There's an old wives tale that said something to the tune of "Henry Ford once offered any car you could possibly want. So long as the car you wanted was a Model T painted black." Similarly, New Jersey native and entrepreneur Alex Levin can offer you whatever restomod you want. So long as it's a 1990 to 1993 Mercedes-Benz 250GD short wheelbase five-cylinder diesel with the removable soft-top and a fold-down windshield. But hey, at least you get more colors than just black.
As the founder and owner of Expedition Motor Company, Alex and his team of 25 "wrench masters" have turned this devotion to just a single automobile model into a lucrative and fruitful small business. Ironically, they've managed to do it all while mastering a phrase that's typically antithetical to good customer service. Simply put, they've learned how to say "no" to their customers. Whether prospective buyers realize it, not getting everything they desire shoved under a classic body might be a positive.
Founded in 2017, Levin's love of Geländewagens stretches to the earliest fringes of his childhood, driving similar G-Class 4x4s on his father's lap while he got to grips with steering such a brutish off-roader. That was a white 300GD hard-top, a slight deviation from the 250GD variant that'd become EMC's bread and butter. Still, the same spirit remains in droves.
Not far from the mighty Delaware River, Levin's team takes forlorn 250GDs, commonly called the Wolf in German Army circles, and turns them into their ultimate form. After driving a gorgeous white EMC 250GD automatic around the backroads of Frenchtown, autoevolution had the chance to sit down with Alex to get a better idea of why the company strongly believes in perfecting one model to restomod rather than taking in whatever comes into their shop on a goose-neck trailer.
"There's a lot of shops out there who can take any work they can get. They just say yes to this, yes to that, give me an LS, make it a convertible." Levin said of the preconceived notion of what it means to be a shop specializing in restomods. "What ends up happening is a bunch of hatchet jobs, half-done jobs, or even 60-percent done jobs where the shop has a 'well, the client will be okay with all that. That's rampant in this world, not that it always comes from bad intentions. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions."
Photo: Expedition Motor Company
As Levin pointed out, he's well aware of what the client side of the restomod business often looks like. He privately owned two G-Class 250GDs before he ever turned a wrench building them professionally. With these barely-repressed bad vibes still fresh in his mind, EMC is, in many ways, his way of rectifying issues he faced in the past. To that effect,
"This [EMC] is built from that aspect of making things as easy and smooth for the client. It's to where if I say we're going to build this Wolf in 18 weeks, I'll have it ready in 18 weeks, out for delivery." Levin said of the punctuality that comes with being the utmost professional in the restomod space. With the weight of EMC's vital customer satisfaction weighing on keeping to his word, not every restomod shop is structured to handle the pressure. As Mr. Levin pointed out, he tries with all his might not to be one of those shops.
"I know how many AC units I have on my shelf, and I know that when that stock runs down to ten, it'll take me at least four months to get another batch of 40 in. So I know exactly how many parts I need and when," Levin noted about the very German approach to number tracking at the heart of his business. Fitting, considering what they work on. "Of course, we're not an OEM where you order things by the thousands. We do have to be more careful. But we know what to expect, and that comes from being able to say no to a lot of things that people want us to do. So we specialize in just one thing."
Aha! There's that word "no" again. That pitiful little bookend to whatever fantasy you have about an LSX-swapped G-Wagen on a half-foot lift kit. Many have called Alex's showroom in Frenchtown, twinkles in their eyes, waiting to pitch their GTA Online-inspired dream G-Wagen build. Only for Alex and his team to tell the news that makes this eye twinkle disintegrate, usually when they learn an EMC Wolf makes just 84 horsepower. But despite what you might think, this disappointment usually fades into abject intrigue and amazement if these people get behind the wheel for a test drive.
Photo: Expedition Motor Company
When most people experience the classic, well-built charm of a true German army truck melded with modern refinements and creature comforts, suddenly they're not so upset they got told no on an LS-swap. As far as Alex and his team are concerned, this phenomenon is the cornerstone of their business model. "It's tough to say no, but at the same time it makes things nice for the client." Alex said of his strict but fair doctrine for EMC. "They know we have an assembly line process, they know we're the best at what we do, and our process is down-pat."
Alex boasts that the close rate among people who do come to Frenchtown for a test drive is just about ten out of ten. But it's because EMC is so forthcoming that their 250GD Wolf builds aren't daily drivers, nor are they suited for long-duration highway use, that prospective buyers come into the showroom already appreciative of the work taking place under this roof. This is not to say that little personal touches that don't require a ton of "R&D," as Alex put it, are out of the question.
"Of course, if you want tow hooks painted in a different color or calipers colored in Lime Green, that's not really R&D. We're happy to take any requests that we can without increasing friction for you as a client; we're happy to do it," Alex said of the drive towards as much variety and selection in the build process as their business model allows. "Recreating the wheel, stopping the assembly line, and stopping our day-to-day process is kind of a non-starter. So, is it easy to say no? It is easy. Has it gotten easier? Yes, it has, because just like any business you start, you want to say yes to everything. But over time, you realize exactly what you need to say no to.
So please, no requests to build a custom power-folding top contraption for a 250GD Wolf to slap on the next EMC build. But as should be readily apparent by now, these are the kinds of restomods that don't need gadgets like that. Although we did find the aftermarket Pioneer audio unit to be pretty bangin'. Surprisingly, in a society so used to getting red-faced when we don't get our way, EMC's taken the art of saying the big NO and turned it into a business that turns out at least two to three builds a month. With a retail price of around $178,000 for a base-model manual model, it's not hard to see how EMC survived its incubation stage and blossomed into a successful enterprise.
Photo: Expedition Motor Company
It's a mantra that Alex and his team don't plan to deviate from, which is evident when asked if there was any 4x4 on the planet he would consider expanding EMC's services to cater to. Can you imagine what his answer was? If you thought it was "no," then kudos for paying attention. "I've got no ambitions of expanding to other models or increasing production by 3x," said Alex, "Things will suffer, life will suffer, quality will suffer. We're happy where we are in terms of quality, our model, and our quantity." When you learn that EMC has over 100 250GD Wolf rolling chassis waiting to be restored, you realize that the company is probably set for the foreseeable future.
Will the answer change down the line? Who knows. But one thing's for sure, an hour's drive with an EMC build like we had the privilege of taking proves that, at least in the realm of restomods, the customer isn't always right. But if said customer is open to a different kind of restomod, they'll probably come away with a different, far more positive point of view. Check out our review of an EMC 250GD Wolf build here if you want to learn more, and many thanks to the EMC team for the incredible opportunity.
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