This water tender (TLF)is built on the military specification 4X4 chassis, which had increased ground clearance when compared to the standard commercial Magirus 4X4 - which was more commonly used for most of their fire trucks.
The chassis came with a two door cab, complete with a hatch for the passenger (which could optionally be fitted with a machine gun mount).
So Magirus, and others building on these chassis, integrated a separate full crew cab into the rear bodywork, instead of using the standard Magirus six seat crew cab.
Although the increased ground clearance did improve extreme off road performance over the standard 4X4, these were not all that common. The trade off was a higher center of gravity, which inevitably compromised road handling...
The chassis came with a two door cab, complete with a hatch for the passenger (which could optionally be fitted with a machine gun mount).
So Magirus, and others building on these chassis, integrated a separate full crew cab into the rear bodywork, instead of using the standard Magirus six seat crew cab.
Although the increased ground clearance did improve extreme off road performance over the standard 4X4, these were not all that common. The trade off was a higher center of gravity, which inevitably compromised road handling...
Added by Rob Johnson on 29 June 2018.