Good day to all,

I have had a number of Gs in my life in the past... a Puch G300TD, a Mercedes G320 Cdi and a Puch W461 290GD.

I just bought, by chance, a car I believe you might be interested in.

 It's probably THE original and most extravagant of the Richard Kaan modifications, which still to this day he has on his website as an example of his past work (see http://www.kaan.at/EN/page/?content=eswareinmal_diverse-en photo 7). Kaan was one of the engineers at Steyr who worked on the development of the G, and then left the factory to create a coach-building firm, working on luxury 1980's interiors for the G....he also prepared some for the Paris-Dakar.

It's a 1984 Puch GE 280 LWB (chassis VAG46023317901140) which was built on special order for Ladislaus (Ladislav) Blatnik, a Venezolean businessman, resident in Gstaad, who was for a period representative of Steyr-Puch in Caracas, and instrumental in having the Venezuela Army equipped with Pinzgauers.. (which later led to his exile in Switzerland, accused of corruption, and eventually to him taking his life in Gstaad in 1986). Interestingly, his chalet in Gstaad, Chalet Walucha, valued at US$30 million at his death, is the one where the movie director Roman Polanski stayed for a year in 2006 when put under house arrest by the Swiss. Also, Blatnik is the biological father of Tatiana Blatnik, current Princess of Greece as she married in 2010 Prince Nikolaos of Greece.

The Vin Decoder says the following:

Many enhancements and refinement were made to the car by Kaan, including:

- wide sunroof

- Webasto

- Behr air conditioning

- Recaro front leather seats in sand beige colour

- Full leather interior (including rear seats, jumps seats, ceiling, all door cards, back door card

- high pile carpet

- full wood interior, including all 4 doors, instrument cluster, glove box, transfer case console, central console

- widened instrument cluster

- bicolor paint, silver and blue, including the roof with special line (see pictures)

- special Clarion soundsystem with rooftop console, controls, fader, cassette player, amplifier, subwoofer  and over 16 speakers (4 per door, 4 in front fascia, 2 in roof and 2 in trunk)

- front bull bar (not visible in pictures but I have it, taken off the car).  

- aluminium sidesteps, welded to the chassis (I believe they are an original Kaan modification, but it's to be confirmed).

When Blatnik passed away the car was sold, in 1987 I believe, to its current owner, who kept it in Gstaad (Switzerland) all these year, covered and used sporadically (totaling today 186.000km, fully serviced, see CO2-smog booklet). It still has all original paint, no rust, original complete interior.

Comparing the car to the pictures Kaan has on its website I can see that it has lost the overhead TV and armrest/cubby box, as well as parts of the original steering wheel, it seems. Plus the Puch badges are missing from the front, substituted for a MB star.

Current state is as follows:

- mechanical: drives well, no strange noises. Transfer case enter smoothly. Gearbox typical Mercedes, when cold keeps the revs before changing - I would change the oil in it. I am told the fuel tank has been changed recently and a new one, OEM but plastic as the metal is out of production, fitted.

- accessories: aircon (serviced in 2015, good to go until 2019; compressor appears new) and webasto work; sunroof has been sealed externally with some vynil, but the internal mechanism is functional and opens; radio works and rocks!

- bodywork: excellent, condition, original paint. The back corners are in excellent state, no rust. There is just some 4cm flaking under the rear light (will send you pictures), and some microscopic bubbles over that same rear light.

- tyres are from December 2015

- legally a 9 seater

- passed the strict Swiss MOT in March 2016 

- interior: very dry (no leaks in the car, hence no musty smell anywhere); leather is not stained anywhere; slight wear on driver seat on side bolster.

I will attach more pictures in a separate message.

I have written to Mr. Kaan and he promised to get back to me next week with some history of the car, which he recalls fondly as one of his "really favourite cars".

Happy to hear everybody's comments!