As far as I can remember, I have always been fascinated by cars – or perhaps better to say ALL kinds of utility
vehicles.
The bigger and stronger a vehicle looked, the more amazed I was – Big foots, Unimogs, 18 wheeler
trucks and buses were among my favourites. I was still in kindergarten when I could already tell exactly what
brand a car was just by looking at it and I probably learned the letters and numbers by reading licence plates.
As you can see, I was well acquanted with the car world, and yet for quite a while, I had no idea a Mercedes G-
Wagon even existed. Growing up in Eastern-Europe in the 1980’s meant I was surrounded by the carpark of the
Eastern block: Ladas, Skodas, Trabants just to name a few. The car closest to an SUV at the time was an ARO or UAZ.
Anything that came from the West – let it be a magazine or a bubble gum – was highly cherished.
So the first time I have ever heard of a Mercedes G was when my grandfather bought me my very first
Matchbox (SIKU). I was a five-year old boy living in Hungary, so you can imagine what a big deal a Matchbox was. And guess what!
My first G was this gold SIKU Mercedes-Benz G Cabrio.
I fell in love with its shape right away. This is probably when my enthusiasm for Mercedes Gs started.
I imagined that when I grow up I would buy my own real G – I didn’t know how, but I knew I would have one.
In 2007 I bought my first real G. So my dream came true.
As for the little toy, I still have it until this day.
And to make sure my passion for 4x4s is passed on to the next generation, my 1 month old son got his first G from my Friend Johan, this time a red one 🙂
Balázs
