Brittany Chang/Business Insider
- New Jersey-based Expedition Motor Company is restoring vintage Mercedes-Benz G-Wagens from the early 1990s sourced from the German military.
- Before making the career switch to G-Wagen restorations, EMC founder Alex Levin was working in real estate finance.
- EMC only converts 250GD, and will not restore other people's G-Wagens or any other type of vehicle.
- The current builds start at $91,150.
- Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
New Jersey-based Expedition Motor Company is restoring vintage Mercedes-Benz G-Wagens from the early 1990s sourced from the German military and turning them into bespoke convertible SUVs with off-roading capabilities.
Expedition Motor Company founder Alex Levin had an unconventional start to the business: he worked in real estate development before taking the career switch to pursue his side passion project full-time by founding Expedition Motor Company.
Levin claims this passion is what allowed the business to grow smoothly and organically, which was in part aided by the demand of restored G-Wagens. However, he says he still has a "passion for real estate finance" and now does it as a side job.
"This wasn't something that all of a sudden I had to put all of my life savings into, or all of a sudden I had to mortgage a home or take out a loan and buy and sell and try to make ends meet every month," Levin told Business Insider. "This was fun, and because it was fun [and] it wasn't something that 'make or break this makes or breaks me', we didn't cut any corners."
EMC has a special niche: it only converts 250 GD Wolfs, and will not restore other people's G-Wagens or any other type of vehicle. To qualify as a Wolf, the G-Wagen must have a fold-down windshield and be a convertible, according to Expedition Motor Company. This includes a 250GD that can be dropped from the sky by a helicopter.
"With the top on it's a little inconspicuous, but when the top is off it's a completely different environment," Levin said. "In the summertime people are just so drawn to it. There goes a convertible SUV and it's a Mercedes and a G-Wagen."
Keep scrolling to see the different conversions: