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Hope to have it on the road by this time next week.
It was part of the ground support for the Swiss Rega Air Search & Rescue
1996 G350DT Worker

Oh come on, we need more pics than that!

So you bought the banana.
what's the powertrain?

With rose color glasses, it'll look orange.

Nice looking truck

Will post some more once I go pick it up.
It is a 1996 350GD Turbo Diesel
Being a Worker model there is no wood dash pieces in the interior and no carpet

Are you putting mil. wheels on it?

Make sure you do a thorough rust inspection and stop anything that is even hinting at starting. I'd spray all the cavities well.

Very nice. That will be a fun rig when you get it dialed in.

VinceAtReal4x4s wrote:Are you putting mil. wheels on it?

Make sure you do a thorough rust inspection and stop anything that is even hinting at starting. I'd spray all the cavities well.

Very nice. That will be a fun rig when you get it dialed in.

Military wheels as in Hutchinson? No I don't like them - all those bolts are crap in rocks.
I have a guy close by that has a set of steel rims but will probably just stick with these for now
New tires are more important to start

Oh that's right, you would assume that being in Canada.

I meant the stock/euro mil. steel wheels. Although I think the 80's alloy's look great too. If you get a set of the steels in 6" wide you can run a 265/75 in case you want a compromise of the 255's. the 5.5's are ideal for the 235's.

The worst are those "BBS" wheels that so many Euro guys put on years ago so at least you don't have those.

And what was the story again with that earlier 603/350 head? I know there was an issue porting the 6th cyl. out too far or something. Or was it something to do with the turbo/manifold/heat? But this has the later version on it? We can't import that model here yet so I'm very out of the loop on that motor, other than hearing the rumors over the years.

The OM603 3.0 is a million mile engine.
The OM603 3.5 has been given the nickname "rob bender" in the US from it massive issues with bent rods thus ovals get out the cylinders and eventually total engine failure! This was seen in the US TD passenger cars of the early to mid 90's. Mercedes never did a formal recall but many who pushed at dealerships got new motors under warranty. Failure was seen between 70-150k miles.
Other issue early on with the 3.5 was with the #18 head and earlier. Too thin in places, over heating, blown head gaskets etc
As far as my truck...
I checked it out over a month ago, top to bottom and the spent weeks Googling and researching the 3.5l motor.
Basically, because this truck is a euro spec (vs US), a Worker model (not many made) and last year of production, they finally got it right. This truck has the newest head #22, upgraded thicker rods, newest head gasket design etc. As well, it seems that the euro spec'd cars did not have all the issues of the US cars. Some claim due to cetane levels others claim this and that.
It has 300,000 km on it and I am confident that it will be good for about a million miles like its smaller 3.0 older brother.
Here is an interior shot that shows its Worker heritage (similar to PUR)
You can see cloth interior, no carpet and truck was originally Polar White. It was painted yellow by Rega for SAR duty. While it has no burled walnut, the inserts are wood I am to,d but painted a flat dark grey.
It has 3 diff locks, a split rear bumper setup for towing, front has the tow pin steel bumper and no stupid body skirting like on the newer G500/550 models even though they are both 463 models Under the rubber floor mats the floors look new. Here is the rear cargo area: Luxuries include 4 speed auto, power windows, remote door locks, abs (can turn it off with a switch), ps, pb, and a driver side air bag. The 350GDT was the last model with mechanical IP. The G300TD (463) switched to electronic controlled IP and tranny

Anyways, it should be fun and in 5 years it US legal for import
Oh and if something should ever happen EVERYTHING on this truck is good for a direct OM606a to be dropped in and bolted up. Oil pan, T case, correct axle ratios etc etc... but that not going to be needed (knocks on wood)

That is awesome! Congrats on that! I'm pretty certain that my next vehicle will be a w463 worker If I can find one when I'm ready.

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Are you going to do a repaint in a classic G color like the Agave Green or the Colorado Beige? Those are my two favorite MB colors, even though my 280GE is Wheat Yellow; that would be my third choice.

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Very, very nice! I'm envious of your Turbo Diesel - I'd really like to have that in mine.

Enjoy!

CentAr712 wrote:Are you going to do a repaint in a classic G color like the Agave Green or the Colorado Beige? Those are my two favorite MB colors, even though my 280GE is Wheat Yellow; that would be my third choice.

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Original factory color is Polar White (so the inside is white, foot wells etc).
I was thinking a white wrap, then underneath it retains it Swiss Rega colors and heritage
Still researching but I like this truck and he did a wrap years ago

I don't know, this might be better inspiration to pull from. I'm sure Andre could make you a full set of monkey bars out of conduit and swimming pool handles like this one. You need some way to mount the 17 lights!

That rig just keeps getting worse looking each time I see it... can't understand what the idea of it is other than perhaps a post-apocalyptic version of Stings vespa scooter in "quadrophenia"

Ick. The "rolling Jungle'G'ym" is a mess.