Porsche-ified G was used as a service vehicle during the Pharaoh’s Rally. It had to keep up with a 959…
The AMG-built Mercedes 280 GE 5.6 Sport in 1979 was fascinating. But wait, there’s another performance-oriented GWagen. This G-Class is a Porsche V8. It’s not a Mercedes engine. The Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany has it.
The unusual G, also known as “Porsche in sheep’s clothing”, was completed in 1985. It had 316 horsepower (235kilowatts), and this gave the off-road living legend a speed of 112mph (180 km/h). The engine transplant was performed by Porsche’s racing team. This was required to allow the G to serve its purpose as a service vehicle for the Pharaoh Rally. It’s an event that involves rally riders and is similar to the Dakar Rally.
The idea was to create a serious off-road vehicle that could keep up with the 959 and offer technical support. It was second after the rally-winning 959 supercar.
It’s always fascinating when an automaker takes an engine from another company. This is especially true since we are talking about shoehorning the Porsche V8 into a . This was not a new phenomenon. In the early 1990s, Porsche helped to create the Mercedes 500 E. The six-wheeled T80 (pictured above), was created in 1939 by Ferdinand Porsche. It was powered by a ridiculous 3,500-hp V12, 44.5-liter aircraft engine. It was destroyed by World War II.