Mercedes-Benz W140 Guard -The Panzer
Eduard Shevardnadze (b. January 25, 1928, Mamati, Guria, Georgian SSR, Transcaucasian SFSR; † July 7, 2014, Tbilisi) was foreign minister of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1990 and in late 1991. From 1992 to 1995 he was chairman of Georgia's State Council and its second president until 2003.
The first assassination attempt was made by Russian military personnel on October 3, 1992, during the war in Abkhazia. They tried to ram the presidential plane with a helicopter without license plates.
On August 29, 1995, he was slightly injured by broken glass in a bomb attack in Tbilisi. With cuts on his face and hands, he gave a television interview straight from the hospital.
As a result, then-Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel sent an armored Mercedes S-Class (W140) worth 190,000 D-Mark as a loan car. "To ensure Shevardnadze's safety as head of state of Georgia," Kinkel wrote in a letter.
On February 9, 1998, he was again the target of an attack. According to Georgian media, the attackers fired ten grenades, and another four anti-tank grenades failed to ignite. One grenade exploded on the hood on the passenger side, they said. Another also hit, according to Vakhtang Kutateladze, presidential security chief. The third grenade sent the vehicle skidding, but they were able to continue 100 meters.
Shevardnadze escaped unhurt from the shelling in his Mercedes. Two bodyguards died - one of them had rescued him from the burning car in the 1995 bombing.
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Obituary
After 23 years, the armored S-Class is probably still standing somewhere in Georgia near Tbilisi in its own car graveyard.
Badly damaged by the attack at that time, it has remained stable and ekes out an existence. Foreign visitors have meanwhile removed usable parts or tried to destroy the state coach further. This I consider, to say the least, quite difficult.
The windows are already tarnished and the interior has seen better days. Can anything be salvaged? I think not, but for a lover of the W140 is certainly no obstacle.
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#W140 #Guard #Armored
27 ноя 2021
