Posted on 10/23/2016 5:39:44 PM PDT by MtnClimber
For nearly 25 years, AMG has been known as Mercedes’s performance division. But to think of it as just a small engineering department inside a massive corporation couldn’t be further from the truth. In its nearly 50-year history, it has built some of the most incredible performance cars to ever come out of Germany, and it’s been doing it long before it was under the wing of the mighty Mercedes-Benz.
Mercedes’s performance prestige remained intact thanks to AMG’s fantastic reputation for quality and performance, and its Mercedes connection kept AMG at the forefront of the performance tuning community.
The company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercedes-Benz in 2005, and on top of building the hottest Mercedes models available today, it is also developing engines for supercar builder Pagani, as well as Aston Martin.
From building cars one at a time in a small workshop to having the bottomless resources of Mercedes-Benz behind it, here are 10 cars that helped transform AMG from small-market tuner to one of the most advanced performance divisions in the world.
For a brand as dignified as Mercedes-Benz, you wouldn’t think it’d take kindly to some aftermarket tuners stripping one of their executive cars, calling it “The Red Pig,” and racing it against much smaller and lighter offerings from Alfa Romeo and BMW. But that’s what AMG did in 1971, and it turned the European racing world upside down.
Taking the big Merc’s 6.3-liter engine and increasing its displacement to 6.8, the Red Pig finished second at the prestigious 24 Hours of Spa and became famous overnight. With a top speed of 142 miles per hour and a zero to- 0 time of 6.3 seconds, the Red Pig became famous as “the world’s fastest sedan” and was more than enough to get Mercedes’s attention.
(Excerpt) Read more at cheatsheet.com ...
The SLS and AMG GTs are pretty impressive.
“For nearly 25 years” sounds so much more impressive than “since 1992”.
I wouldn’t mind owning one, or two.
For the time they made pretty good engines at AMG. Today they are outrageous. They lie about the numbers. The E63 AMG is claimed to be 577 hp. In a television dyno test where the car test crew did not believe the hp vs. the 0-60 time. The dyno and estimates of AWD drivetrain loss estimated in the high 800 hp range.
bookmark
I love love love my C63 AMG. Best car I’ve ever owned. Normally aspirated M156. Mechanical art.
Next I’d like the straight-up AMG but my wife disagrees...
I have a 2013 Mercedes C300 4-matic with the AMG Sport Suspension Option. I also have a 2013 Audi S6. The Audi is twice as expensive as the C30, but it is explosively fast. The S6 was clocked by Car & Driver at 0-60 in 3.7 seconds. The Tuners say Audi lies about HP and the claimed 420 hp is really 480.
The Mercedes normal suspension is too bouncy and rolly for me. I always select the Sport (AMG) mode and that is really good. I go back and forth in thinking the Merc Sport mode is or is not better than the S6 Dynamic mode. The C300 is 0-60 in only around 6.0 seconds so really slower than the S6, but it is my daily commuter, high milage car.
Now looking at cars even faster than the S6. McLaren 570S or Ferrari 488GTB. Wait times are an issue.
? Times are OK for #/hp.
I have been looking at replacing my C300 with a C63 AMG. Not AWD is so difficult in the Colorado mountains in winter. the C63 is about the same as my Audi S6 except the S6 is AWD. If I get the McLaren or Ferrari I don’t plan on getting rid of my current cars: 1998 Toyota 4-Runner (dog transporter), 2013 Mercedes C300 4-matic, 2013 Audi S6.
That should be “in the high 600 hp range”. Sorry, typing at night and not much light on keyboard.
In 1975 my wife and I were casually shopping for a sports car. We were thinking of a Corvette but there was a Mercedes dealer near us and we just stopped by and looked.
They had an SL, can’t recall the exact model number for $18,000 which was a lot of money back then. I did some quick figuring and we actually could have bought it tho it would have taken all our savings plus a loan which she could have gotten from her Uncle’s bank. It was a beautiful car but we ended up buying a house instead.
Back then you could almost make a living by buying houses, living in them for a while and selling it when you moved. They were going up in value fast.
Still I always wondered what it would have been like driving that beautiful Mercedes.
No, times do not match claimed HP. I wonder if lower claimed HP is for insurance rates.
I had issues with my 2014 Escalade last month, bought it used back in may, rode way too hard and had a weird rolling sensation, at first i thought it was the 285/45-22 tires, turned out it was both of the front magnetic shocks were shot.
Never owned a moderate performance vehicle before, but it was a very easy drive from just north of Anchorage to Fairbanks this summer, it would cruise at 100mph with ease, its just a Caddy with a plain 403hp 6.2 engine, NOTHING like real performance cars, but at least i can drive it year round in Alaska. Just put Blizzaks on it.
Yes, I have summer tires on my C300 (Michelin Pilot Super Sport). They are super grippy unless it rains. On my Audi I still have the oriinal Pirelli P Zero tires. For the Merc I have a second set of wheels with winter tires - Yokohama Ice Guards. About time to change tires on the Merc.
Just bough my first Benz a couple of weeks ago. A 2016 C300 4matic. OMG what a piece of machinery!
I was going to ask you about that. The C63 is beautiful for the engine, the fold-down rear seats, the practicality for transporting dogs and family and just going shopping. Total recommendation from me. It’s my daily.
The 488 I’ve looked at, and the 570. Then I wondered about Maserati (amazing engines built by Ferrari) who have some good models. Then the Alfa 4C, but thought the engine a bit small, but it’s incredibly fun to drive - it’s a go-kart.
The one I’m excited about is the Alfa Guilia QV. That’s what I may replace my C63 with.
Those Yoko tires are amazing. I use those when I go up to Tahoe in the winter. The lack of AWD is annoying, but hey, I can actually drive ;)
My 2013 C300 has been a pretty good car. It is my commuter car from Golden to Colorado Springs. In 3 1/2 years I have put almost 100K miles on it. My repairs were a front propeller shaft (CV joint) repaired under warranty and a tail light bulb. The 0-60 time of 6 seconds is not world class, but enough for merging into highway traffic.
I have heard that the Alfa Guilia QV is amazing, but I don’t know much about it. It may have the same Ferrari v6 as the Maserati. Without AWD ??? for 0-60..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.