Mercedes-Benz G 1

The Mercedes-Benz G 1, internal type W 103, was a three-axle cross-country vehicle that came about in 1926 at the request of the Reichswehr. It seated two in front and six more in a tub at the rear with a central rear door. It had a side-valve inline six-cylinder engine of 3,079 cubic centimetres delivering 50 horsepower, an unsynchronised five-speed gearbox and drive to all four rear wheels, which hung on two rigid axles 950 to 985 millimetres apart on semi-elliptic leaf springs. All six wheels had cable brakes and the top speed was 60 kilometres per hour. Horch and Selve were also asked to build sample vehicles, and the army chose the Horch design by Paul Daimler. Only five G 1 were built in 1926 and one more in each of the next two years; series production never followed, and Daimler-Benz took up the idea again in 1934 with the G 4.