5 cars that celebrate 50 years of AMG
Starting out of a tiny shed in Affalterbach, AMG has come a long way to become an integral part of the Mercedes-Benz world. AMG will complete 50 years since its inception and the German tuning house has given us many gems over the years. Chronicling every car that wowed us through these years will be too long and so, we pick the best of the AMGs from every decade since 1967.
The Red Sow
AMG announced their arrival in the early 70s when they built an endurance car out of Mercedes’ SEL limousine. They bored the 6.3-litre V12 to 6835cc pumping 428bhp of power and over 600Nm of torque. The car won its class and stood second overall in the 24 Hours of Spa with the rear seats, air suspension and most of the luxury trims still on the car.
The Hammer
While the Red Pig caught attention, it was the Hammer that announced the arrival of AMG. They shoved a 5.6-litre V8 into the W124 sedan and with 360bhp on tap, it turn out to be faster than the Lamborghini Countach with twin-camshafts and four valves per cylinder getting into action. The Hammer got a 6.0-litre V8 later, but the legend was born when the first Hammer steered out.
Mercedes-Benz C36 AMG
The C36 AMG, owned by Sachin Tendulkar, was one of the first small AMG sedans after the company joined hands with Mercedes for full-time production cars. Powered by a 3.6-litre straight six, the power varied from 276bhp to 287bhp as each one of the engines were hand-built. They later built the C43 AMG with a 4.3-litre V8, but that story is for some other time.
Mercedes-Benz SL73 AMG
The Pig and the Hammer had built a distinct reputation for AMG – big engines, ludicrous power figures and unrelenting performance. And this is the reason why it carried forward – the SL73 AMG. When re-introduced in 1998, the massive 7.3-litre V12 produced a mind-numbing 525bhp of power. Mind you, this is the same 7.3-litre mill that powered the Pagani Zonda.
Mercedes-AMG CLA 45
As Greenpeace tightened its noose on car emissions and fleet economy standards were introduced, Mercedes-AMG changed the game. The CLA 45 AMG marks a paradigm shift as it was the first four-cylinder full-blown AMG. While the 360bhp of power is not significant, what is remarkable is that all this horsepower came out of a 2.0-litre engine, recording the highest specific output per litre of displacement for a production car with regular service intervals.
The next decade will bring us newer AMGs and we know for a fact that they will be hybrids or electric. While many of us will not be happy about that fact, 50 years hence, one of these will make it to one such list and we will reminisce proudly about those cars too.
