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Tank Museum

Imbert Generators 

 

 

 

These images show an easy conversion from KCG-25 (right).  They are under-represented in photographs, but a considerable proportion of the rear echelon vehicles of the German army, and an even higher proportion of civilian vehicles in occupied Europe were powered by wood gas generators - Holzgaz to the Germans, Gasogene to the French.  The Matador kit depicts a typical Imbert unit as fitted to the Opel Blitz.  The kit depicts the three visible parts - burner, gas cooling radiator and water tank (for cleaning the gas) as well as piping.  The fourth element, the carbon filter, was almost always mounted internally on lorries. Photographic evidence shows two positions for the water filter.  A little cutting and converting of the unit and the kit chassis enables the front-and-back version seen here on the grey truck. There were may minor variations.  Note that here the bodies are different.  What matters is that there was always a wood box, and always a barrier between the burner and the body  - the burner got hot!  Both these  versions achieved factory production status.  Photographs show similar units attached  to a wide variety of lorries, cars and even some tracked vehicles.  Earlier examples, workshop-made, have many minor variations.