cabriolet g wagon available?
 

Just looking for some information... I was told a few days ago that there are only 25 convertible g-wagons in the states - a figure I disputed - but the gentleman I was talking to bought a truck that came from Europa (non-convertible) and he said they told him there were only 25? Anybody have a reasonable figure or does 25 sound right? It just seems there would have been quite a few brought in through gray market and that total should add up to more than 25.

thanks for your responses!

The G-cabriolet is extremely rare period. production numbers for the more modern 463 chassis are as follows; The total of 463 Cabrios made until the end of 2003(starting in 1989) is as follows:

200GE/G200 20
230GE/G230 82
G500/G55AMG 213
300GE/G300 266
G320/G36AMG 145
G320 154
G320-MY01 50
G500-MY01 98
350GDT/G350DT 160
250GD 14
300GD/G300D 155
G300DT 157
G400CDI 177
Total 1691

Now MOST of those models were never imported here at all. The approximate number of newer style G-cabs in the US is 65. That is per the previous importer Europa Intl. They brought in the vast majority of G's. It is a painfully expensive and difficult process to bring one in grey market. There are some for sale by Europa in Santa Fe NM, including a new one for $140k. There are a few used ones in San Jose CA, www.keisermotors.com

I do think that if you count all of the G-cabs from '79 on that made it here, you might hit 100 units. Considering that until 2002, there had only been 1100 G's imported here period, that seems like a very reasonable figure to me. It is a shame that MBUSA didn't choose to bring the SWB or the Cab version in. Of course by most accounts they completely botched the take-over of G sales anyway, so maybe it was for the best.

I just saw one last week. It looked great! With the soft top it looked smaller, like a Defender 90. The top looked like what you see on a Jeep Wrangler with a full soft top.

Rick, The G has always come in two sizes. The cabriolet version is based on the SWB and the four door LWB is the most common version. Since 2002 when MBUSA took over importation, they have only offered the LWB, the SWB hard and soft tops never made it :(

I had a g320 cab last summer.
 

I bought a black 14km 1997 g320 cab on ebay last summer. I bought it from a german fellow here, who had a valid US title, though no conversion work had been done at all (still had MB of Frankfurt tags on it). I paid $30k for it, and seeing how it had less than 10K miles on it, it was essentially new, even had german air in the tires.

After talking to the folks at DOT, I quickly learned that what I had was contraband, and that it was subject to be seized and (gasp) crushed.

So, I called the German back, and he refunded my $ and picked it up.. Oh well..It was a neat truck, but I would have been just as happy with a well equipped jeep.. The g500 is another story.