Stuttgart, Germany - One man, one Gelandewagen, one life's journey: that just about sums up a record-setting global adventure.
When Gunther Holtorf and his partner Christine set out in their Mercedes-Benz 300 GD to spend 18 months touring around Africa, the Gelandewagen wasn't new - it was 10 years old.
On Monday 13 October - 26 years, 215 countries and very nearly 900 000km later - Holtorf brought his G-wagen home to the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim, where it will go on show to visitors in the Classic Cars section from 21 October - and be immortalised in the Guinness book of World Records as the world’s most travelled car .
At the official handing over, Daimler boss Dr Dieter Zetsche promised there would still be a G-Class in the future.
“But will there be adventurers of the calibre of Gunther Holtorf? I hope so.”
For Holtorf, now 77, the 300 GD, which Christine affectionately christened 'Otto', was the ideal vehicle for a journey such as this.
“When I bought the car 1988, the Mercedes-Benz people promised me, 'Where there's a G, there's away.'
“I was a bit sceptical,” he said. “After all, I'd already seen something of the world and had I some idea of what it would have to go through!”
But over the years his trust in Otto's capabilities grew, as they travelled together a distance equal to the moon and back plus twice more round the world, including at least 250 000km off-road, on loose gravel or corrugated washboard surfaces, through giant potholes, and up and rocky mountain passes - the equivalent of 10 times that distance on civilised central European roads.
ALWAYS OVERLOADED
Otto took them from searing desert heat to steamy jungle to Arctic cold without missing a beat - and always overloaded.
Fully packed with expedition gear and food, jerry cans, operating supplies, tools, recovery gear, spare parts and spare wheels, the G-Wagen tipped the scales 3.3 tons - about 500kg over its permissible gross vehicle weight - it regularly carried 400kg of gear on the roof alone.
“Actually the G was always overladen,” admitted Holtorf, “which is why I fitted reinforced springs and heavy-duty shock absorbers. Other than that, it's still standard; the whole drive-train - engine, transmission and axles - is still original, and neither the frame nor the body are showing any cracks.”
Christine died of cancer in 2010, but Holtorf went on, as she had insisted, and by journey's end he had travelled around 215 countries with Otto.
“Travelled around, mind you,” stressed the former pilot and aerospace manager. “A quick stop, with a stamp in your passport to prove it and a symbolic photo with the vehicle at the border crossing - that was never enough for us!
“In our eyes, you can only say you've travelled through a country once you've come into close contact with the locals and got to know them.”
Once a country had been ticked off according to these criteria, another red line was added to his personal world map. This map is now criss-crossed with red lines and, in the course of his tour planning, has opened a few doors, allowing Holtorf to travel through usually inaccessible places such as North Korea, Myanmar and even a 25 000km solo tour of mainland China.
Before Otto settles into his well-earned retirement, he'll be the touring Mercedes dealers across Europe as the star of a travelling exhibition that'll tell the story of this car's incredible journey, planned to get underway at the end of February 2015.
Find out more about Otto’s travels on Gunther Holtorf's website ; it's (mostly) in German, but the pictures, maps and videos are worth a look even if you don't read German.