Cheap, Ugly and Tough. Meet the Pinzgauer.

To capture the material he needs for his work, Warren Cross, a sound designer, ranges far and wide, recording everything from storms and waterfalls to police sirens to be used on stage or in films. A few years ago, he discovered what he considers the perfect vehicle for his work: a 1974 Pinzgauer 710K. The Pinzgauer is a boxy, canvas-topped military vehicle built in Austria, and Mr. Cross and other Pinz owners insist that it is the toughest off-roader in the world. ''It'll go over anything, especially ditches,'' Mr. Cross said. ''It doesn't matter how you attack them, it's not going to get stuck.''

Theo Hanson, a vice president of SoCal Pinzgauers, an importer, said, ''It's a ruffian vehicle, the unique beast of the world.'' SoCal, which has offices in San Diego and Hemet, Calif., is one of a handful of companies that sell the few hundred used Pinzgauers brought to the United States each year, including Southwest Unimog and Pinzgauer in Prescott, Ariz., Cold War Remarketing in Littleton, Colo., and Northeast Off-Road in Keene, N.H.

Would-be buyers at Northeast Off-Road are taken up a 70-degree slope, a demonstration the company says is especially persuasive. ''Please wait until the vehicle comes to a complete stop before writing your check,'' its Web site requests.

Unlike the latest generation of beauty S.U.V.'s, with their gleaming finishes and leather seats, the Pinzgauer is clearly a workhorse, resembling nothing so much as a small utility building that has sprouted wheels and begun to drive off. (It is, in fact, named after a famously sturdy Austrian breed of draft horses.)

Introduced by the Austrian manufacturer Steyr-Daimler-Puch in 1971, the Pinzgauer in its 4-wheel and 6-wheel versions is used by about 30 armies around the world. The 4x4 version, the 710, weighs 4,300 pounds and can carry 2,200 pounds. It enjoys ground clearance of about a foot. A used 710 sells for as little as $10,000 in a bare-bones version; the six-wheel 712 goes for about $16,000.

But they do not necessarily stay that cheap. Many owners heavily customize their vehicles, adding creature comforts like sound insulation, tops and air-conditioning. It is not uncommon for customers of SoCal or Cold War Remarketing to put $100,000 into their $10,000 Pinzes.

Vince Sweeney, a 30-year-old film student in Roanoke, Va., outfitted his Pinz for racing, adding disc brakes on all six wheels, a roll cage for protection and winches on the front and rear of the vehicle. But, he says, he did not change the car's essential nature. ''There are a lot of people who still want something real,'' he said. And with a Pinz, ''you don't have to worry about scratches.''

Mr. Cross's model was originally a radio command car for the Swiss military. And while he is enthusiastic about where it has been able to take him to record sounds, including ''a heron rookery at two in the morning in a state park that was not supposed to be open,'' he did not truly appreciate the vehicle's toughness until he started building a house in upstate New York a couple of years ago. Once a truck delivering lumber got stuck trying to get up his dirt driveway. So Mr. Cross attached a chain to the truck and used his Pinzgauer to tow it up the drive. ''It's truly unstoppable,'' he said.

INDEED, Robert Lutz, the General Motors vice chairman who owns a Czech-made jet plane and a garage full of sports cars, has called his Pinz ''the most competent off-road vehicle in the world.'' And while the Pinz does not yet have the Hollywood cachet of a gleaming Mercedes G-Class, it does have its celebrity fans. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, the great Hummer fan, also has two Pinzgauers, which were customized for use in the film ''Terminator 3'' with larger engines and gearing. ''They're in a warehouse now that Arnold is chauffeured in a state car,'' Mr. Hanson said.

But Pinz owners -- even famous ones -- tend to be quiet about their cars. ''The Pinz is less about standing out than belonging -- and being in the know,'' Mr. Hanson said. When Pinz owners do get together, it is usually for regional ''treffens'' (German for ''meet'') -- weekend mini-treks on famed roads like the Rubicon Trail in California or in areas like the Big Scrub, in Florida.

The gatherings tend to be small. Dealers estimate that there are only about 1,800 Pinzes in the United States. The current supply goes back to a decision made in Austria in 1988 when Steyr-Daimler-Puch replaced the vehicle's gas engine with a diesel one. As it buys the new models, the Swiss military has been selling off its older, gasoline Pinzes, many to customers in the United States. Those vehicles fall under federal regulations that exempt models at least 25 years old from Environmental Protection Agency emissions rules.

Not long after he bought his Pinz, Mr. Cross became the resident sound designer at Cornell University's Department of Theater, Film and Dance, and it became his commuter car. (He now drives a smaller, more fuel-efficient Steyr-Daimler-Puch vehicle called a Haflinger.) It was noisy and chilly, he said, but the biggest drawback was being stopped and queried by curious observers.

Mr. Sweeney knows exactly what he means. ''It does stand out,'' he said. ''I guarantee you a Pinzgauer will get twice as many people looking as a Ferrari.''