Full metal jacket

From the outside they look like any Mercedes-Benz saloon. Underneath they're equipped to protect the passengers from a crazed gunman or an angry Bosnian mob, reports Alastair Sloane.

THE Turkish Consul General in Sydney walked from the front door of his house in suburban Dover Heights and slid into the back seat of the chauffeur-driven limousine.

Police would later say that his routine never changed: same time each morning, same route to the consulate, same route home again. Same paper to read on the way to work; same paper to read on the way home.

Only this morning things would change forever. The last routine thing the Consul General would see was a motorcycle and its pillion passenger, which pulled up alongside his car as it made its way through light traffic down Dover Rd towards Bondi Beach.

The pillion passenger shot the chauffeur first; then the Consul General. The only thing the few witnesses could remember was the pop-pop sound of gunshots and a motor-
cycle with two riders, both wearing helmets with full face visors.

The description fitted thousands of motorcyclists on a sunny Sydney morning in the 70s. The trail ended where it began.

The killers were obviously trained, said the news reports. The driver was shot first to cripple the car, military-style. Armenian or Kurdish separatists were blamed. The police turned to Interpol. The file is apparently still open.

Not long after the killings, the Turkish Government ordered the first of more than 50 bullet-proof Mercedes-Benz cars for its embassies worldwide. Turkey's ambassador in Wellington uses one today.

So do governments, crime bosses and executives all over the world.

Nato bigwigs trying to broker peace in the Balkan states get about in specially built models. A couple of years ago a Nato official in a bullet-proof BMW 7-Series was surrounded by an angry mob in Sarajevo.

The mob tried vainly to smash the car's windows, the door handles, puncture the tyres, prise open the bonnet.
Someone pulled a handgun and fired a shot at the rear passenger window. The bullet bounced off, its energy spent by the special glass-plastic material. The driver kept the car moving and finally fled the mob.

The latest bullet-proof, armour-plated limousine is the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. The German carmaker showed it off at the Geneva motor show last week. It has already received many orders, including one from an embassy in New Zealand. Each one can cost $100,000 - and more - over the standard model.

"Demand is particularly strong in the Middle East and the countries of the former Soviet Union and is on the increase in South and Central America and the United States of America," the company says.

Mercedes-Benz calls the cars its "Guard" range. It makes three - S-Guard, E-Guard and G-Guard, the first two based on sedans, the last on the four-wheel-drive G-Wagen.

Each vehicle, says the carmaker, "will provide defence against revolver and rifle bullets and additionally, if required, against hand grenades, explosives and Molotov cocktails, while still offering top-class passenger comfort."

The Guard range is categorised:

* B4 is entry-level, effective against a Dirty Harry type armed with a .44 magnum handgun.

* B5 will repel 5.56 calibre rifle bullets - the M16 military round or .223 hunting calibre.

* B6 will shrug off 7.62 calibre bullets, the Nato round and that used in the terroristsÕ favourite weapon, the Kalishnikov assault rifle.

* B7 is good for steel-jacketed 7.62 bullets.

There is no basic difference in the overall protection offered, just that armour-plating in the B4 category is lighter.

The specially equipped vehicles are no longer bristling fortresses on wheels. Only an expert, says the carmaker, would pick out the few small tell-tale signs.

But the cars are heavy, so much so that special materials reduce top speed by as much as 40 km/h. The overall aim is to provide a balance - the highest possible protection for the lowest possible weight.

Protection for doors, windows, side panels, roof, floor pan, fuel tank and firewall are not added to the finished vehicle but integrated into the bodyshell on a dedicated production line.

For example, at gaps in the body, doors or where metal meets glass, a labyrinth system prevents bullets from penetrating.

The bullet-proof glass windows are coated with a splinter-proofing poly-carbonate layer on the inside; hinges are reinforced to support the extra 100kg of weight in the doors.

Running gear and brakes are beefed up to ensure the heavier car handles and rides like a standard model. Emergency tyres sit inside each main tyre, allowing the vehicle to be driven even after the tyres have been hit by bullets.

An alarm system locks the doors, sets the lights flashing and, through speakers, bellows like a banshee if the car is under attack. Occupants are immediately patched through to an international emergency number.

Mercedes-Benz says crash-testing revealed that the Guard range fares as well as standard models. Each Guard model is fitted with safety equipment, like airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners.

The first Mercedes-Benz protection model was the W08/460 Nurburg, unveiled in 1928. The 770K, used by Japanese Emperor Hirohito, followed in 1930. This vehicle is on show at the carmaker's museum in Germany.