During 1994 Bill Jones was Hill Rallying with a Mercedes Benz 280GES. He discovered that breaking things became expensive, and tried to source cheaper ways of doing it. To get help, and pass on what he had discovered, he thought about enlisting the help of other G-Wagen owners. He wrote a letter, which was published in Off Road and Four Wheel Drive magazine, asking interested owners to get in touch with him. He had 40 replies, and from this, the G-Wagen Owners Association was born.
In 2001, our first website came online. This led to an increase in membership, and a greater geographical spread of members. A few years later in 2004, this website was revamped, and included a forum for the first time. The ease with which members from all over the world could communicate with each other soon established the GWOA forum as one of the greatest facilities that the club could offer. The membership increased steadily as a result, and we had over 400 full members and thousands or registered users from all continents of the world.
This current website offers facilities for members, as well as the forum available to any G-Wagen enthusiast. Members get fuller access but anyone can contribute. Our aim is still as it was in 1995 – to make G-Wagen ownership a pleasure, to offer advice and expertise to members and to give members the opportunity to meet and communicate with other members.
Now we have members with the original Model 460/1, the second generation 463 and whatever the 2019 3rd eneration G is known as (463B, 464 ?). Ownership is diverse, from work horse to fashion statement, but all G owners seem to share a love of the iconic brand.
In 2019 the GWOA made it to 25 years. Well done us. There have been spin-offs and other social groups and sites, and there is room for all. But the GWOA remains the Original UK Owners Assocation dedicated to the Legendary G-Wagen.
We are currently working to re-juvenate the website site and the overall Association. If you want to be part of the UK G owners community, then watch this space.
