Beschreibung:

5,956cc DOHC 32-Valve V-8 Engine
Fuel Injection, 385bhp at 6,600rpm
Automatic Transmission
4-Wheel Independent Suspension
4-Wheel Disc Brakes
*Built when new at AMG in Germany on a new German Domestic Market car (not later converted by an AMG distributor)
*One of the last pre-merger AMG cars to have been built (completed by AMG in December 1990)
*Believed to be one of fewer than 40 cars built
*With order sheet from AMG documenting conversion to 6.0 spec as well as Mercedes build sheet showing dispatch of in September 1990
*Stunning presentation in desirable Blauschwarz with black interior, with tens of thousands spent on sorting over the last several years
AMG
AMG was founded as a racing engine forge in 1967 under the name AMG Motorenbau und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (AMG Engine Production and Development, Ltd.), by former Mercedes engineers Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher in Burgstall an der Murr, near Stuttgart. The letters "AMG" stand for Aufrecht, Melcher and Großaspach (Aufrecht's birth Town). Famously, they created the 'Rote Sau' in 1969, a modified racing version of Mercedes' "banker's hot rod," the 300 SEL 6.3. Bored out to 6.8 liters, the thunderous super-sedan raced to an admirable second place finish at the 1971 24 Hours of Spa and significantly increased AMG's public profile. This formula of adding immense power to large Mercedes quickly became a hallmark for AMG and continues to this day.
Through the 1980s, the desirability of AMG tuned and prepared Mercedes Benz skyrocketed with demand and interest far exceeding the firm's production capabilities. In 1993, noticing this trend, Daimler-Benz AG and AMG signed a contract of cooperation, allowing AMG to leverage Daimler-Benz's extensive dealer network and leading to commonly developed vehicles. The release of the AMG Hammer sedan in 1986, based on the W124 E-Class, took AMG's performance modifications for a fast midsized sedan to a new level. AMG made the world's fastest passenger sedan at the time, nicknamed the Hammer, by squeezing Mercedes 5.6-liter V8 tuned by AMG to 360 hp into a midsized sedan. With 32-valve cylinder heads and twin camshafts, it was faster than the Lamborghini Countach from 60 to 120 mph. Later models were even more powerful and introduced the 17-inch AMG Aero wheels.
Shortly thereafter the first of a handful of fully re-engineered 560 SEC 6.0 "Wide-Body" Coupes fitted with the ultimate development of the V-8 engines appeared. The engines were now 6.0-liters with radically improved cam and ignition timing. Massive increases in bhp were achieved but more impressive was the fact that these machines now produced more than twice the torque and at 1/2 the rpm of the original MB Factory design. Such performance and exclusivity came at a cost exceeding $200,000 and even still there were long waiting lists.
In the Spring of 1990, while production of the 560SEC 6.0 "Wide Body" coupes was well underway, AMG began quietly taking special request orders for a R129 / 500SL Roadster based version with the same 6.0-liter, quad-cam, four-valve V8 found in the last of the SEC wide-bodies. AMG officially states that 12 examples were completed but most experts believe that perhaps as many as 40 were built during a one-year only production run from September of 1990 to July 1991.
THE MOTORCAR OFFERED
This pre-merger AMG 500sl 6.0 was built during that one shortened production year, and its origins are fully documented by its supporting paperwork which includes not only a period declaration of its supply to the German market, dated September 28, 1990, but also a build sheet supplied by AMG stating the car's chassis number and 6.0-liter engine number. The order from AMG was commissioned by a Shinyei Kaisha of Kobe, Japan, and completed on December 10, 1990 and now equipped with their famed 6.0 Liter conversion, quoted at 381bhp, the car would leave Europe at this point.
In August 2012, the AMG Mercedes was granted export from Japan and left for Canada at the end of October. On these export papers odometer readings are noted to have been 96,900km to September 2010, and 90,991 to September 2008. Its ownership in Canada lasted three years before being acquired by and shipped to an American in Daytona Beach at 114,000kms.
The current owner, an aficionado and passionate collector of cars of this ilk, acquired the car 4 years ago. By this point, perhaps not surprisingly some of its period accessories, notably its wheels and pieces of the AMG body kit had been "upgraded" to stay in fashion with successors of its breed. A fascinating project for any enthusiast interested in the details, they relished the opportunity to source and refurbish the car and bring it back to as delivered specifications. The car now stands in exactly "as built" specification with the correct staggered OZ / AMG Aero II wheels, complete pre-merger AMG body kit (all with proper "HWA" part numbers), correct pre-merger square tip exhaust, etc. The extent of the research even produced a period Tamiya kit of this precise 6.0 model and the securing of the appropriate license plate 'SLAMMER', as these "Hammer" engined SLs were known. This was fully sorted for reliable use and, while doing so, intricate details unique to these cars were revealed, including 'A M G' being hand-engraved on the cam drives. All told the cost of this most recent work has been in excess of $30,000.
Today, the Mercedes is back to its original look, a striking, sinister and yet beautiful statement, still finished in its timeless blauschwartz paint scheme, matched with black leather interior. Its seller reports that the car is an 'absolute blast' on the road, and has been thoroughly enjoyed in his care.
As ever, the incorporation of an independent within a large organization brings many changes, and while successive AMG cars might have offered more performance, at the same time, some of the charm and brash insolence of the 'rote sau' creators would become more corporate, refined and dare we say it, less exciting. It is not surprising therefore that cars built before the merger have become increasingly more sought after by collectors, indeed to secure the AMG 6.0 liter package on earlier SLs and SECs has become almost prohibitively costly in the last few years. With its indisputable AMG provenance, this is surely a collectible of the future, while its odometer reading also means that the 6.0 liter legend can even be enjoyed.