them as well. they can take pretty much anything you throw at them.. I jumped mine during military service, that was a fun evening =)
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22 and 33? I suppose you mean 13 and 20. There were also Tgb 30 and 40, but those were huge Scania beasts.
Tgb 20 is the class name, the infantry version is Tgb 21, and the Tgb22 is adapted for AA units with special racks at the rear. Most call them Tgb 20 though. Tgb 11 and 13 have many sub-variants too.
The C303 actually won the Paris-Dakar race in its class. Its narrow width has to do with how close we trim? our trees (hmvee are to wide). Ithink the point of beeing able to switch from L to H is when pulling high loads, like trucks do. The orange button is just a stop for the turn knobb for the lights, so you dont accidentaly turn all lights off. Thx for the cool clip :)
I owned one of these for just over a year , when I bought it , it still had its winter tyres with metal studs in it, boy did it make a mess of the Tarmac parking it outside of my house, gotta say it was one of the most fun vehicles I ever owned
I was passenger in one of those when it tipped on it’s side , doing a very slow 180 over a hidden mud sinkhole , WITH 2 BOXES OF HANDGRENADES IN THE BACK !!! I’ve never seen six men exit a sidways vehicle that fast. No injuries though. Only scrapes , bumps & bruises.
As my uncle was in the army stationed on Gotland in the early 90's I got to drive one of these as a 7 year old. Also got to shoot a CG m/45, with assistence of course.
97 octane is not the same as your north american octane rating, we use RON octane and you use PON. Long story short, 97 octane in the manual should be about 91-92 octane over there. Pretty sure you have to run lead substitute for the B30 engine though, we had leaded 98 RON up until the early 90s (iirc, i was a kid) and 98 RON pump gas had lead substitute almost into the 2000s for the older cars. If the head's been rebuilt with hardened valve seats, no problem without the lead substitute. Now-a-days we can buy lead substitute in bottles to add ourselves. The B30 should put out about 120 hp and isn't really a high compression engine. The trailer electrical connector is a military one, not a european standard civilian one as if anyone cares =D
Used to drive around in these back when I was in the army. My platoon had three of them, a 303 like this one and a pair of 304's with six wheels. We had customized them by installing ring turrets over the roof hatch and a slot at the front end of the roof to set a wire cutter in, as well as larger doorsteps. Since I was an MG gunner, my usual station was on the turret. On field exercises, we'd often remove the side doors or their top halves, making it easier to dismount quickly and for the passengers inside to shoot if there was trouble. Guys really liked them.
Spent a few thousand hours in one of them during my years in the army i reckon. Hilarious vehicle. It goes places you wouldnt believe. Sat in one that rolled from a more daring atempt at a sideways run up a ravine. One lost its tire when we drove it. There was a "kablonk" and we was like "what was that?" then we saw the wheel gently coasting away next to us.
The opening front windows, is for when driving in the dark without any lights. You can see much better with the window open, in the dark. Drove the 6 wheel version when I did military service
I did my draft service 1976-77 in Norway, those Volvo 4x4s were by far the nicest vehicles we had. We used them among other things to pull 20mm anti-aircraft guns.
As an ex Swedish homeguard soldier I can say we used these untill about 2012-2013. Funny to see how the instrumentation was never translated. Ussualy there would be a FN MAG(ksp 58) mounted on the roof. We would always bring along an inverter to be able to charge phones and operate laptops from inside of it.
Cool. My father used to drive theese, both the C303 and the C304, 304 has 3 axels, 6x6 during his conscription in the Swedish army in the late 1970:s. The funny thing is that these are still in service in the Swedish military. Mostly in the Swedish national guard or Hemvärnet but also in many other regular units. The Swedish army is slowly replacing these with a mix of new Mercedes Geländewagons, Sprinters and other models. The terrain capacity is not longer that important as it used to be during the cold war era. One civilian model actually won the Dakar rally 1980 in the class of light trucks. It was only briefly modify to run on low quality petrol fuel and had and anti roll bar installed. The crew only had experience of driving in Swedish terrain but they got their license and proved that the C303 was capable of every kind of terrain. Back here in Sweden the C303/304 is starting to have collector status among private owners and good ones in great condition is hard to get now.
Good old Tgb 11 :-) The spare wheel was moved from the bracket at the front on the roof to the rear door to avoid that the car with the front wheel drive activated, when braking could be driven with the rear wheels in the air by pressing the accelerator pedal and the brakes simultaneously. I remember it as an easy vehicle to drive, both on road and off-road. Never used the differentials. But it was a long time ago, last time 1986...
@Teo Phil The Pansarvärnspjästerrängbil 1111 version has deleted roof , a bazooka and is made for soldiers to be able to fire without dismounting the vehicle. I did my armyservice as a heavy machinegunner in one of these and also in PV-ROBOTBANDVAGN 2063 with the guerilla tactics of operating in dense forest terrain without being seen. Fast in, fire, fast out. Warms my heart to see these vehicles get a second life in civilian use. Would love to see a video with some rockclimbing and some trailruns. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I drove one during my compulsory military service in Sweden, 1993-1994. It was a very peculiar vehicle to drive but it was reliable, easy to fix and just a really robust ride. I saw one that flipped over on its side due to an idiot driver. Luckily both in it survived without a scratch thanks to the safety belts. Luckily some other conscript fellas were close by with a front lifter and they helped to get it up on its wheels again. A minute after it was fixed a car with two officers drove by and saw nothing special. No officers ever found out! And yes, even the rear view mirror could be fixed without anyone knowing and it drove away happily half an hour later. Lovely vehicles!
I have one of these and in 2016 took it from the north of England to the Sahara in Morocco. A 4500 mile round trip over the Atlas mountains. I had a custom radiator made for it and with 30C temps never had a problem with overheating. They are amazing trucks.
The Latvian army still uses these little beasts. I got to ride around in one while in a rotation in Europe and they are as fun as advertised, even when left stock.
Very quirky for sure but on the other hand, not bad at all either. You got a camper van with 4x4, can't beat that. And the components in the drive train are quality stuff.
Did my conscript time as a anti tank robot shooter (bantam) and we used these T11 for some crazy driving when regrouping. Shooters where sitting at the back and we found out very fast it was much more comfortable to sort of crouch and hang in the roof hatch steel bars than sit when driving in terrain. We also learned very fast to use the helmet when doing that.
There is a little longer one that is 6X6, Tgb 13. Usually when you go off road, even with now snow, you put snowchains on, and it takes you just about anywhere. Its amazing!! The Tgb 113 was used among other things to pull 12cm mortars. The small button is to turn on the small darkdriving lights you spoke of earlier
I did my military service on one of those in 2000-01, mine was from 75. You could think it was the oldest vehicle, but we had trucks from 1964 still in service 2001.
We use these alot on the mountains here in norway, though mostly the older c202. There is next to no comfort in these and I really felt it after a 6 hour drive on rugged terrain. But it will get you where you want to go
I loved driving these when I was conscripted in Sweden in the 80s, both C303 (4x4) and C304 (6x6) or Terrängbil 11 and Terrängbil 13 as they are called in the Swedish defense. Terrängbil is Terrain vehicle in Swedish. The engine is a 3 liter inline six Volvo B30, same as in Volvo 164.
The c303 is a beast for its size. I think better than the Austrian Pinz in some regards. Have seen them with PTO winches as well as step-down 12v but the amperage draw is much higher on a 12v than 24v. There are some ‘Chinesium’ 24v winches out there but Warn is probably the best bet - even at $2600. Interesting that a NoN NATO vehicle utilizes the NATO style pintle and plug. These trucks were much advanced than the German/Belgian use of the Unimog S404. I have driven both the c303 and c304. The 6x6 is much more stable but the 303 is great fun !
Cool machine. Always wanted to play in one of those. I'm a Brit & it reminds me of my old 101 Forward Control. They were both meant to play off road with. Watching the video... well both have their good & bad points, but that Volvo looks a lot of fun.
Hey Casey, tell him there's a company in Austria that has really good offroad winches up to 8t capacity for 24V called Horntools. I bet they are happy to sell him a winch!
This brings back memories from my military service in 1979... (Tgb 11 as it was called in the Swedish army). We had the 304 (Tgb 13) as well, same thing but 6x6.
This vehicle was designed before NVG so the windshield that can be opened is for driving at night to get slightly better visibility. Remember in war you drive with all lights out execpt for perhaps the lead lights as you mentioned. Greetings from Sweden!
Drove all the various TGBs (11, 13, 20) as a Swedish Army officer in the early 90s. I never thought of them as quirky. They all drove well in my experience and their off-road capabilities were great. It was more fun driving the BV206 tracked ATC but the wheeled vehicles were also good. Then came mechanisation and CV90s and more modern armoured wheeled vehicles like the SiSu.
I drove one of those in the Swedish army back in the 90´s. Used to flip up the windshield up when driving in the woods at nighttime and you had the lights turned off to have better visuallls.
I used to have one of these almost for myself at work a couple of years back. None of the other officers had done the actual training on the vehicle. And I've also held a course or two on it's sister variant TGB20 which seats driver, passenger and 16 soldiers in the back... on wooden benches of course nothing but the best for them
There's something cozy about these old military vehicles. Everything is so bare essential, and everything is reachable without leaving the safety of the vehicle. Those flimsy seats sure will look pretty inviting after humping 50 miles with equipment.
For the convoy lights, only the front vehicle uses the front lights to "light up" the path. The following vehicle only follow the shielded red light on the vehicle in front of them.
I drove one for about 6 months, initially doing 90km/h but after testing, reduced my top speed to 70km/h. This reduced the fuelconsumption from 28liters per 100km to "just" 20 liters per 100km!😅 The parking brake is a drum on the outgoing shaft from the gearbox, but as it has vacuum regulated differential locks, as long as the engine isn't running and not producing any vacuum, this locks all wheel with one drum!
What a fun video to watch. I drove the 303 when I was doing my military service in Sweden some 30 years ago. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that it runs with the B-18 engine. A Volvo engine that was used in a lot of vehicles they produced at the time. They even produced a marine version of the engine. Thanks once again for the cool video. 😊
I drove those when I was in the army in 79/80 in Brigade Nord in northern Norway. There it was called Volvo Feltvogn (Field Wagon?). We also called it Volvo Jeep. The one you got with all metal walls and roof was the ambulance modell, the type we used had a canvas top that could be removed so it was fully open. But we did'nt take that off usually. It was absolutely great offroad, I have drove it in terrain I would think twice before trying to walk 😂 They actually built it in my hometown Raufoss at Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikker, now NAMMO in the 60's.
I looked it up in Wikipedia, and they built over 2200 Volvo Feltvogn in Raufoss for the Norwegian Military. The flip window and the 24 volt battery came in the Norwegian cars because of NATO regulations.
I did in fact sit with four other people in the back, the "dog house" completely covered in AK5 (FNC) FN MAGs, AT4s and Carl Gustaf recoilless rifles. Good times.
Man, it looks way smaller than I remember it. My military service is in a foggy and distant past though, plus I mainly rode in the six-wheeled version, the c304. We used the towing hook to tow mortars.
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About the keyless comment:
Try shorting the 12th and 13th fuse.
Speaking of seat belts, it was a Volvo engineer who invented the modern 3 point belt system. They left the patent open for all car makers, as Volvo considered safety more important than capitalizing on it :)
And the glass that don't shatter into deadly sharp pieces
But I bet the engineers that developed the seat belts demanded they get paid...damn capitalism...
..and the Swedes gave the GSM technology to the world for free too. Not patented.
@@Lassemalten not to mention the rearview windows break in a special way so u can use the shatter like a knife incase you need to cut somones seatbelt :)
@@Karnalzion What? Never heard about that, will google it
The purpose of having a front window that opens is so that you can see better during night driving.
This was common on military vehicles in Sweden prior to night vision.
Thank you, I was going to tell them this!
Yes - fleeing from fighting is the real Swedish thing to do. Had to be done when dark so nobody could see how cowardly we were / are.
@@swedishpsychopath8795 That's incorrect, and silly.
As a norwegian i can confirm
Thats Bullshit. you could drop everything down, even partial the rollcage for huge loads, like a anti-tank gun and to drop it when you just cant see anymore or need to navigate in ruff terrain. the view through the window or not at night makes no big difference ... similar to the jeep
Fun to watch you Canadians drive this beast😂 I drove the 303 when i was in the Swedish military 35 yrs ago 🇸🇪🇸🇪🇸🇪
Wow, just read your comment after they said most windows don't open. So if you need to fire your weapons you gotta jump out of it.
@@Teo317 Haha yeah..but this was mostly used for transports.. and Sweden has never been into war so i guess they didnt think about fireing wepons 😂😂
@@jeeplimpan795 that's funny 😁 😂
@@Teo317 there are window versions for the passenger side with an hole to stick a rifle through., on the roof is an trapdoor with mounting points for an threepod
@@pouncepounce7417 thank you so much. I've seen holes on armored vehicles just for that purpose
The red button on the blackout switch is just a mechanical guard so one can not accidentially switch into blackout mode. It does nothing electrical, but for switching the blackout rotation switch the red button needs to be pressed.
Was just about to write that. In the BV206 it's black - but serves the same function.
No no, The red button is the eject botton. Seat eject for giggling youtubers....
lol I knew someone in the comments would know what it is for, awesome
@@kaerscarface You mean Catapult? Imean if an enemy enter the vehicle during ride u cod have sume total use for that.
@@kaerscarface You mean Catapult? Imean if an enemy enter the vehicle during ride u cod have sume total tactical use for that.
I was a tank mechanic in Sweden but did work on these as well from time to time.
It must be one of the easiest vehicles on the planet to work on, so much space no matter what you are doing.
That's how you want it ideally, one of the nicest things about the old Datsun 120 series cars was you had so much room in the engine compartment to access anything, made them a great car for beginner mechanics to own and learn on.
Not fun to swap the clutch tho, the gearbox/transfer case is heavy 🤣
I am from Sweden and have driven 303 for many km. It is a very good off-road vehicle.
What memories this video brought me!
In the early 90s I used one of these during my conscription military service. We called then "terrain vehicle 1112" or just "11-12". They had a nickname, "the puppy". Enormously fun to drive off road. Just remember to keep you thumbs on the outside of the steering wheel as it may spin violently if you touch a big rock with one of the wheels.
Wrong. Valpen was the older version before this.
Valp, or "puppy", isn't this. It's a 903, or the L3314 Laplander if you prefer. Specifically, it's the Pltgb 903.
The 1112 is the radio version, the proper military term for the 303 is the Tgb 11.
@@mooneyes2k478 Precis
As a conscript soldier in Sweden back in the early 90's we runned the open top variant with ATGM and I can ensure you those heaters are very effective.
I drove Valpen... I drove the one without the syncro mesh and that was an experience trying to double clutch, force the gear in and making certain of not going too fast or it would just tip over. Made out of plywood and hope.
I own a TGB 1111, the anti-tank missile variant. Love it and so much fun to drive.
I've driven these and other similar ones when doing my military service. Basically this fulfilled the role of the old WWII jeep, cheap, plenty of them, and you needed something, get in one and go get it.. They were really bare bones, but reliable and good for driving in "normal" off road conditions.. The flippable windscreen did many different duties, if it was stinking hot, open it.. If you drove in mud and caked your screen, flip it open.. Drive at night and using those night lights.. open it to see the guy in front before you ran into him.. And they could handle our winters, you had enough juice in the battery, it would start at -45...
I'm guessing the cold is why these didn't have a diesel. Kind of unusual to see a gasoline engine in a military vehicle.
@@siggyincr7447 Actually no, we had diesel trucks, and those had a heating system for the engine where you used kerosene burners to keep the engine warm, plus ether start. No probs getting the engine running as long as you heated the engine every four hours or so.. I would guess it's different today, but back then diesels were heavy and not that powerful for small engines.. I would compare this to a Willys jeep of WWII, and I bet there was a reason for it being petrol too.
This was a barebones runaround for shit roads and terrain built cheaply en masse. The engine was a detuned B30, originally built for volvo 164s. And it was built for idiotic 18 year old conscripts to handle badly. :D
You make a lot of fun, about the basic nature of the "Valpen" (puppy). It was made to be repaired in the woods, during wartime. Not for leisure. And its forty-seven years old, still runs!
This is not Valpen though
@@CarlSöderquist Petimeter :)
@@eskileriksson4457 Haha! It is like calling you Erik Eskilsson.
You have to expect a 50 year old army truck to be a bit quirky. Having driven the sister model Tgb20 / C306, which is a 6x6 troop transport with 18 soldiers in the back which weighs almost twice as much loaded, driving the Tgb11 / C303 felt almost like driving dad's Volvo 144 sedan. No servo and a long stick shift was nothing new for men born in the 60's in Sweden... Actually, the B30 engine in C303 was the same as in the Volvo 164 luxury sedan. The C303 was obviously built more for cold than for hot weather, even if a C303 won the sub 10 ton truck class in the 1983 Paris - Dakar rally. Also, it was build to drive on narrow forest tracks where the farmers otherwise pulled out timber to the roads with their tractors. The predecessor, L3314 / Pltgb 903, was even narrower, but also lighter and a bit easier to drive, and rusted less. When I did my service in the mid 80's, the 10 year old C303s were a lot more rusty than their 20 year old predecessors. Regarding this particular vehicle, the owner also replaced the stiff standard suspension with "american style" soft suspension and mounted stuff on top of the roof which was deliberately built to be as light as possible to keep center of gravity low, since the vehicle is narrow... If it felt scary to drive, it's probably not Volvo's fault...
Thing is that the guys in this video makes a laugh out of the C-303. The driver has no idea that he drives the probably most capable 4x4 that ever left any factory. I say this as a Land Rover man. Everyone in the Scandinavian offroad scene knows that nothing beats a C-303 off road. You can modify other cars to stand up, but then you can modify the C-303 even further... The Volvo C-303 is a beast. My dream offroader is a C-303 with modern disc brakes and a modern diesel engine. Nothing made in USA or Canada would come close.
@@sallhame Exactly. The C303 can almost climb trees, it is the only vehicle I would want in a post-apocalyptic world. Laughing at C303 reveals the bearded schmucks incapacity of understanding how good these vehicles are.
@@tamastabar5526 I've ridden on the external roof rack of a Tgb 1321 as the driver crushed down a few 3m tall Juniper bushes when he needed to shift it so we could get the cammo net up properly...😆
I drove a TGB11 (the military designation in Sweden, "Terrängbil 11") everywhere and all the time in the Military during the 80-ies. Really miss the wild terrain driving we did. This one was actually a lot better than the 6x6 version TGB13 or Volvo C304. Still working at Volvo by the way 🙂
I might have built that one. I worked on the jeep line in the A-hall at Volvo Lundby in 1976 as production was running down. My job was to go and fetch the body from the other line, and then fit it onto the chassi and connect it all up, I think it took about 40 minutes. Towards the end we were only building three a day, it was great, never played so much cards (skitgubbe was the card game we played IIRC). Lovely crowd of guys worked there. When they stopped production the A-hall became a restaurant, I think it's all offices now. I was moved off to TLA which was market adaption, and when they asked me if I could drive a truck I lied and said I could, so I spent the winter of 76/77 moving trucks. The thing was we had a C303 to fetch drivers, it was wonderful to get back into the C303 after digging a truck out of the snow , that heater really worked. I also drove the C202 quite a lot, they were producing a series in Hungary , they were pretty awful, I remember a lot of them couldn't reverse, so you had to be really careful where you parked. In the end I think they sort of gave them away if you bought a truck. They also highlighted how much better the C303 was compared to the C202. The C303 was comfortable and always worked.
When you shift to low range front wheel drive is also engaged without pressing the button. Front wheel drive is also engaged when braking to prevent rear wheels from locking. Front wheel drive is also engaged when ignition is turned off which means parking brake works both front and rear.
Is it has differential locker front and rear?
@@setyowibowo6598 Yes
This is the best off-road vehicle in history. Nothing comes close to it. I have plenty of km in this and we didn't get stuck even once. True story.
I don´t doubt that its a capable 4x4 but Unimog, Uaz, Pinzgauer, and Man Kat might have something to say about your statement!
Well... I drove the 6-wheeled version, C304, and when we put the chains on and loaded it with 1000 lbs of mines it would go anywhere.
@@matsgustavsson665 Nice... you loaded it with mines??
As cargo of cours,e, 25 lbs anti tank mines. Exercise banks narurally😀
Blanks...
I've had the honour of driving the Pinzgauer 6x6 in the military. Absolutely amazing vehicle. It could scale anything I threw at it. A true apocalypse vehicle. I have a large place in my heart for that vehicle.
I like the little Haflinger.
I drove one 29y ago, during military services in Sweden.
In the back, the seats was on the sides, so you could put a stretcher between the seats on top of the battery house that was in the middle behind the engine, not on the side. We never used the side hooks.
The roof hatch has a machine gun mount. (KSP-58, based on FN MAG)
The "Pizza cutter" spare...
Thin wheels was used during the winter, to "Pizza cut" through the snow.
Max speed was 70km/h by military rules, but it did 110 km/h. (You could make it go faster, by opening the front engine cover, and fiddle with the carburetor. But also fiddle with it again at lower revs, so it wouldn't die. )
It was mainly used as people carrier. But think of it as a "Fast tractor" . (At low gear setting, and 4wd, it really was a tractor. Stupidly strong)
One cool feature is that the wheels are not centered on the axles and the engine is kind of backwards because of the 1:1 gear that gives the 303 a few extra centimeters clearence ..
Diff spärr - diff lock
ur- disengaged
bak- back
fram - front
framhjulsdrift - front wheel drive.
We had these back in the 90s when I did my mil service. I have never seen on get stuck ever. Sometimes sarge had to use the front diff locks but thats it.. Oh the dayz.
Yes, if needed use front lock, but don't plan on turning at the same time, but you won't get stuck!
Swedish engineering…….long before canbus,bluetooth,touch-buttons…….without powersteering this wasn’t made for Grandma
But i guess it can take an EMP and still running
Cheers from sweden
The C303/304 along with the bigger Scania SBA’s are good solid trucks.
A bunch of moms and grandmas knows how to drive this! Lottakåren is a female volunteer support force for the swedish military
They even added advanced AC(cut the roof and strapped on a 90mm recoilless gun) on some of them.
in the year 1999 I rode around in these and mostly the 6 wheeled version of this truck.. in my military service.. it is AWSOME! =)
Hi there. I also drowe this in my army service. An then we bought one. But sold it last year. After 18 years of fun. Now i am going to participate in Aurora 23 military repetition. Love this cars soo much.
Greatings from sweden😊
And we put a diesel inline 6 in it. But the b30 was better. 😊
"It's very tall and narrow so I decided to put super soft springs on it and tons of crap on the roof"
Cool to see. We used to have one of the later civil versions of this vehicle when I was a child. We lived in Rwanda and they were marketing NGO aid-organisations with that model. We were seven in my family. It was the first vehicle my father let me testdrive ...
The C304 is a longer 6x6 version. Fun vehicles to drive around in the forest.
C306
The C303 is Terrängbil 11 (4x4), the C304 is Terrängbil 13 (6x6) and the C306 is Terrängbil 20 (6x6). The Tgb 20 were a troop carrier that could carry 19 soldiers or an AA unit of 11 men and equipment.
Volvo invented the 3 point seat belt. :)
My C303 is easy to drive! love it.
What all the other Swedes said. Also, switching high to low while rolling is pretty common on trucks. It's basically a small truck. Back then, Volvo the trucks and Volvo the cars were the same company, so they obviously borrowed a lot between the divisions. Also, you for a very long time could order parts for these from the Volvo dealerships in Sweden, because most of the sundry items are standard bits, sometimes painted olive drab. I've got a friend who owns one, and he got the spares for his engine rebuild by doing exactly that. Same goes for the Scania SBA111; it's 80% standard Scania truck parts. They still stock those as well.
The engine indeed is a B30, like in the 164 luxury sedan, but the cam is a bit different, being tuned for more low rpm torque.
The blackout switch doesn’t affect anything except the lights. One setting for semi- dark, which allows the use of special lights that point the light beams downward so the driver gets a little aid in driving in the dark while at the same time it hard to see the vehicle from a distance. The next setting turns all lights off, including inside the car (dashboard). We were trained to drive the car in pitch darkness with only a luminous weave tape attached to the car in front of you to keep track of where we were going. Great memories
This vehicle with the original wheels are amassing in the terrain and verry reliable. ❤
I drove one of these when I was in the Swedish army 1986-87. The Swedish designation is tgb11 (terrängbil 11 - "terrain vehicle 11"). Never flipped up the front window. The snow/terrain chains were a chore to deal with. For driving in rough terrain, I preferred the 6x6 sister, tgb13, which felt less prone to flip (not that it ever happened). At 16:05, they talk about the roof hatch. It was for the plane spotter, as it was SOP to have one guy standing there while driving in a column, looking out for enemy aircraft. There's a mount for a ksp58 (Swedish version of the FN MAG) machinegun there. As for power steering, there was a steering wheel, and the driver supplied the power. Spending a cold March night sleeping in the driver's seat is one of my least favorite army memories - I ran the heater intermittently so I didn't made the battery go flat. Anyway, it was a fun vehicle in it's way, and I appreciated having access to it and the freedom of movement it provided.
my father served during the 80s in Sweden, and he have told me so many horror stories with these cars, how they would sway around almost tipping over during hard winds( and some did according to others), and also when he and his buddies lodged one of these between to trees austinpower style haha, they much preferred the old gray 60's volvo disel trucks, me as a kid i always dreamt of having one of these as i saw 100's of these in my region near P7
My grandfather bought one of these here in Nova Scotia. Ge got it running with a new engine and got to enjoy it a few times before he passed.. his was brought here to transport linemen and parts into hard to reach areas to service lines ..
The old Swedish electrical and phone line services also used the civilian version of this for the exact same purpose your grandfather did, back when those services were still 100% govt owned up to the mid 1990ies.
Theirs were painted bright orange.
The fire services also had some for forest fires and for beach rescue, painted bright red with red and white quarter painted wheel rims.
@@SonsOfLorgar I know I got one that was a Vattenfall-operated C303 (so it was white). 12V electric system and a transfer case mounted PTO mounted mechanical winch (117hp winch power...), so 4 gears winching speed (when high/low range are in neutral) and it can operate at the same time as driving (preferably selecting low range), so wheels driving and winching at the same time from low 1 to low 4 with locked axels, it will not get stuck... The winch can lift the C303 straight up on a single line. 45-meter wire. But my C303 also has power steering through hydraulic power amplifying steering assist. The hydraulic pump replaces the engine fan so it has an thermostat electric fan.
Off-road you never use the clutch, low range, first or second gear, speed regulated through the accelerometer pedal only. Diff lock only when needed. You use the torque and traction, not the inertia to pass obstacles.
One correction to the info in the video. TGB11/C303 does not have SU carburetors, the carburetors are Zenith Stromberg 175CD-2SE.
The front window is also a safety feature when driving on ice (sea or river) for the driver getting out if going through!
UK here: That seems very reminiscent of our Land Rover Forward Control 101 and similar to the Pinzgauer all very versatile vehicles, horses for courses. Respect to anyone keeping these old girls on the road, they deserve respect.
He said something like »Pinzgauer from Germany« - no, it is from Austria. There is something like a little brother, the Haflinger, only 1.35 m wide in order to drive on about any Alpine trail a cow can walk on.
During my military service in -86 I was once the passenger in one of these, driven at high speed on curvy roads. Let's just say I'm glad to still be alive.
I had the predecesor to this here in Norway, the 1960s Volvo l3314. a bit smaller and with a B18 engine, a superstiff and super barebone military offroad truck, awsome for what it was buildt to do. Onroad it needed a really defensive driver.. Drumbrakes all around, topheavy and slow.
That one was nicknamed "valpen" in Sweden... means "the puppy" :D
Great to see, worked with these 4 and 6 variants for 20 years in the Swedish Army, very durable. One advice if you are going up or down steep rocky roads. Always go in low gear, only use the differentials when really needed (mud) and get chains and use them in rough terrain even in summer. Greetings from Sweden PS we called this Tgb 11
I med låg och bara styr,ge fan i kopplingen 😁
The manual says 97 octane RON, so you are good with the 94 octane (AKI) fuel.
The red button on the blackout light selector is just a stop to prevent accidental change of the switch.
The B30 engine that's in this vehicle is the same engine as you can find in the Volvo 164, and that was available in a fuel injection version.
Okay, Warn makes a 24v 8274…even if they didn’t, you can just swap a 24v motor onto a 12v winch. Put air bags on the front to help with parabolic springs instead of the rubber bump stops. Regarding it not wanted to crank when hot, he needs to wrap his fuel lines with insulation to prevent vapor lock.
Why? Just use one of the two 12v batteries.
@@mikescudder4621 It will draw done one and make them unbalanced.
so in sweden it's called a TGB11 , you also have the TGB22 and TGB33 , of course there are c-class names for them as well. they can take pretty much anything you throw at them.. I jumped mine during military service, that was a fun evening =)
22 and 33? I suppose you mean 13 and 20. There were also Tgb 30 and 40, but those were huge Scania beasts.
@ yes... magnus, i was way to tired, you are in deed right. However i did drive a huge old scania. a menace to drive
@ I drow TGB30 in tanker variation during my service. An absolute beast offroad!!!
Tgb is the abbreviation of Terrängbil, terrain car.
Tgb 20 is the class name, the infantry version is Tgb 21, and the Tgb22 is adapted for AA units with special racks at the rear. Most call them Tgb 20 though. Tgb 11 and 13 have many sub-variants too.
In Norway, these are known as "veltevogn" - roll-over wagon, because of the very narrow track with high ground clearance - easy to tip over.
Good thing they're easy to tip back as well!
Also a pun! In Norwegian "beltevogn" means tracked vehicle (lit. belt wagon), and the ones used in our military are sort of similar to the 303.
And that is why the spare wheel is mounted to the back of the vehicle and not on the roof, as it is on the 6x6 version :)
It is narrow so it can fit in between the trees.
The wheel width is as the Hummer, actually. Ground clearance is about the same.
The C303 actually won the Paris-Dakar race in its class. Its narrow width has to do with how close we trim? our trees (hmvee are to wide). Ithink the point of beeing able to switch from L to H is when pulling high loads, like trucks do. The orange button is just a stop for the turn knobb for the lights, so you dont accidentaly turn all lights off.
Thx for the cool clip :)
I owned one of these for just over a year , when I bought it , it still had its winter tyres with metal studs in it, boy did it make a mess of the Tarmac parking it outside of my house, gotta say it was one of the most fun vehicles I ever owned
I'm so happy we can use these in Canada! I live just across the moat from Vancouver! I want one!
I was passenger in one of those when it tipped on it’s side , doing a very slow 180 over a hidden mud sinkhole , WITH 2 BOXES OF HANDGRENADES IN THE BACK !!! I’ve never seen six men exit a sidways vehicle that fast. No injuries though. Only scrapes , bumps & bruises.
As my uncle was in the army stationed on Gotland in the early 90's I got to drive one of these as a 7 year old.
Also got to shoot a CG m/45, with assistence of course.
That brings me back to my Swedish Army days 30 years ago 🇸🇪 Good fun to see you guys ripping it..!!
Love the video! Spent large chunks of my 15 months long military service in this comfy beauty
Been driving them in the army in Sweden... just love them....
Nothing can stop them... well almost...
What a beast I'd love one of them done as a camper with a engine conversion
Whats wrong with the engine? 45 years old and its doing fine...
97 octane is not the same as your north american octane rating, we use RON octane and you use PON. Long story short, 97 octane in the manual should be about 91-92 octane over there. Pretty sure you have to run lead substitute for the B30 engine though, we had leaded 98 RON up until the early 90s (iirc, i was a kid) and 98 RON pump gas had lead substitute almost into the 2000s for the older cars. If the head's been rebuilt with hardened valve seats, no problem without the lead substitute.
Now-a-days we can buy lead substitute in bottles to add ourselves.
The B30 should put out about 120 hp and isn't really a high compression engine.
The trailer electrical connector is a military one, not a european standard civilian one as if anyone cares =D
I guess the valve guides and valves wouldn't be to hard to replace on this cylinder head to make it not need lead.
Totally reminds me of a G.I. Joe toy from the 80's!!!!
One of the best 4 x 4s I have ever driven. Mine is awaiting end of restauration now for 5 years, hope to get it ready by fall 2023.
Used to drive around in these back when I was in the army. My platoon had three of them, a 303 like this one and a pair of 304's with six wheels. We had customized them by installing ring turrets over the roof hatch and a slot at the front end of the roof to set a wire cutter in, as well as larger doorsteps. Since I was an MG gunner, my usual station was on the turret. On field exercises, we'd often remove the side doors or their top halves, making it easier to dismount quickly and for the passengers inside to shoot if there was trouble. Guys really liked them.
Spent a few thousand hours in one of them during my years in the army i reckon. Hilarious vehicle. It goes places you wouldnt believe. Sat in one that rolled from a more daring atempt at a sideways run up a ravine. One lost its tire when we drove it. There was a "kablonk" and we was like "what was that?" then we saw the wheel gently coasting away next to us.
The opening front windows, is for when driving in the dark without any lights. You can see much better with the window open, in the dark. Drove the 6 wheel version when I did military service
I did my draft service 1976-77 in Norway, those Volvo 4x4s were by far the nicest vehicles we had. We used them among other things to pull 20mm anti-aircraft guns.
As an ex Swedish homeguard soldier I can say we used these untill about 2012-2013. Funny to see how the instrumentation was never translated.
Ussualy there would be a FN MAG(ksp 58) mounted on the roof.
We would always bring along an inverter to be able to charge phones and operate laptops from inside of it.
Cool. My father used to drive theese, both the C303 and the C304, 304 has 3 axels, 6x6 during his conscription in the Swedish army in the late 1970:s. The funny thing is that these are still in service in the Swedish military. Mostly in the Swedish national guard or Hemvärnet but also in many other regular units. The Swedish army is slowly replacing these with a mix of new Mercedes Geländewagons, Sprinters and other models. The terrain capacity is not longer that important as it used to be during the cold war era. One civilian model actually won the Dakar rally 1980 in the class of light trucks. It was only briefly modify to run on low quality petrol fuel and had and anti roll bar installed. The crew only had experience of driving in Swedish terrain but they got their license and proved that the C303 was capable of every kind of terrain. Back here in Sweden the C303/304 is starting to have collector status among private owners and good ones in great condition is hard to get now.
Good old Tgb 11 :-)
The spare wheel was moved from the bracket at the front on the roof to the rear door to avoid that the car with the front wheel drive activated, when braking could be driven with the rear wheels in the air by pressing the accelerator pedal and the brakes simultaneously.
I remember it as an easy vehicle to drive, both on road and off-road. Never used the differentials. But it was a long time ago, last time 1986...
Ha Ha great video Casey & Ryan! Thanks for the review, history, details on this bad boy green bus! Cheers!
@Teo Phil The Pansarvärnspjästerrängbil 1111 version has deleted roof , a bazooka and is made for soldiers to be able to fire without dismounting the vehicle. I did my armyservice as a heavy machinegunner in one of these and also in PV-ROBOTBANDVAGN 2063 with the guerilla tactics of operating in dense forest terrain without being seen. Fast in, fire, fast out. Warms my heart to see these vehicles get a second life in civilian use. Would love to see a video with some rockclimbing and some trailruns. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
My son Steven built this Volvo bus out of Lego today. Thanks for the good influence guys.
Engine is 6 cyl B30 3 litre, same as the Volvo 164 models. B30 and the 2 liter B20 engine share many components
I drove one during my compulsory military service in Sweden, 1993-1994. It was a very peculiar vehicle to drive but it was reliable, easy to fix and just a really robust ride. I saw one that flipped over on its side due to an idiot driver. Luckily both in it survived without a scratch thanks to the safety belts. Luckily some other conscript fellas were close by with a front lifter and they helped to get it up on its wheels again. A minute after it was fixed a car with two officers drove by and saw nothing special. No officers ever found out!
And yes, even the rear view mirror could be fixed without anyone knowing and it drove away happily half an hour later. Lovely vehicles!
there is an OEM winch
- PTO midmounted very powerfull
I have one of these and in 2016 took it from the north of England to the Sahara in Morocco. A 4500 mile round trip over the Atlas mountains. I had a custom radiator made for it and with 30C temps never had a problem with overheating. They are amazing trucks.
The Latvian army still uses these little beasts. I got to ride around in one while in a rotation in Europe and they are as fun as advertised, even when left stock.
Super fun video.
I lived in one of these for a year during military service.
Very quirky for sure but on the other hand, not bad at all either. You got a camper van with 4x4, can't beat that. And the components in the drive train are quality stuff.
Did my conscript time as a anti tank robot shooter (bantam) and we used these T11 for some crazy driving when regrouping.
Shooters where sitting at the back and we found out very fast it was much more comfortable to sort of crouch and hang in the roof hatch steel bars than sit when driving in terrain. We also learned very fast to use the helmet when doing that.
There is a little longer one that is 6X6, Tgb 13. Usually when you go off road, even with now snow, you put snowchains on, and it takes you just about anywhere. Its amazing!! The Tgb 113 was used among other things to pull 12cm mortars. The small button is to turn on the small darkdriving lights you spoke of earlier
bring it on! would love to see that thing on an offroad trip.
I did my military service on one of those in 2000-01, mine was from 75. You could think it was the oldest vehicle, but we had trucks from 1964 still in service 2001.
We use these alot on the mountains here in norway, though mostly the older c202. There is next to no comfort in these and I really felt it after a 6 hour drive on rugged terrain. But it will get you where you want to go
I loved driving these when I was conscripted in Sweden in the 80s, both C303 (4x4) and C304 (6x6) or Terrängbil 11 and Terrängbil 13 as they are called in the Swedish defense. Terrängbil is Terrain vehicle in Swedish. The engine is a 3 liter inline six Volvo B30, same as in Volvo 164.
The c303 is a beast for its size. I think better than the Austrian Pinz in some regards. Have seen them with PTO winches as well as step-down 12v but the amperage draw is much higher on a 12v than 24v. There are some ‘Chinesium’ 24v winches out there but Warn is probably the best bet - even at $2600. Interesting that a NoN NATO vehicle utilizes the NATO style pintle and plug. These trucks were much advanced than the German/Belgian use of the Unimog S404. I have driven both the c303 and c304. The 6x6 is much more stable but the 303 is great fun !
Cool machine. Always wanted to play in one of those.
I'm a Brit & it reminds me of my old 101 Forward Control. They were both meant to play off road with. Watching the video... well both have their good & bad points, but that Volvo looks a lot of fun.
Hey Casey, tell him there's a company in Austria that has really good offroad winches up to 8t capacity for 24V called Horntools. I bet they are happy to sell him a winch!
This brings back memories from my military service in 1979... (Tgb 11 as it was called in the Swedish army). We had the 304 (Tgb 13) as well, same thing but 6x6.
The windshield opens to ease drivning in the dark wihout lights.
That is the main purpose in military use. 👍
Among Swedish conscripts in the 90s there was a saying that this was one of the first Volvos with crumple zones, from the drivers knee to his pelvis.
This vehicle was designed before NVG so the windshield that can be opened is for driving at night to get slightly better visibility.
Remember in war you drive with all lights out execpt for perhaps the lead lights as you mentioned.
Greetings from Sweden!
A big fan of the c303 and the 6 wheel bigger brother, they took the c303 to dakar back in the day. The c303 looks amazing in rally dressings
If the old "Niva" were an overpowered van, it would be this 😝
Drove all the various TGBs (11, 13, 20) as a Swedish Army officer in the early 90s. I never thought of them as quirky. They all drove well in my experience and their off-road capabilities were great. It was more fun driving the BV206 tracked ATC but the wheeled vehicles were also good. Then came mechanisation and CV90s and more modern armoured wheeled vehicles like the SiSu.
I drove one of those in the Swedish army back in the 90´s. Used to flip up the windshield up when driving in the woods at nighttime and you had the lights turned off to have better visuallls.
I used to have one of these almost for myself at work a couple of years back. None of the other officers had done the actual training on the vehicle. And I've also held a course or two on it's sister variant TGB20 which seats driver, passenger and 16 soldiers in the back... on wooden benches of course nothing but the best for them
There's something cozy about these old military vehicles. Everything is so bare essential, and everything is reachable without leaving the safety of the vehicle. Those flimsy seats sure will look pretty inviting after humping 50 miles with equipment.
For the convoy lights, only the front vehicle uses the front lights to "light up" the path. The following vehicle only follow the shielded red light on the vehicle in front of them.
I drove one for about 6 months, initially doing 90km/h but after testing, reduced my top speed to 70km/h. This reduced the fuelconsumption from 28liters per 100km to "just" 20 liters per 100km!😅 The parking brake is a drum on the outgoing shaft from the gearbox, but as it has vacuum regulated differential locks, as long as the engine isn't running and not producing any vacuum, this locks all wheel with one drum!
I really loved driving different models of the "Valpen", as we called it, when I did the "Lumpen" military basic training in 1975
What a fun video to watch. I drove the 303 when I was doing my military service in Sweden some 30 years ago. Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that it runs with the B-18 engine. A Volvo engine that was used in a lot of vehicles they produced at the time. They even produced a marine version of the engine. Thanks once again for the cool video. 😊
I drove those when I was in the army in 79/80 in Brigade Nord in northern Norway. There it was called Volvo Feltvogn (Field Wagon?). We also called it Volvo Jeep.
The one you got with all metal walls and roof was the ambulance modell, the type we used had a canvas top that could be removed so it was fully open.
But we did'nt take that off usually.
It was absolutely great offroad, I have drove it in terrain I would think twice before trying to walk 😂
They actually built it in my hometown Raufoss at Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikker, now NAMMO in the 60's.
I looked it up in Wikipedia, and they built over 2200 Volvo Feltvogn in Raufoss for the Norwegian Military.
The flip window and the 24 volt battery came in the Norwegian cars because of NATO regulations.
I remember this one being a fun one to drive. I even went to the next lap on the speed meter when in a hurry.
"feel like im going to tip over" cant wait to see this guy drive it offroad 😁
I did in fact sit with four other people in the back, the "dog house" completely covered in AK5 (FNC) FN MAGs, AT4s and Carl Gustaf recoilless rifles. Good times.
Man, it looks way smaller than I remember it. My military service is in a foggy and distant past though, plus I mainly rode in the six-wheeled version, the c304. We used the towing hook to tow mortars.
I drove the forefather to the C303, the 903. It had tarp sides and roof. Did my conscripted military service in the Swedish Army in the early 80’s.