Imagine if you will an M1A2 Abrams main Battle Tank.

Now remove the 120 mm M256 smoothbore cannon then take out the road wheels and tank treads and put the three pointed star in front. Viola! The Mercedes S600 Guard.

Seriously, the S600 is Mercedes’ answer to VIP protection.

Heads of state, the rich and famous, dictators, despots, royalty, drug lords and the plain paranoid are but a few of their clientele.

In the past companies such as International Armoring Corporation and Armormax would take a brand new, fully assembled vehicle straight out of the lot, strip it down to its shell then retrofit the armor and protective equipment.

What Mercedes did instead was to include the armoring in the production process.

Speaking of armor, the S600 Guard has a Level IV or B7 protection rating.

This means that his majesty is safe from 9mm to 5.56mm to armor piercing 7.62 X 51 NATO rounds striking the car to grenade shrapnel and other explosive devices underneath the vehicle.

Also built in are Michelin PAX system Run-flat tires, an integrated fire-extinguishing system and a self-sealing fuel-tank.

Probably the biggest advantage one gets from factory installing the protection as opposed to aftermarket armorers is that Mercedes can fine tune the v12 512hp byturbo engine to handle the additional 3000 lbs without any discernible loss of comfort or handling.

Despite all the structural reinforcements and protection, what comes out at the end of the production line looks just like any other run of the mill S600.

That is until you open the doors and get a look at the roughly 3 inch thick polycarbonate glass that is.