Stoewer PKW 40

From 1936 to 1943, the Stoewer Company of Stettin, Germany, produced the Personen Kraft Wagon (PKW) type 40 for the German Army. The PKW 40 is a light duty, 4-wheel drive, off-road “jeep” style utility truck powered by a 4-cylinder gasoline engine.
Near the war’s end, the Soviet Red Army overran the factory at Stettin, capturing everything needed to make the vehicles. They shipped everything back to the Soviet Union and started manufacturing the vehicle, with some changes over the years, as the GAZ (later, UAZ) model 69. The Soviet Army used the GAZ 69 from the early 1950s through the mid-1970s.

This particular vehicle is a 1967 Soviet Army UAZ 69 that was modified to look like a PKW 40 manufactured by Stoewer in 1940. The major modifications were on the front end. The UAZ front grille was removed and a new radiator cover was fabricated. The headlights and front turn signals were removed and the front fenders reshaped and smoothed, with new headlights installed. The bench back seat was removed. A new floor was installed in the back and the side boxes, which can double as passenger benches if the canvas cover is taken off, were fabricated.

This vehicle is marked as belonging to the Second Battalion, Grenadier Regiment, Grossdeutschland Division. The division fought against the Soviets continuously from June 1941 until the end of WWII.