Aufrecht Melcher Grossaspach
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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.
Currently located in Affalterbach, Germany - AMG started off by designing and testing racing engines, and expanded their 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 and they provide safety cars for the FIA Formula 1 World Championship. Mercedes-Benz took a majority stake in AMG in 1999 and will take full ownership in 2005.
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Models
Current AMG models
S65.JPG
The main engine is a 5.4 L V8 unit, designated the M113, that carries the "55" designation. However, this engine comes in two configurations. The first configuration is found in the C55 AMG, CLK55 AMG and SLK55 AMG is a naturally aspirated V8 with 360bhp. The other configuration is a similar unit but with a highly efficient Lysholm type supercharger manufactured by IHI, found in the rest of the AMG 55 models. The published output varies according to Mercedes from 476bhp or 500bhp (although it should be noted that actual output does not). AMG also produces a 612hp, 6.0 L V12 engine with twin turbochargers - designated with the "65" badge.
All AMG engines are hand built using a "one man, one engine" philosophy at the current AMG plant in Affalterbach, Germany. To signify this, each AMG engine builder stamps the engines they produce with an engraved plaque depicting their signature.
- Regular series models:
- Special series models:
Previous AMG models
In addition to the models listed below, there were also predecessors to the current AMG models. All utilized either the current M113 5.5 L normally aspirated Single Overhead-Cam V8, or a previous version of it. These models included:
Other previous AMG models include:
- 1986 300E "Hammer" AMG
- 1995-1998 C36 AMG
- 1995, 1998-2001 SL73 AMG
- 1996-1998 SL60 AMG
- 1998-2000 C43 AMG
- 2000-2004 C32 AMG
- 2000-2002 ML55 AMG
- 2001-2004 SLK32 AMG
- 2001 CL63 AMG
- 2001 S63 AMG
See also
Links:
- Official AMG Website (http://www.mercedes-amg.com)
- Official Mercedes-Benz Website (http://www.mercedes-benz.com)pl:AMG