Aufrecht Melcher Grossaspach
Aufrecht Melcher Grossaspach or AMG is the tuning arm of the Mercedes-Benz car company. AMG was founded in 1967 by former Mercedes engineer Hans-Werner Aufrecht ('A') and his business partner Erhard Melcher ('M') in a German town called Grossaspach ('G'). This is where the name came from.
They designed and tested racing engines, and expanded the business into building bespoke road cars, based upon standard Mercedes cars. By the '80s, AMG was producing a range of unofficial upgrade and accessories packages for Mercedes vehicles, although there were no official tie-ups until the mid '80s, when AMG started to supply the company with aftermarket alloy wheels and styling products. AMG and Mercedes then worked together on cars for the 1988 German Touring Car Championship. Mercedes-Benz took a majority stake in AMG in 1999 and will increase its shareholding year on year until 2009, when it will take full ownership.
Currently there are a number of AMG models available as part of the Mercedes range. These are:
- C 30 CDI AMG
- C 55 AMG
- CLK 55 AMG
- CL 55 AMG
- E 55 AMG
- S 55 AMG
- SLK 55 AMG
- SL 55 AMG
The main engine is a 5.5 litre unit. However this engine comes in two states of tune. The first in the C 55, CLK 55 and SLK 55 is a naturally aspirated V8 with 360bhp. The other engine is the same unit but with a supercharger onto it. However the output does vary due to constraints on the size of the bonnet (or hood) which are from 476bhp or 500bhp. AMG also produce a 6.0 litre engine badged 65 with 612bhp from its two turbochargers. This engine is in the:
