Off-road legend turns 40
The Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen is an undeniable off-road legend. And it’s four decades old this month, writes Damien O’Carroll.
The iconic Mercedes-Benz G-class (often more commonly referred to as the G-Wagen) made its public debut on February 4, 1979, but its roots actually go back a decade before its first public appearance.
Just like a nostalgic Bryan Adams song, the origins of the G-Wagen began in the summer of 1969, when Daimler-Benz AG and Austrian company Steyr-DaimlerPuch AG entered into talks about a possible co-operation.
Both manufacturers already had vehicles with excellent offroad capabilities, but Benz wanted something smaller than its Unimog truck, while Puch hankered after something that would fit in between its small Haflinger and large Pinzgauer truck.
By 1971, the idea of jointly building such a vehicle was fleshed out – it was to combine extreme off-road capabilities with good handling on the road. An agreement was reached and the construction team was headed by Erich Ledwinka, Chief Engineer of Steyr-Daimler-Puch and son of legendary Tatra designer Hans Ledwinka.
Development progressed quickly after that, with the first wooden model created by April 1973 and a prototype on the road being tested by 1974.
Photos in the technical description published internally in 1975 showed how designers and engineers quickly arrived at a design that was very close to the eventual production version.
Production started in February 1979 – shortly after the vehicle’s world premiere – at the Puch plant in Thondorf, Austria, with a new company called Gelandefahrzeug Gesellschaft (GfG) (‘‘The Off-road Vehicle Company’’, a joint venture between Benz and Puch started in 1977) taking charge of the process.
The 460 series G-Wagen was initially available in 240 GD and 300 GD model diesel guises, as well as the petrol-powered 230 G and 280 GE, all available with two different wheelbases (2400 and 2850 millimetres).
Three different body styles were offered – open vehicle, closed station wagon and panel van with closed side walls – and in addition to the 460 model series with a 12-volt electrical system, Mercedes-Benz offered the 461 with a 24-volt system for military customers (a CKD – completely knocked down – version for export was designated 462).
Originally fitted with a selectable all-wheel drive system with a 100 per cent centre differential lock, the G-Wagen also offered optional differential locks on the front and rear axles, something that was made standard in 1985 and continues to this day, making it one of the only regular production vehicles to offer three locking differentials.
Although it was conceived and produced as a utilitarian offroader for commercial and military purposes (more than 50 countries have used, or still use it in their military services), the G-Wagen has also become a far more luxurious vehicle over the years, culminating in the ultimate expression of extremely unnecessary performance and luxury in a hardcore off-roader – the G 55 AMG from 1999.
This was followed by the G 55 AMG Kompressor in 2004, the G 63 AMG and the V12 G 65 AMG (both 2012), the magnificent G 63 AMG 6x6 (2013) and finally the Mercedes-AMG G 63 of the all-new model that debuted in February 2018.
Such is the importance of the AMG model in the G-Wagen lineup today that the all-new model was the first production Mercedes-Benz model to have its suspension development led by AMG.
But serious performance is just one unlikely road that the G-Wagen has traversed in its 40-year lifespan; it has also dabbled in extreme luxury with a Maybach version – the MercedesMaybach G 650 Landaulet from 2017, of which only 99 were made. Mercedes claimed, with a straight face too, that the G 650 Landaulet ‘‘boasted the highest automotive luxury also off the road’’.
The launch last year of the allnew W463 G-Wagen is actually only the second generation of the vehicle in its 40 year history – the 463 from 1990 was merely a heavily revised version of the original – and marks an even more dramatic progression into luxury, with the G-Wagen getting an interior comparable to other Mercedes-Benz passenger cars, albeit without losing any of its formidable off-road ability.
However – amazingly – the original 461 model still lives on, continuing in production alongside the all-new W463 to supply commercial and military customers in countries like Germany, Australia and in the Middle East.
Mercedes says it plans to continue investing in the old G-Wagen and has no plans to end its production. If there is still demand – which, according to the company there is and it continues to increase – there is a very real possibility that the 461 may never actually die.