Rare Rides: The 1996 Heuliez Intruder Concept - a G-Wagen Derivation

Corey Lewis
by Corey Lewis
rare rides the 1996 heuliez intruder concept a g wagen derivation

Today’s Rare Ride popped up on the Internet recently, hailing from the archive of Long Forgotten Concept Cars. This particular concept happens to be a high-riding off-road cabriolet, created from a Frankenstein-like amalgam of Mercedes-Benz parts and custom fabrications by French alteration firm Heuliez.

Buckle up — it’s gonna get weird.

As a business concern, Heuliez was founded in 1920 and named after its founder Adolphe Heuliez. Initially the company focused on building horse-drawn carts, but the business expanded over time into car parts and bus building. Heuliez was hired by large car firms over the years to build complex components, usually for lower-volume cars. Along the line the successful bus business was spun off into its own company, Heuliez Bus.

By the late Seventies, Heuliez was fully capable of building entire cars for interested firms. Most often, the company worked with Peugeot and Citroën, building wagon and convertible versions of sedans and coupes. When they got the idea for a convertible off-road vehicle, Heuliez was in the midst of a long engagement to build the Citroën XM Break (wagon). Apparently some of the staff had extra time on their hands.

Heuliez designed an all-new body to ride atop the platform from a G-Wagen, a G320 in particular. Stylists used contemporary design cues from various Mercedes-Benz vehicles and sort of chunkified them for their purposes. Given its extensive experience in building convertible components, Heuliez created a bespoke metal folding roof for its Intruder. The interior of the Intruder was a mix of borrowed G-Wagon components, plus other parts of unknown origin. The interior fit for two was finished off with some shockingly blue seats in an almost ultraviolet shade.

Carried over from the donor G were the 3.2-liter engine, four-speed automatic transmission, and the four-wheel drive system. Keen their convertible would be seen as an actual 0ff-road vehicle, the locking differentials were kept, as well. This might be the only coupe-cabriolet in existence with locking differentials.

The design debuted at the 1996 Paris Motor Show. Heuliez revealed its metal roof convertible concept just four months after Mercedes debuted the not quite as capable new SLK. Though it was a functioning vehicle, the Intruder never saw the light of production. Heuliez was at the end of contracts for new cars by the mid-2000s, as around the time very few were buying wagons and convertibles. The firm’s last vehicle was the Opel Tigra Twin Top, in 2009. Heuliez folded in 2013 after building some 450,000 cars over its tenure.

The one-of-one Intruder seen here was subject to a full $329,000 restoration and is for sale presently in England. The Heuliez will intrude on your wallet for $228,995. Dial the roof back and do some rock crawling.

[Images: seller]

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  • Opus Opus on Aug 03, 2020

    Looks like a lifted SC30

  • Tankinbeans Tankinbeans on Aug 03, 2020

    Kill it with fire and then kill it some more. My 3 year old niece would turn that into a projectile at the slightest probation.

  • Chuck Norton For those worried about a complex power train-What vehicle doesn't have one? I drive a twin turbo F-150 (3.5) Talk about complexity.. It seems reliability based on the number of F-150s sold is a non-issue. As with many other makes/models. I mean how many operations are handle by micro processors...in today's vehicles?
  • Ravenuer The Long Island Expressway.
  • Kwik_Shift A nice stretch of fairly remote road that would be great for test driving a car's potential, rally style, is Flinton Road off of Highway 41 in Ontario. Twists/turns/dips/rises. Just hope a deer doesn't jump out at you. Also Highway 60 through Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario. Great scenery with lots of hills.
  • Saeed Hello, I need a series of other accessories from Lincoln. Do you have front window, front and rear lights, etc. from the 1972 and 1976 models
  • Probert Wow - so many digital renders - Ford, Stellantis. - whose next!!! They're really bringing it on....
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