Mercedes G4 - where are they now?

[Alpenfestung]

Hi all,

I haven't found all that much information about the Mercedes G4 on this forum, so it would be nice to get some input from the Mercedes experts here. We all know the specs from the Oswald book, but I would like to find out more details about these beasts:

How many of them had 6-wheel drive?

How may were armored?

Who had "personal" G4s back then?

How many of them survive today? Does Mercedes Benz have one in their collection?
I know the Spanish royal family has Franco's car, and there is one in the Sinsheim museum in Germany, and one (or three?) used to be in Ralph Englestad's Imperial Palace collection in Las Vegas - but what happened to the rest of them? Were the ones that Dean Kruse tried to sell last year the former Vegas cars? Where are they now??

I think the fabulous G4s deserve their own thread here, so let's see where it goes.

Peter

[Alpenfestung]

Here is one survivor, it used to be part of the Imperial Palace collection. The article (part of a 5-page story about the Imperial Palace 770K in Car Collector magazine) mentions a second G4 in the Blackhawk collection, I wonder where it ended up. I wish people would get over their "political correctness" and put these cars back on display.

Still hoping the Mercedes experts here have some information on the fate of the G4s.

Peter

[Alpenfestung]

Here's a video of the Sinsheim Museum guys having some fun with their G4 and a few other WW2 era vehicles:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsEnQzC6 ... r_embedded

Amazing to see one of those beasts actually getting dirty!

Peter

[Alpenfestung]

I found one that's actually in road-trip range - appears to be on display at the Lyon Air Museum in Santa Ana, California - maybe this is one of the ex-Imperial Palace cars.

http://www.lyonairmuseum.org/exhibits/a ... s-benz.php

Check out the pictures on FLY2BIGBEAR's flickr page:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/fly2bigbea ... otostream/


Peter

[Alpenfestung]

For all you G4 fans out there - the Signature 1/18 scale model is available in black now, you can find them on ebay starting at around $80.00 - pretty good quality and detail considering the price. The flags need some work, though

Peter
P.S. I am NOT affiliated with this or any other ebay seller

[willi_klingel]

Hi Peter,
There is a small museum near Beloit in Illinois about 50 miles south of Madison WI just off I-90. They have what appears to be a genuine G4. Since I live in Ontario, Canada, I will try and check it out early next year and combine it with a trip to Chicago to see the U-505 exhibition. In the meantime here are a couple of pictures taken from their website brochure.
I have a Signature 1/18 model in my collection (white) which is quite detailed particularly on the underside of the chassis and has reasonably good detailing of the motor. I also dug out a picture of Hitler riding in one plate number WH 32288. I have had this picture for a long time and do not remember where I got it from. Hopefully someone will be able to provide more information about the survivors. I have an excellent picture of the Franco G4 which was restored a couple of years ago by Daimler Benz.

Regards,
Willi K.

Museum G4.jpg

WH 32288.jpg

No 7 Mercedes G4.jpg

[willi_klingel]

Hi Peter,
The above might well be the car used in Hogan's Heroes. The name of the museum is Historic Auto Attractions. I was looking through their on-line website and I see that they have the Luftwaffe uniform used by Werner Klemperer when he played the part of Colonel Klink. They probably purchased this stuff from the Imperial Collection in Vegas.
Regards,
Willi K

[Alpenfestung]

Hi Willi,

Thank you for the information and pictures - so there are at least two G4s currently on display in the US! I always wondered what happened to the Hogan's Heroes car. I assume the Lyon Museum car is also a restored original, after seeing some of the other Lyon family collection MBs in Monterey last weekend I can't imagine they'd put a replica on display.

Peter

[Larrister]

There are two G4s in this privatetly taken photo which is in my collection.

[Alpenfestung]

Great photo, Larrister - thanks for posting it. I'd love to see more original pictures of G4s, please keep them coming - even if we can't figure out what happened to most of the G4s, maybe we can turn this thread into a nice collection of photos.

Peter

[Alpenfestung]

I have an excellent picture of the Franco G4 which was restored a couple of years ago by Daimler Benz.
Regards,
Willi K.

Willi,

One question regarding the Spanish G4 - what color is it, tan or gray?
Here's a link to a page about the restoration (in German, can't find the link to the English version at the moment):

http://www.panzer-modell.de/referenz/in ... g4/g4.html

The pictures of the restoration process show the car painted gray with black fenders, but the finished car seems to be tan in all the pictures I've seen. The story mentiones specifically that the vehicle was not repainted, the original paint was just cleaned and polished.

The 1/43 scale MiniChamps model of Franco's G4 is gray/black .......

Peter

[Soldat 923]

These cars are remarkable.

Does anyone know how power was delivered to the rear axle?

[Alpenfestung]

These cars are remarkable.

Does anyone know how power was delivered to the rear axle?

There is a short driveshaft between the two rear axles - don't know how the gears worked internally, but the gear / pinion housings are mounted at the top of the (self-locking!) differentials. In the attached picture you can see the input flange near the top of the rear axle housing (driveshaft not yet installed).

Peter

[willi_klingel]

The Franco G4. Great pictures Guys. The 1/18 model I have is incredibly detailed. I will post a picture of the underside later. In the meantime, here's a picture I have of the Spanish car shortly after it was so beautifully restored.
Cheers
Willi

1939-Mercedes-Benz-G4- Nr 2 Bild.jpg

[willi_klingel]

This is the incredible detail on the underside of the 1/18 G4 model. I welcome comments about its accuracy with regards to the real G4. I thought I'd share it with you.
Willi K

G4 under carriage 003.jpg

G4 under carriage 005.jpg