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This is a read-only archive of the old Madabout Kitcars forum. New posts and replies are no longer possible, but every thread is still here to browse and read.

Mercedes G Wagon / ML Body Swap Project

2 May 2015, 8:18am
This isn't really a kit car build as such but I thought I'd start a thread on here as I know I'l get some good advice from everyone on the forum!

I've wanted a Mercedes G wagon for a while now but in my price range (£10k-£15k) you can only buy a very old mk1 with a million miles on the clock! I looked into buying 1 and adding some new wheels, a body kit and a nice spray job but your still left with the old box dash and old interior.

I came across this on ebay....







It doesnt runs and needs a lot of work, body and engine and the interior is falling to bits. I won the auction and payed £2,350.

My plan initially was to buy a Mercedes ML and get somone to do an engine swap and dash/interior etc. I posted about this in the tribute section on here and chris suggested to cut the body off the G wagon and mate it to the chassis and floor plan of an ML. He put me onto a friend of his whos going to do the job. We agreed a price for the work and I had the G wagon delivered to him last week.

Yesterday I bought an ML...







Its a 2002 3.2 auto petrol with 83k miles. A bargain at £1,700!

It should be getting delivered this weekend. I have a slot penciled in for the body swap at the end of July so I have untill then to source alloys and a body kit/new lights etc.

Hopfully by the end of the year i'l have a G wagon somthing like this....







With it being on the ML chasis And with no modification to it, I'l hopfully be able to retain the 2002 ML plate and have the lod book changed by the DVLA as per a body swap like the tributes/bertini etc.

Look forward to your inputs/opinions etc and will post more as the build starts.
3 May 2015, 3:40pm
ML delivered today...

4 May 2015, 6:37am
Danny - This does sound like a great idea and I hope it all works out for you.

I assume you can also get a bit of money back selling off the bits from both cars you don't need. :cool:

Good luck, Paul. :)

PS
I've seen a few clever combinations of old body shells on modern running gear on "Rods & Sods".

E.g. This 1948 Chevy pick up.



Actually has a Mazda truck underneath.



Build thread here:
http://www.rodsnsods.co.uk/forum/garage/48-chevy-pickup-marries-mazda-b2200-45080
4 May 2015, 11:06am
Paul, ive just had a flick through and looks a great build thread, will have a good read over the weekend.
26 Aug 2016, 6:09pm
G wagon on ML chassis

Hi Danny how is the g wagon project going? I have just bought one and was thinking of doing the same thing