If you like the steampunk look, take a gander at the playful, idealized futurism-of-yesteryear changes Polish tuner Carlex wrought on this otherwise unassuming Mercedes-AMG G63. They’re only building ten examples, though, so you’ll have to act quickly if you plan on driving one to the next steampunk festival near you.
Carlex usually emphasizes sport luxury in its builds, turning BMWs into blinged-out statement cars with plush, track-inspired interiors. Sometimes, however—the Mercedes-Maybach they revealed late last summer is a good example—they begin and end with luxury in mind. So it’s nice to see them stepping outside of their comfort zone a bit to begin the new decade, and putting their detail-oriented chops into a stylized project like the Steampunk Edition G63.
As a style, steampunk can be difficult to pin down. It usually involves an intensely romantic—that is, idealized—vision of Victorian-era technology, a sort of glossy-but-burnished mythological take on the futuristic visions of the past, as imagined today.
But if you were expecting Carlex’s G63 Steampunk to sport brass rivets and explorative mechanical inventions, you’re out of luck. The edition is quite understated for a steampunk ride. It receives a little of the style’s color palette, though, sporting black paint and bronze accents, with steampunk cryptographic symbols on the vehicle’s roof hitting a few of the genre’s notes of Gothic romance and mystery. Inside the cabin, Carlex’s focus on creature-comfort detail comes to the fore, with plentiful Alcantara and leather, and the bronze accents popping up again in trim and controls.
Carlex hasn’t revealed the price of the G63 Steampunk Edition. The production G63 comes with a base sticker price of $150K.