This Humble Work Van Hides The Running Gear Of One Of The Greatest Off-Roaders

The Mercedes-Benz TN is a legendary workhorse. For nearly two decades, these vans got all kinds of work done in Europe and managed to become so famous that even American enthusiasts knew about them. The best version of this van is perhaps one you’ve never heard about. Ighaut Allrad, a pioneer in beefy work van conversions, took these old vans and made them epic with the use of the 4×4 components of Mercedes-Benz G-Wagens. Oh yeah – you can occasionally find them for sale in America, too.

Much of America responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by hitting the road and enjoying outdoor activities instead of going on cruises or going to resorts. When typical vacation spots reopened, some folks stayed outdoors, anyway. While going off-road in a van has been a thing for a long time, it has exploded in recent times. Now, off-road vans are all the rage with everyone from Ford to Winnebago angling to get your money. A lot of readers have been asking me to shine a light on the older vans that are out there.

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If an expensive new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van or the Ford Transit Trail don’t do it for you, there’s another option out there, and it sounds awesome. You can buy a vintage van with a near-bulletproof Mercedes-Benz diesel engine combined with the renowned off-road gear of a G-Wagen.

Now, if you know your van history, you’ll know that Mercedes-Benz never made a G-Wagenified TN work van. Instead, the brilliant minds of customizers like Iglhaut Allrad are responsible for this wonderful creation.

The Conversion

According to Iglhaut Allrad, converting a TN van was the brainchild of Fritz Iglhaut. Fritz was a truck driver in the 1950s and he, along with his sons Friedrich and Hans, had a dream of building their own trucks. The team built their first truck using discarded parts and in 1965, they opened their first Mercedes dealership in Germany. By 1979, the company grew large enough to require its own facility separate from the dealership. The company quickly began growing past doing truck wheelbase extensions and body modifications.

Iglhaut’s van conversions began in 1983 after an alpine hotel owner commissioned a 4×4 bus build to get his guests up the mountain in safety.

This van caught a lot of attention and Iglhaut decided to make a whole business out of it. Iglhaut Allrad says its name was really put on the map when a racer piloted an Iglhaut converted van to second place in the Liberty Raid Rally Cologne-Karthum-Cairo. The company has spread far and wide since then and you can even get Iglhaut 4×4 conversions here in America for Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans. The new conversions use patented off-road gear developed by Iglhaut Allrad.

What you’re looking at here is a Mercedes-Benz 310 TN, which the automaker considers to be the precursor to the Sprinters of today. It introduced a lot of what we expect from a Sprinter, too, from Mercedes-Benz:

In January 1967 when Mercedes-Benz presented the 309 model series (later known as the T 2) as the successor to the L 319, the era of the post-war vans drew to a close. Bigger and more powerful than a delivery van, more manoeuvrable and lighter than a truck: the so-called Düsseldorf models filled a gap in the market and set the tone in their segment from the very outset. Ten years later, the Zeitgeist called for further development of the large van and even greater personality. And so the T 1 was born. Its multifaceted versatility paved the way to the future for Mercedes-Benz vans.

The van’s career began in 1977. The T 1 – still known at the time as the TN (for “Transporter New”) – rolled off the production line at the Bremen plant in large quantities thanks to high demand. Colloquially, the vans of this model series were often known as the “Bremer Transporter” or “Bremer model”. Until 1984, the van was produced in Bremen before production was moved to the Düsseldorf plant until 1995. In its 18-year-long production, across both production locations a total of almost one million units were delivered which meant that the T 1 was the most successful Mercedes-Benz van produced to date.

Part of what made the TN so popular was its incredible versatility. These vans were available with a wide variety of diesel and gasoline engines as well as gross weights ranging from 2.55 metric tons to 4.6 tons. The vans were also ridiculously simple, featuring a self-supporting body structure, an independent front suspension, and power delivered to the rear through a live axle.

These vans were never very powerful – the hottest engine was a 2.3-liter four-cylinder gasser making 105 HP – but they were known for dependability. TN vans became everything from vehicles for the trades to emergency vehicles, campers, and all points in between.

However, Mercedes-Benz never made a real off-road version, and that’s where Iglhaut Allrad came in. Ighaut Allrad found out that G-Wagen components, especially the front and rear axles, driveshafts, transmissions, and transfer cases, can be fitted to the TN vans.

How it worked was that the owner of a TN van shipped their van to Iglhaut Allrad. There, the van’s drivetrain would be partially disassembled. The running gear of a G-Wagen would be brought in and the van’s existing engines and transmission would be adapted to fit the incoming components.

According to Iglhaut Allrad, when the company looked at the schematics of a 207 D, it was found out that most of the G-Wagen’s parts would have fit so well it was almost as if the van was already designed to fit them. However, some parts needed to be custom fabricated, but the company didn’t say which ones. While I could not find any videos or illustrations of the process, apparently, part of why the G-Wagen running gear worked well with the van’s existing drivetrain was the fact that back in those days, the G-Wagen had some of the same engines and transmissions as the TN van.

Add a lift kit and knobby tires and you get the off-road beast mode van Mercedes never made, but still uses Mercedes parts. Iglhaut Allrad also says it fully tests out its conversions before selling them to the public. Apparently, the quality of an Iglhaut Allrad conversion is so good that, at least with modern Sprinter vans, getting the 4×4 conversion doesn’t void the factory warranty.

Iglhaut Allrad’s conversions became popular with alpine resorts and emergency services in rural areas. These vans gained a reputation for getting places a rear-wheel-drive van just couldn’t reach, perfect if you need something like an off-road ambulance. Thus, when you see one of these old vans for sale, you’ll often find remnants of their old service lives left behind. Sadly, it’s believed these vans have become rare, owing to service lives involving abuse before retirement.

You Can Buy Them In America!

Some of these vans have made it over to America. A 1989 Mercedes-Benz 310 Allrad 4×4 conversion failed to sell for $21,121 on Bring A Trailer a few days ago. That van had the axles, two-speed transfer case, and differentials from a G-Wagen, but retained its original 2.3-liter M102 gasoline inline-four and five-speed manual. That 4×4 conversion was owned by a fire department in Switzerland before it was imported into America in 2023.

Unless the high bidder and the seller work out a deal, you’ll probably see it for sale again soon.

If you don’t want to wait until then, there are other options. In Hood River, Oregon is a 1990 Mercedes-Benz 310D. This one has the same off-roading equipment as the 310 above, but the engine under the hood is the Mercedes 2.9-liter OM602 straight-five diesel paired with a five-speed manual.

Sure, it’s making just 95 HP and 141 lb-ft of torque, but these engines are known for their longevity. It should go hundreds of thousands of miles, albeit very slowly.

The seller of this one notes that it has a rear locker, an onboard air compressor, an auxiliary diesel tank, a diesel heater, solar power, and house batteries. Allegedly, the van tops out at 78 mph, but cruises at 65 mph. It’s also said to get between 17 mpg and 20 mpg despite the lift kit and 31-inch BFG tires. Hey, that’s not bad! It sounds like this thing is most of the way to becoming one sweet off-road rig.

Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of the green doors on the back and I’d also rip out those diamond plate cabinets. But I do like the floor drawers and the bed.

That van is being offered for $29,000. At first, I wanted to scoff at that price, then I started checking what these are listed for over in Germany. It looks like some people across the Atlantic are asking $20,000 and up for converted 4×4 TN vans, so you might not save much cheddar by going overseas.

At the same time, paying around $30,000 also gets you a Ford E-350 van with a Quigley 4×4 conversion and a Power Stroke 7.3-liter V8 turbodiesel with a lot more power. So, you sort of have to be a bit of a Euro car weirdo like me to want to spend around the same amount of money to go slower. Then there’s repairing it. I own an imported European car and sometimes getting parts can be a fun ordeal.

Still, I love these things. These vans might not be fast, but they’re something different than what you’d normally see wheeling in the woods. If you want much of the off-road prowess of a classic G-Wagen in an arguably cooler form factor, these vans might be what you’re looking for.