The Early History of Mercedes-Benz AMG

Back in the mid-1960s, there were two guys withwas not an option. They labored on and by 1971
a small garage in an old mill that were buildingthe stage was almost set. All they needed was a
engines for fast cars, really fast cars. When thesedriver for the 24-hour race at Spa, Belgium.
two guys acted on their urge they spawned oneA few drivers turned down the offer to drive
of today's largest suppliers of exclusivetheir Mercedes heavyweight, including then-recent
high-performance cars. The two guys wereLe Mans winner Gijsbert van Lennep. Finally,
Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, theEuropean Go-kart champions Hans Heyer and
founders of AMG Motorenbau undClemens Schickentanz became available and AMG
Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (AMG Enginehad their team. The team surprisingly achieved a
Production and Development, Ltd.). Thankfully, theclass victory and finished second in the overall
company name was later shortened to AMG.championship with their Mercedes-Benz 300SEL
Aufrecht and Melcher started in 1965 by preparing6.8-liter AMG. The owners' persistence and
a racing engine for Manfred Schiek's 300SE. Twopassion had finally paid off for the small company
years later, the owners officially founded theand their success spread rapidly.
company and began their humble beginnings in theIn the 1970s the company started offering
"Old Mill" in Burgstall, Germany.high-performance tuning packages to Mercedes
According to historical information provided bycustomers in Europe and other markets. Some
Mercedes-AMG, the first private customer of theMercedes customers wanted individually
new company was a Mercedes owner from Kiel.customized vehicles and AMG met their needs as
With a humble beginning there is always a goodwell. Like NASA, AMG was transferring
story. Here's the gist of the story going aroundtechnology. They took the lessons they learned
today, which is said to be Friedrick Aufrecht'son the racetrack and applied their knowledge to
story. Friedrick is the brother of AMG co-founder,production cars. It was a smart and profitable
Hans-Werner.move for AMG, which lead to a steady increase
A customer from Kiel, a town located on thein orders and a solid reputation as the premiere
northern border of Germany, is said to be theMercedes-Benz "tuner" in the world.
first private customer of the young MercedesBy 1978 the company had outgrown the old mill
tuning company. As the story goes, he was in theand the owners encountered another
paddock at a motor race when he got a hot tip.urge-relocate. They moved their operation to a
He was told about a garage in southwestlarger facility in Affalterbach to better
Germany called AMG that could squeeze everyaccommodate customers and a staff that had
last ounce of torque out of a Mercedes engine.grown to 40 employees. Although the orders for
This customer had a fondness for torque and heproduction car modifications were rolling in, AMG
decided to visit the garage. After following thenever lost sight of their passion for motorsports.
sketchy directions provided, he found himself inIn 1980 an AMG Mercedes 450SLC took first
front of two tiny garage doors at an old mill.place in the European Touring Car Championship
Garage doors so small, in fact, that he wasn'tGrand Prix race at the Nürburgring. The
sure if his Mercedes would fit inside. Is this thesubsequent AMG racing successes are far too
right place he wondered? He ventured inside andmany to list now. It suffices to say that they did
observed a hand dug inspection pit in the middlewell both on and off the track and the company
of the garage. Now, he definitely wasn't sure ifcontinued to grow rapidly.
this was the right place so he asked, "Where canJust seven years after moving to Affalterbach,
I find AMG?" The mechanics responded: "you areAMG built a second factory and hired their 100th
in the AMG garage."employee. A significant turning point for AMG
Later on the customer from Kiel picked up his carcame five years later, in 1990, when the
and headed home. He was almost to Frankfurtcompany signed a cooperation agreement with
when he turned around and drove back. TheDaimler-Benz AG. With the agreement came a
astonished mechanics couldn't believe it. Just threethird factory, an increase in the workforce to 400
hours later their first private customer wasemployees and plans for the sale of AMG
already bringing his car back. To their disbelief, theproducts through Mercedes-Benz dealers located
customer drove all the way back to the garagein overseas markets. Soon thereafter, AMG
to tell them personally how happy he was withbegan preparation for the production and
the car. The mechanics were inspired and theexportation of AMG cars to the U.S. market,
AMG legacy began.which today is AMG's largest market.
During the next three years AMG concentratedThe first "official AMG" car to reach the shores of
on building race cars based on the Mercedes-BenzAmerica was the 1995 C36 AMG, although
300SE sedan. They liked the Mercedes-Benz 300enthusiasts had privately imported gray market
models and some bad luck for a Mercedes ownerAMGs such as "The Hammer" much earlier. In
turned out to be good luck for AMG. They got1999 DaimlerChrysler became the majority
wind of a damaged 300 that was being sold by astakeholder in Mercedes-AMG GmbH. The market
doctor and they bought it. It was purchased fordemand for AMG cars was high and production
less than $6,000 at a time when new modelsclimbed from 500 to 20,000 cars per year by
were selling for $20,000.2005 when DaimlerChrysler became the sole
The AMG mechanics enlarged the cylinder bores,shareholder in Mercedes-AMG. Although many
modified the camshafts, intake manifold andthings changed during this time, the new owner's
several other components. By the time theycontinued the tradition of building AMG engines
were finished tinkering, their investment in laborusing the "one man, one engine" philosophy that
and parts exceeded $100,000. They enteredcontinues to this day.
races and encountered major setbacks, but failure