Before the G63, There Was This Oddball AMG G-Wagon

Date:2025-08-04 22:46:43 Category:tech Views:1 Comment:0

Before the G63, There Was This Oddball AMG G-Wagon originally appeared on Autoblog.

From Military Origins to Luxury Symbol

The Mercedes-Benz G-Class wasn’t born out of luxury. Originally developed in the late 1970s for military use – most notably for the Shah of Iran – the Geländewagen was built to be durable, functional, and capable off-road. Political turmoil scrapped the original plan, but Mercedes chose to continue production, eventually offering the G-Class to civilian buyers in 1979.

Over the decades, the G-Class slowly evolved from a rugged, utilitarian vehicle into a symbol of prestige and exclusivity, especially after AMG began tuning various Mercedes models. While the AMG G63 is now a fixture on city streets and red carpets alike, the partnership between Mercedes-Benz and AMG wasn’t formalized until 1993.

But the first AMG-tuned G-Wagon came even earlier – and it carried a feature no other has quite replicated.

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An S-Class Face on a G-Wagon Frame

This particular vehicle is a Mercedes-Benz 300GD – a diesel-powered variant of the G-Class – from the 1980s, commissioned by tennis star Ivan Lendl. Though the 300GD was known more for its simplicity and capability than refinement, Lendl had his example modified by AMG before the tuner was officially affiliated with Mercedes.

The most striking feature of Lendl’s G-Wagon is its front end, which borrows the full fascia of a Mercedes S-Class sedan. The resulting look is visually jarring, especially by today’s standards. The elegant, wide S-Class grille and headlights seem almost out of place when mounted on the squared-off, utilitarian body of a G-Wagon.

But it also speaks volumes about the experimental nature of pre-merger AMG, and how the seeds of the luxury SUV segment were already being planted. At the time, this blend of luxury cues and rugged underpinnings was unconventional. Today, it’s the formula that defines the entire segment.

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On Display at a Pop Culture-Inspired Exhibit

This one-off 300GD is part of the Totally Awesome! exhibition of the Petersen Automotive Museum, which explores how automotive design intersected with pop culture, media, and technology during the 1980s and 1990s. Set alongside iconic vehicles from film, motorsport, and the showroom, the Lendl G-Wagon stands out not only for its unusual modification but for what it represents: the transition of SUVs from workhorses to status symbols.

Visitors can see the vehicle up close as part of the exhibit’s lineup, which includes everything from high-performance race cars to futuristic concept models. The display is part of a broader narrative about how vehicles mirrored cultural shifts during a pivotal era of innovation and identity – one where an S-Class-faced G-Wagon somehow made perfect sense.