Over mountains, over enemies, and completely over the top: The strange and wonderful Mercedes-Benz G-Class, née Geländewagen, has been patrolling the roads—and even, on occasion, the off-road—for 35 years now. For sheer eclecticism, it’s hard to beat an Austrian-built military SUV proposed by the Shah of Iran in the ’70s, which evolved into a plastic-topped Popemobile by 1980. But the G63 AMG 6x6 sets a new square-jawed standard of outlandishness. Like the $135,000, civilian-issue G63 AMG, the 6x6 gets power to burn from a 536-horsepower biturbo V8, hand-assembled by the company’s high-performance AMG division.

The Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6 is equipped for on-road, as well as off-road duty.

But Mercedes amplifies this 4x4 to 6x6 with the addition of two wheels, a third axle, and a dramatically stretched body with a pickup bed. Five locking differentials divvy 560 pound-feet of torque among the half-dozen Prius-crushing, 37-inch wheels. A built-in air compressor allows tire fill-ups in the middle of, say, the Wahiba sands. And the ingenious “portal” axle system, developed for the military version, boosts ground clearance to 18 inches and lets the Mercedes wade through more than three feet of water. Sorry, streams and rivulets.

A view of the interior and instrument panel in the Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG 6x6.

But unlike military editions, the 6x6 is thoroughly opulent throughout, with everything from Benz’s latest infotainment systems to a bamboo-lined cargo bed. With 40 gallons of premium aboard, this fuel-chugging, 8,000-pound beast will make short work of the apocalypse, with perhaps a side trip to scatter civilians in Monaco or East Hampton. One caveat: Those East End coordinates will demand gray-market ingenuity. The plant in Graz, Austria, will hand-build limited numbers of the 6x6—at roughly $500,000 a pop—but America isn’t yet on the list. Soon, we hope.