Rock in the Sands

The Mercedes among off-road vehicles, a rock in the sands, automotive security, an icon: never before has a Mercedes rolled off the production line longer than the G, and it is unlikely that this record will be broken. It is now in its 45th year and during its lifetime has actually only mutated in terms of its designations - from the G model, to the G series, to today's G-Class.

Basically, there have been three G-types: the original 460 series, which mutated into the 461 and had selectable all-wheel drive, then the 463 series with permanent 4x4 and, since 2018, the new G-Class with independent suspension instead of a rigid front axle, still under the 463 designation. The 461 was the direct descendant of the original G and saw itself as a commercial vehicle, while the 463 from 1989/90 is the current G-Class, a luxurious off-roader. The box-shaped body has basically been the same since 1979. There was a facelift at the1989 IAA on the occasion of the new luxury class, and in 2018 the body dimensions changed a little (although the technology did change considerably), but the appearance remained the same.

Very early design rendering for the open G with folding windshield and hardtop.
Image: Daimler-Benz archive

Why did the 463 come along at all? 

Of course, because customers increasingly wanted a glorious comfortable off-road vehicle, commercial and military customers playing a lesser role.

But it was primarily for technical reasons. The actual reason was not the desire for permanent all-wheel drive, but a functioning ABS. At that time, this was only possible with permanent all-wheel drive. And it had to be possible to disengage it automatically for off-road use as soon as the differential locks were activated. The G model, always built in Graz, was sold with the Puch label in Austria, Switzerland, and in the former Yugoslavia in the Eastern Bloc until the year 2000, but with the Mercedes star in all other countries. For the sake of simplicity, we are referring to the Mercedes, without wishing to discredit the Puch name.

Diagram of the drivetrain of a 463, i.e. already with permanent all-wheel drive.
Image: Daimler-Benz archive

A lot of manual work and a lot of reputation

The G-model has been produced since February 10, 1979 (market launch in August 1979) in its own production hall at the Puch plant in Graz-Thondorf, where Pinzgauer and Puch motorcycles also rolled off the production line. Daimler-Benz supplied essential units (engines, axles, steering) to Steyr-Daimler-Puch (today: Magma-Steyr), which in turn manufactured the frame and body and carried out the final assembly.
To this day, around two thirds of the G is built by hand, which explains its high price.

The cube rules both Bauhaus design and the G-model - from a purely aesthetic point of view...
Image: Daimler-Benz archive

Best off-road vehicle!

One thing was clear from the outset: the G-Model was to be the world's best off-road vehicle!

An all-rounder over hill and dale, so to speak, simply a vehicle that could make full use of all the technical possibilities for making progress off the paved roads, while remaining a comfortable touring car on the asphalt - the Mercedes of off-road vehicles, in other words.

Reconciling these two fundamental requirements meant that the designers had to perform a balancing act between a robust rigid-axle chassis and car-like levels of comfort. The decision was made in favor of coil spring suspension instead of leaf springs, the axles stabilized on longitudinal and transverse control arms, and a stabilizer bar at the front providing additional driving precision.

...but from today's perspective, after 44 years of the G-Class, the G should rather be described as a classic and therefore compared with a previous era.
Image: Daimler-Benz archive

In principle, the G-model remained technically true to itself throughout its evolution. The transition from the 460/461 series to the 463 series in 1989 marked an important turning point. In the new 463 series with permanent four wheel drive, the driver could no longer freely determine the type of drive.

In the original G model, the driver could engage the front-wheel drive and engage low gear without stopping thanks to the Steyr transfer case. That was new at the time. The new generation with permanent 4x4 had a central differential in the transfer case, so the four wheels turned on asphalt according to the curve radius. This central differential could be locked 100 percent for off-road use.

Long and short, always premium

Initially, there were two wheelbase variants, namely 2400 and 2850 mm, i.e. a short and a long G. The long one was only available as a station wagon, as is the case to this day.

The short one was available as a station wagon, and additionally as an open off-road vehicle, i.e. a convertible. The design, as German, angular, serious, and stiff as a cuckoo clock, was created by Bruno Sacco. Initially, the G competed with established off-road vehicles from Japan and the USA.
Daimler-Benz and Steyr-Daimler-Puch soon realized that it could never match their competitors`sales figures because the G was much more expensive. So, both tried to address their own markets, offering a high-priced but uniquely premium vehicle.

The open-top G in its first iteration was luxurious as well as exclusive. The G 36 AMG was almost as fast as the 500 with the V8 engine, here as an open-top Puch from 1996.
Image: Magna-Steyr archive

The conceptual symbol of this uniqueness is the word G-Class, which was only created later. Mercedes and Puch succeeded in establishing the role model function that it is meanwhile associated with. Since the “invention” of the G-Class, “real” off-road vehicles have been measured against the G. Despite all the evolution, the G principle has never been compromised. Although the car has undergone huge technical and interior improvements, its unmistakable silhouette has remained the same over the years. Only the roofless G changed from a typical open-top off-roader to a trendy convertible.

But the open G was more of a worker than a leisure car. 230 G on the airfield taxiway.
Image: Daimler-Benz archive

From covered wagon to convertible

The short tarpaulin car with its originally removable plug-in top received a major upgrade with the addition of a folding convertible roof that was easier to operate - but still required 16 pages of additional operating instructions and five to eight minutes work, depending on experience.

At the IAA in September 1989, the second generation of the G was in the spotlight. Mercedes no longer spoke of the G model, but of the G series, and then with the introduction of the V8 engine, it definitely became the G-Class, meaning the old warhorse had become socially acceptable.

Images: Daimler-Benz archive

The G-Class finally became the G-series in 1993, when the V8 500 GE appeared, initially as a limited special model. The International Off-Road Show in Munich in 1996 saw the birth of the G-Cabriolet with electro-hydraulic soft top, which finally put an end to the classic open-top off-roader. The additional triangular side windows behind the roll bar were the characteristic feature.

No longer an open-top covered wagon, but a genuine cabriolet: G 400 CDI Cabrio from 2004 with a powerful common-rail diesel engine. Showing the way ahead!
Image: Daimler-Benz archive

The Herpa model thus represents an open G series between the facelift at the end of 1989 and the introduction of the version with an additional triangular window in 1996.

The fact that Herpa raised its miniature from the 230 GE to the 300 GE after a relatively short time in the program was simply due to the trend in the prototype: away from the four-cylinder and towards the six-cylinder. The short wheelbase station wagon was available until 2012, the convertible lasting one year longer (there was a special farewell model called G 500 Final Edition 200 with soft top in light beige). Since then, there has only been the long G.

Basically the same car as the open tarpaulin van, but beware: the military version is called the Wolf and was the standard military off-road vehicle of the third generation of the German armed forces. It has a fold-down windshield.
Image: afs

Already there at the start: The short Herpa G-model

In the summer of 1989, Herpa launched its first Mercedes G model with a short wheelbase as a station wagon in May. The cabriolet followed in July, initially in two solid colors and one metallic color. The models were designated as the Mercedes 230 GE. Two years later, Herpa officially uprated them to the 300 GE, but this was only a formality. Nothing needed changing on the miniatures. They were simply given new names in the catalog and on the box.

As a convertible, the short G is a rarity on the roads today. Yet it corresponds most closely to the DNA of the classic off-road vehicle. It's a shame Mercedes gave up on this version.
Image: afs

The short G model remained open and closed. Series and industrial models were popular at the beginning of the 1990s, then the short G fell out of favour. From time to time, there were special models such as Disaster Control in 1995, Riot Police in 1996, Malteser Hilfsdienst (Red Cross Assistence), Ludwigshafen in 1998, and Croix Rouge Genève in 1999 and 2004. Herpa produced Puch versions especially for the Austrian market, which cany dealers imported into Germany.

The Herpa G is now back as a red convertible with steel rims, a really crisp all-rounder with plenty of fun potential.
Image: afs

After a long absence, the open-top Mercedes G-Model (at that time, the car was not yet called the G-Class) is now back in red, but no longer as a current vehicle. If a car is older than 30 years, it is by definition considered a classic car and can be driven with an H license plate. This also applies to a Mercedes G, even though it still rolls off the production line today with hardly any visual changes.

Herpa produced the G-model as a Puch especially for Austria, here the Puch 300 GE in silver metallic, which appeared in June 1991. There were also green metallic and Mountain Rescue Service and Emergency Doctor Graz emergency vehicles, plus Offroad Rally Salzburg 1991 vehicles.
Image: Kurt Richter