If loving AMG is wrong, I don't want to be right!

They pop. They burp. They make the best sounds around. AMG’s make some of the best noises. But why & HOW did all this madness start?

It was 1965 and two Mercedes-Benz engineers, Hans Werner Aufrecht & Erhard Melcher, decided that the Benz’s they worked on were fine as road cars, but they wanted to take them racing. At the time, a Mercedes 300SE was the fastest car in all of Germany, but the sub 200 hp wouldn’t cut it on the track.

Unfortunately, Mercedes pulled the plug on racing. Aufrecht and Melcher wouldn’t let this stop them and decided to work on the project on their own time. They bumped power up to 240hp and sold the motor to private teams that dominated racing.

Winning 10 races, the two realized they had something special, but Mercedes did not want to invest too much into racing, so Aufrecht and Melcher decided to leave Mercedes Benz and set up shop in a city called Großaspach. If you put the letters of their last name and their new home, we spell “AMG”. So began the legend.

▴1 - ▴3 At first, all AMG did was create race motors. It wasn’t until 1971, when they shoehorned a 6.8L motor into a bright red 300SEL, affectionately called the Red Pig, and raced it at LeMans and WON its class. This gave AMG worldwide recognition.

At first, AMG would outfit Mercedes’s that were privately owned to go fast, brake harder, and handle better. Slowly, Mercedes saw these cars becoming extremely popular, so in 1993, Mercedes Benz parent company, Daimler Benz AG, signed a contract of cooperation. This would allow Mercedes Benz stores to begin selling AMG trimmed factory cars.

▴4 - ▴5 Some AMGs have become legends. Eventually, every Mercedes model line would receive an AMG variant, which eventually became future classics. Mercedes had the reputation for being autobahn missiles, but in recent times, AMGs finally can dance.

▴6 - ▴7 Now located in the village of Affalterbach, mostly known for its apple orchards, AMG continues to pump out the most exciting and thrilling cars.

📸: |wikipedia|@mercedesamg|@mercedesbenzusa|