Nowadays, if you want to get Merc’s SUV equivalent to a S-Class you go for the GLS.
But before the GL (as it was originally known) launched in 2006, and the M-Class (now known as the GLE) in 1997, the only sport-ute Benz offered was the Gelandewagen. And at least one owner wanted his G-Class looking like an S sedan. This was the rather unfortunate result.
Shared by AMG on Facebook, this 1979 280 GE 5.6 packed the sedan’s big V8, along with its front end, slapped on in the most horrific of Frankenstein fashion. It also featured a red leather interior, and exterior graphics to match. The gold grille and wheels – offset by a winch, running boards, and off-road driving lights – only served to emphasize the vehicle’s split personality.
The end result may have been as close as the G-Wagen got in the Malaise Era to the AMG-spec G63 we have today, but looks like it fell far short of the complete package. We can hazard a guess or two from where this particular monstrosity may have been commissioned, but we’ll leave the matter in a spirit of gratitude that it never caught on in larger volumes.
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