Here’s How Mercedes Encased a 1979 G-Class ‘Jurassic Park’ Style
G-Wagen ‘Jurassic Park’ like display took almost 8,900 hours and a ton of artificial resin.
Leading up to the introduction of the next generation Mercedes-Benz G-Class at the 2018 Detroit Auto Show, the German automaker crafted what they called “The Amber Cube.” This is an original G-Wagen encased in a huge block of artificial amber, taking a cues from filmmaker Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park to create a truly unique piece of automotive artwork.
The video above comes from the official Mercedes-Benz YouTube channel. The German car company offers us a quick look at the making of the 52-ton artwork featuring an original 1979 G-Class and a whole lot of epoxy resin.
Jurassic Park G-Class
The 2019 model year will introduce the world to the newest generation of the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, but the first version of the famous G-Wagen debuted back in 1979 and the genetics of the newest version can be traced back to the original. In the movie series Jurassic Park, scientists were able to recreate dinosaurs using the genetic material that they found sealed in ancient amber. While we aren’t likely to find a 1979 Mercedes cloaked in fossilized tree sap, the folks from Daimler decided to create their own fossil of the G-Class with some inspiration from the popular movie series.
As the video above shows with help from Daimler-Benz boss Dieter Zetsche, where nature uses actual amber to preserve genetics, the German automaker used epoxy resin colored to look like natural amber. The result is an eye-catching piece of automaker artwork that turned heads during the Detroit Auto Show back in January.
Amber Cube
While there is no actual amber in this massive piece of automotive artwork, there is 10,753 gallons of epoxy resin that has been dyed the proper amber shade. After the 1979 Mercedes G-Class was carefully balanced on its passenger side, the team slowly built a box around the old school SUV, adding layers of epoxy to fill the graduated walls of the box. They assembled the resin block a few inches at a time, allowing the resin to settle without any bubbles or imperfections before adding the walls for the next few inches.
Over the course of 8,892 hours, the team surrounded and filled the 1979 Mercedes-Benz 280 GE in the artificial amber, creating a piece of cube art that weighs some 52 tons. Once completed, the piece was lifted by a crane and set on its “wheels”, where it was packaged up and shipped to Detroit for the debut of the 2019 G-Class.
The “amber cube” was positioned outside of the front of Detroit’s Cobo Hall, where attendees were invited to check it out and share pictures on social media.