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Companies are starting to let previews of their attention-grabbers planned for the 2018 North American International Auto Show in Detroit trickle out. Mercedes raised its hand Thursday, and clasped within is a classic 1979 280 GE SUV, from the G-Class’ first year of production, which will be put on display to promote the next iteration of the long-lived G-Class.
Rather than just top a plinth with the 280 GE, Mercedes opted for a unique way of presenting its history: Preservation, in a chunk of synthetic resin meant to mimic amber, similar to how fossils can be found preserved in amber.
The block of resin itself is described by Mercedes as weighing in at 44.4 tons, and is said to have taken about three months (90 days) to cast, with the cube growing at a rate of 3 centimeters per day. Its volume measures 1,535 cubic feet, or enough to fill the 79.5 cubic foot storage space of a 2017 G-Class 19 times over.
How Mercedes even transported this bulky display—with a weight around that of five tyrannosaurus rex—to the show is baffling on its own. Those interested in seeing this piece of automotive archaeology can find it in the Cobo Hall section of the NAIAS, which opens to the public on the 20th.
