The Working G
The utilitarian line — the W461 and the military variant that replaced it — served armies, police forces, fire brigades and aid organisations, including the German Bundeswehr Wolf. These are the versions built for the job rather than the image.
Part of G-Class
23 moments in this segment.
- — Hellenic Army G-Wagens in Somalia, 1993. Hellenic Army soldiers convoying through Somali streets in Mercedes G-Class vehicles during the UN operation in Somalia, 1993. Greece was one of the largest military G-Class operators, having licence-assembled the vehicle domestically. A genuine period US military photograph in the public domain.
- — NATO IFOR vehicles in Bosnia, 1996. NATO Implementation Force vehicles in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1996, including G-Class light utility vehicles. The G was by then standard equipment in a dozen NATO armies and became one of the visual signatures of the Balkan peacekeeping deployments.
- — Bundeswehr 'Wolf' on patrol in Kosovo, 2002. A Mercedes-Benz 250 GD 'Wolf' of the German Task Force Prizren on patrol in Kosovo in 2002. 'Wolf' is the Bundeswehr's designation for its G-Class fleet, of which it bought more than 12,000 from 1979 onwards. Genuine in-service photograph rather than a display vehicle.
- — Bundeswehr Wolf, Engineer Battalion 701, 2004. A Mercedes-Benz 'Wolf' of German Engineer Battalion 701 photographed in Gera in 2004. The Wolf is a W461 derivative in a range of body styles - hardtop, soft-top, ambulance, command vehicle - all sharing the same chassis.
- — Norwegian Army MB 240 GD. A Norwegian Army Mercedes-Benz 240 GD, designated MB-240GD in Norwegian service. Norway bought the G-Class in large numbers from the early 1980s to replace its Land Rovers, and kept them in service for decades in Arctic conditions.
- — Inside a military G-Wagen. The interior of a Norwegian Army MB 240 GD. The military cabin is stripped to painted metal, canvas seats and the bare minimum of instrumentation - a useful contrast with the leather-lined civilian W463 of the same era.
- — Dutch Army MB 290 GD. A Royal Netherlands Army Mercedes-Benz 290 GD. The Dutch armed forces operated several thousand W461-based G-Wagens across the army, navy and marechaussee from the early 1990s.
- — Latvian Army G-Class. A Latvian Army Mercedes-Benz G-Class. After joining NATO, several Baltic states acquired G-Wagens as their standard light tactical vehicle, in some cases second-hand from German stocks.
- — A 250 GD finding its limits off road. Unnarrated amateur footage of a diesel 250 GD being pushed through rough terrain. It is the kind of unvarnished owner film that shows what the work-specification G-Class actually does, away from any press launch.
- — 4X4 Australia judges the G Professional G 300. The utilitarian G Professional G 300 is assessed as a contender in 4X4 Australia's 2017 4x4 of the Year. The magazine notes the G-Class is Mercedes-Benz's longest-running model and predates Toyota's 70 Series, and judges it as a working vehicle rather than a luxury one.
- — German Army G-Class vehicles on close protection duty in Kabul. Footage of Bundeswehr G-Class vehicles working with a close protection team in Kabul, Afghanistan under NATO. Military service is where the Gelaendewagen began, and it continued in that role alongside the increasingly luxurious civilian versions.
- — Chilean Army 290 GD. A Mercedes-Benz 290 GD of the Chilean Army. South American armies were significant G-Class customers; the Argentine Army was in fact the vehicle's first military customer, taking delivery from 1981, and the vehicle was later assembled in Argentina.
- — A fire-service 230 G still in use. A Mercedes-Benz 230 G in Mosbach fire brigade service, bodied by Bachert. Fire and rescue services kept W460s running for thirty years and more, which is one reason so many early cars survive.
- — Swiss Army G 300 CDI. A Swiss Army Mercedes-Benz G 300 CDI on the W461 chassis. Switzerland was one of the countries where the vehicle was badged and sold as a Puch G, and it remains a core Swiss military vehicle.
- — Heinrich Wangler on the 1979 Argentine army comparison test. Heinrich Wangler recounts the comparison test the Mercedes-Benz G was put through for the Argentine military in 1979: ten weeks and 13,000 kilometres crossing the whole country. The account comes from one of the people who ran the trial and was edited by his daughter. Military evaluations like this one were an early proving ground for the newly launched Geländewagen.
- — Ex-German Army G-Class ambulance walkaround. A close look at a 1997 Mercedes-Benz G-Class ambulance that served with the German army until 2017, when it was handed over to an ASB regional office in northern Hesse. The showcase is deliberately filmed without music so the vehicle and its fittings can be gone through directly.
- — The Bundeswehr Wolf with special protection package. The German armed forces' own briefing on the armoured Sonderschutzausstattung version of the Wolf, the G-Class-based vehicle that is the best-known Geländewagen in Bundeswehr service. It adds armour, a stronger engine, better acceleration and a higher top speed, with the glass and the whole body structure armoured against light machine-gun fire.
- — Military G-Wagons on operations in Afghanistan. Field footage of military G-Wagons in Afghanistan, where the type is used by field units and training establishments for tactical transport in command and control, liaison, reconnaissance and military police roles. The vehicles shown run a 2.7-litre five-cylinder turbodiesel and can be fitted with a tailored armour kit.
- — The G 300 Professional, the utilitarian W461. A review of the G 300 Professional, the stripped-out W461 built for work rather than for show, with no screens or leather but with live axles and three differential locks. It is the closest thing on sale to the original working Geländewagen and a deliberate counterpoint to the AMG models.
- — Driving an ex-Bundeswehr W461 Wolf off-road in Austria. A Land Cruiser owner drives a 1992 military W461 "Wolf" through Hellsklamm, an extreme off-road park in Austria. The car has no luxury equipment at all, only diesel torque and mechanical lockers, which shows what the Steyr-Puch-built military G-Class was actually designed to do.
- — The Bundeswehr presents the Wolf 2 light utility vehicle. The German armed forces' own presentation of the Wolf 2, the successor to the long-serving military G-Class, showing its off-road use and its new radio and command equipment. The Wolf name has identified the Bundeswehr's G-Class since the 1980s, and this is its digitalised replacement.
- — Report on the Bundeswehr Wolf 2. A defence-focused report on the Wolf 2, the new German army light utility vehicle based on the G-Class, covering its role and equipment. It is the independent counterpart to the Bundeswehr's own presentation of the same vehicle.
- — The Rheinmetall Caracal military G-Class. First-hand footage of the Caracal, a military vehicle built by Rheinmetall on the latest G-Class chassis and shown at the EnforceTac trade fair in Germany. It is designed for airborne and special operations use and is not sold to civilians, which closes the loop back to the G-Class's military origins.
