Today's history lesson comes from Chris Harris who talks about the Mercedes G Class - a utility vehicle that became a fashion icon. The G Class first entered production in 1979, under the name Mercedes G Wagon, or Gelandewagen (or cross-country vehicle). The first Merc G Class was four-wheel drive and was designed to be a rugged off-roader, durable, reliable. The boxy exterior styling of the initial G Wagon was kept through the vehicle's various generation, up until the present moment.
As you can imagine, Mercedes initially designed the G Wagon for the army in the late 1970s. In 1979, Mercedes transformed the army G Wagon into a civilian cross-country vehicle in collaboration with Steyr.
The latest version of the G Class is the Mercedes G500 Edition Select, which is powered by a 5.5-litre V8 engine developing almost 400 hp. This is quite a long way from the original model.
Watch the Mercedes G Class history lesson in the video after the jump.
Mercedes G Class history video:
