1990 Mercedes-Benz 300 GD

With just three previous owners from new, ‘H565 GRX’ is a much-loved Mercedes-Benz 300GD that’s been renovated with a body-off respray in its original colour. The chassis was cleaned and painted at the same time too, but was otherwise found to be solid.

It was much the same with the G-Wagen’s original engine and gearbox, which barely needed any work; it might not be the fastest vehicle you’ll ever drive but the 300GD is hugely reliable – and more fun that you might think; the seller made a detour to Bosworth Field on his way from North Yorkshire to us as he was enjoying the drive so much.

And yes, he completed the run from God’s county to us without a hitch.

Said to be 90% complete, we’ll list the new parts that have been fitted later but for now all you need to know is that he’s already done all the heavy lifting; with an investment of around £10,000 plus countless hours of his own time applying three coats of paint to the chassis – and many more dozens of hours tracking down parts from across Europe – the only stuff left to do are the fun bits. 

The seller commissioned experts to do the bodywork, tasking Paul's Land Rover Garage in Marthall, Cheshire to strip and repair the bodywork, and then refit it after it had been resprayed.

Kustom Classics of Ollerton in Cheshire did the actual paintwork, and very smart it looks too in its original colour of Red Metallic (paint code 3571, which is stamped underneath the chassis plate). 

The panels all align nicely, the shutlines are very respectable, and there is a marked absence of the sort of dents and dinks that usually scar older four-wheel-drive utility vehicles like this.

15-inch alloy wheels give it a suitably upmarket air, and those alloys were recoated before being fitted with Cooper Discoverer tyres, a mud ‘n’ snow variant from America whose tread depth is measured in good ‘ole freedom inches rather than the lily-livered millimeters us puny Europeans use. 

We will never get tired of telling you that experience shows that matching high-quality tyres are an infallible sign of a caring and mechanically sympathetic owner who is prepared to spend the appropriate amount in maintaining their car properly. 

They’re wide too, at a whopping 31x10.5, a girth that helps reinforce the G-Wagen’s air of indomitability, something that also makes itself known via headlamps washers, heavy-duty flank and wheelarch protection, rear mudflaps, a sump guard, a rear-mounted spare wheel, and a towbar. 

As for flaws, it’s hard to know where to start – but only because a line needs to be drawn somewhere between usability and concours, and only you know where that line will sit.

FWIW, most of us would agree that the front bumper would benefit from being resprayed – and when it is refitted, you could take the time to put it back on straight.

The black wheelarch extensions and the sill trims have a few scuffs on them but if you replace them then the news ones will probably get scuffed too. 

The rest of the exterior black trim is faded, and some of the fasteners are rusty, including the nuts that hold the wiper arms on. The rain gutter is missing a small piece of trim too, as is one of the wipers.

Do you see what we mean about drawing a line to protect your sanity?

The seats are still trimmed in the original fabric they left the factory with, which is a definite bonus, especially as they’re still in such good shape with no rips, holes, or other damage. 

The underlying base cushions might have softened a little, but the driving position is still high and commanding. Narrow pillars give great visibility too, and the overall impression is of a light and airy cabin that’s still a very pleasant place to be.

The rear seat is wide enough to seat three abreast, and all have seatbelts and headrests; it might be a basic vehicle, but it is a safe one. 

The door cards are trimmed in the same check fabric as the seats, and they too are in a very good condition with no obvious wear or flaws. The grey headlining is clean and taut too, and the dashboard and controls are some of the most legible in the business.

There aren’t many toys but then this military vehicle was softened only as far as it needed to be to avoid upsetting civilians. This means the windows are raised and lowered by hand, and the seats slide fore aft by muscle-power – but only after you have manually released the latching mechanisms. 

You change gears using a lever, operate the differentials locks by pulling knobs, move the door mirrors by hand, and pull the handbrake on using a simple lever.

The rain-sensing wipers are also a model of simplicity: When you sense it is raining, you will turn them on. It’s the same with the automatic headlamps: When you can’t see where you are going, you’ll reach automatically for the switch.

If you look for the dictionary definition of ‘analogue’ all you will find is a picture of a G-Wagen.

However, a modern, Bluetooth-equipped headunit is fitted, along with Pioneer speakers in the rear, because the owner isn’t a savage.

The boot is a good size, and it is lined with carpet, albeit this is a bit stained. However, lifting that carpet up reveals only solid and well painted metalwork. 

As for flaws, it’s much the same story as the coachwork; is has a bit of character, but not enough to put most of us off.

For instance, the back of the rear seat is scratched, and the rear door card has some splits in it, but both are inevitable given the sort of life G-Wagen’s lead; if it wasn’t caused by dogs, our money would be on firewood. However, the checked cloth insert is undamaged, so getting it retrimmed with new vinyl would maintain the car’s factory look.

The front seats would also benefit from new foam cushions in their bases, and you might like to repaint their plinths while you’re at it. 

The gearknob is more patinated than most of us would feel happy with, the ashtray lid is damaged, and the centre console has some rust stains on the plastic. The carpets are a bit stained too, but we suspect a professional valet could improve them.

As for faults, the sort of things you will want to fix, we understand that both the tachometer and the fuel gauge are temperamental. 

While the original engine and gearbox were left largely untouched, the seller asked Paul’s Land Rover Garage to go through his Mercedes and replace anything they weren’t happy with.

They ended up replacing the window winders, window seals, speedo cable, and the stainless-steel petrol tank straps, fitting a part stainless-steel exhaust, doing “a few bits and pieces to the engine”, adding speakers for the radio, and more.

With just 88bhp to its name the three-litre, inline-five isn’t going to set the world alight but it also has 127lb.ft of torque and will deploy that no matter what; over-engineered and under-stressed, they were designed to be squaddie-proof and will tolerate poor-quality fuel and poor maintenance with equal aplomb: a million kilometres, or more than 600,000 miles, isn’t unheard of.

No, it’s rust that kills G-Wagens – and rising values make buying one more of a risk than it’s ever been; few vehicles attract incompetent chancers like this, drawn by the prospect of fast profits from unwary buyers.

But, not here: Please take the time to look through the photo album that recorded the restoration to appreciate the amount of work that’s gone into it; while some might have been tempted to give it a rattle-can blowover, the seller was in this for the long-haul and made the appropriate investment with the right people to get the job done properly. 

And while there are many G-Wagens out there with a shiny coat of paint and a few thick gobs of underseal hiding who-knows-what, there aren’t many for sale with a documented restoration for the sort of money we think this one will fetch.

As the video shows the naturally-aspirated diesel starts well, idles solidly, and revs as it should.

The engine bay is a bit grubby and untidy but sorting that out to your preferred standard would be a fun job for a quiet weekend if it bothers you.

In the short-term, the battery strap looks a bit Heath Robinson, but that is probably the only urgent job; if it were ours, we’d just service it on the dot and not worry too much about how it looks as there aren’t many vehicles that wear a patina better than an older 4x4 like this. 

The underside is nicely presented without going OTT, and with only a modicum of care – pressure wash it once a week throughout the winter and apply a good coat of something like Lanoguard once a year – it’ll probably outlive us all.

We do see some perished bushes, so you might like to get those sorted out but these would undoubtably wait until money and motivation coincide. Maybe also get your man to trim the bolts that hold the wheelarch trims on while they’re under there.

The Mercedes’ MoT is valid until September 2026, and the only advisory was for the front brake discs, so you could add changing them to your short list of jobs that need doing. 

The recent Vehicle History Check is clear, and the history file includes the book pack, a manual for the radio, the MoT certificate, and a V5 registration document in the seller’s name.

We are told that previous owners did the maintenance work themselves, hence the lack of paperwork. This isn’t at all unusual; like the Defender, the G-Wagen is a straightforward and simple vehicle, and DIY maintenance would be within the reach of anyone with a half-decent tool kit and a bit of commonsense.

As for those previous owners, the seller tells us:

“Mr Peter Smith of Christchurch Road, Winchester purchased the vehicle in September 1992 from the only previous owner. Peter used the vehicle to visit their Welsh mountain holiday home, high up on a mountain in Llangwm. When Peter died his widow sold the G-Wagen to their neighbour and friend Llyr Jones, who lived a little further down the mountainside, around nine years ago. 

“We bought it from Llyr just over a year ago, with every intention of keeping the vehicle, but as my left leg hip replacement is coming up, I could do with an automatic for a period of time.”

“I hope it goes to a good home as it’s clearly been loved in the past.”

Amen to that; after years of faithful service in the Welsh mountains the mighty G-Wagen is once again fighting fit and ready to conquer whatever the next 35 years throws at it.

The usual G-Wagen equation goes something like this: Chinese body kit + rattle-can of Halfords paint = £40,000 – but we suspect the fact this one’s been left standard means it won’t translate into silly money.

Good taste does not always = Big Bucks.

We suspect the virtual hammer will fall somewhere between £18,000 and £22,000, which is daft; the seller has already ploughed £10,000 into it, so at the lower end of our estimate you’d be getting a low-mileage, low-owner G-Wagen that’ll probably run forever for only eight grand.

And at the upper end you’d struggle to buy a five-year-old Suzuki Jimny for the same money, you know, the cute one you see fitted with G-Wagen-lookalike body kits because G-Wagens are so cool…

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