Courtesy of Engine Builder, By Evan Laux
We can confidently say that Jeff McCord of LinCo Diesel Performance knows his way around a diesel engine. He’s made a name for himself building some pretty badass diesel engines for customers, a few of which have been featured in our diesel of the week series in years prior. He also won our America’s Best (diesel) Engine Shop award in 2021, has shown us the difference between a Mild and a Wild engine build at his shop, and given engine builders a load of useful educational content via our LinCo Lessons series.
It seems like he’s always got something cooking, and recently he’s been no different. McCord reached out to us last week to tell us about a rather unique project he just finished at the shop – a specialized 5.9L Cummins engine he built for a custom 1965 Mercedes Unimog multi-purpose truck.
The vehicle itself is rather distinctive, but even more so are the conditions it will be driven in. The Unimog is being built by Craven Performance for a client who owns a private ski-ranch in central Colorado. The ~$500,000 truck will be operating from around 6,000 to 11,500 ft. in elevation. We’ll have to wait until this year’s SEMA show to get a proper look at the cab, but McCord already has the motor built up and ready to dive into.
