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Main Section => Welcome to our virtual Pub Meeting ... => Topic started by: Genem on April 15, 2021, 09:56:47 PM
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I know this is way off beam but I though it might be of interest to those with a wider collection.... Its an Argentinian Army G-Wagen, captured at the end of the Falklands War and "liberated" by a friend of mines father, then a senior RAF Engineering officer. He managed to wangle it back to the UK in the back of a cargo plane and its been in the family since. I first heard that story almost 20 years ago so its not a scam..... It is believed to be the only such vehicle to get back here. The ones the UK captured had not been fully paid for by Argentina so Mercedes refused to provide MoD with spares. Obviously Giles' dad managed to get it registered...
G
https://mathewsons.co.uk/auctions/auction-dates/vehicles/17080-1979-mercedes-g-wagon?fbclid=IwAR2qfiY3R9CG6mEv8j9OvnIGZtDNUuYwFo47rGl3TdR1Ht3Jc7MSCtneky4
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I always thought that story was apocryphal, but had it confirmed by somebody in the know some years ago. Apparently the issue was that under international law, the Falklands "War" was technically not a war, but a conflict. I gather that means different legal aspects when it comes to spoils of war for example, so we in fact stole them off the Argentinian Army! This is why Mercedes blocked spares supply and for many years limited sales of the G-Wagen to the UK as well. One hell of a vehicle though!
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Giles standing in the thing some years ago...
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I remember seeing some of their kit in a compound at Leconfield whilst doing my driver training in 1990. Mercedes trucks and Oerlikon AAA pieces. Don’t know where it ended up ... probably not on eBay :-X
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If I didn't have too many toys/projects already I'd be very tempted!.
I wonder whether the RAFM are aware of the auction? One of the senior directors was very keen on soft skin vehicles but he retired several years ago.
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We had a C reg Gwagon at work. It was on 730,000 miles. It apparently needed a new set of pistons at 650,000 miles!
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I know this is way off beam but I though it might be of interest to those with a wider collection.... Its an Argentinian Army G-Wagen, captured at the end of the Falklands War and "liberated" by a friend of mines father, then a senior RAF Engineering officer. He managed to wangle it back to the UK in the back of a cargo plane and its been in the family since. I first heard that story almost 20 years ago so its not a scam..... It is believed to be the only such vehicle to get back here. The ones the UK captured had not been fully paid for by Argentina so Mercedes refused to provide MoD with spares. Obviously Giles' dad managed to get it registered...
G
https://mathewsons.co.uk/auctions/auction-dates/vehicles/17080-1979-mercedes-g-wagon?fbclid=IwAR2qfiY3R9CG6mEv8j9OvnIGZtDNUuYwFo47rGl3TdR1Ht3Jc7MSCtneky4
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/oh-lord-wont-you-buy-me-a-mercedes-benz/
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So more than one made it back to the UK under various guises !
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I was there in 82 , lots of Argentinian kit around , iirc the farmers did alright ,
Chris
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I heard that a few made it back along with some other Argentinian equipment. Most got used for target practice - I saw a few wrecks on Salisbury plain some years ago.
Weird things made it back here... I bought an ex Iraqi Army Range Rover after the first Gulf War - nice piece of kit. No rust holes, but it did have a few cannon holes - I had to fit a new roof to it as it was a bit porous up top. The rear seat had two big holes in it with corresponding holes through the floor! I never dared ask how it made it back here, but I was able to register it on UK plates. That was then though...!
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Many years ago I finished off the restoration of a SWB G Wagen which had been brought back from the Falkland's. The story was that they had been sabotaged to stop English forces using them, so distributors and ignition amplifiers etc had been removed and thrown in the sea at Port Stanley. The owner who I did the work for told me the story,I have no reason to disbelieve anything he told me. He also said that MB refused to supply the English forces with any spare parts until they were paid for the vehicles in full - Which Argentina had failed to do. (Seem to remember they failed to pay for a batch of Vincent V-twin motorcycles back in 1955 too)
I certainly couldn't buy any parts for it against its actual VIN, I had to use the VIN of another 4cyl petrol SWB civilian G Wagen that I was looking after at the time.
Whilst it was well made, I don't rate them at all, it was only any good off road with its diff locks engaged and could not do any more than my then worn out SIIA SWB with no diff locks. It drank petrol and had lots of fixings with very fine threads that made servicing and repairs hard work as they all rusted up. Not as good as they were claimed to be...