{"id":330780,"date":"2017-09-25T01:28:36","date_gmt":"2017-09-25T01:28:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/?p=330780"},"modified":"2025-01-10T20:43:39","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T20:43:39","slug":"mercedes-amgs-greatest-hits-fifty-years-of-one-of-motorings-greatest-partnerships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/mercedes-amgs-greatest-hits-fifty-years-of-one-of-motorings-greatest-partnerships\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercedes-AMG’s Greatest Hits. FIfty Years of One of Motoring’s Greatest Partnerships"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Best Ever Cars From Mercedes AMG<\/h2>\n

Two of the most celebrated brands on the supercar scene have their half-centenery in 2017. Aufrecht Melcher Gro\u00dfaspach, or AMG as it\u2019s known these days, was founded by Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, both ex-Mercedes engineers, in 1967. Few would have predicted then that in its first five decades, the company would grow from independent tuner to the in-house performance experts of one of the biggest names in the business \u2013 Mercedes-Benz.<\/p>\n

To celebrate this milestone, we\u2019ve picked out some of our favourites from Mercedes-AMG over the years. We\u2019re quite fond of the work of the Affalterbach-based tuners here at Supercars.net so brace yourself \u2013 this is quite a long one…<\/p>\n

1971 300 SEL 6.8l AMG “The Red Pig”<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Mercedes
By Ji\u0159\u00ed Sedl\u00e1\u010dek<\/a> – Own work<\/span>, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>, Link<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Few first creations embody the phrase \u201cstart, as you mean, to go on\u201d as well as the 300 SEL 6.8L AMG. It was heavy, loud, and very fast \u2013 but you won\u2019t find any Chapman-esque lightness-adding here.<\/p>\n

Starting out with a 1960s W109 saloon, the then-newly-formed AMG took a bored-out 6.8-litre V8 and went racing. \u201cThe Red Pig\u201d was thus born, attacking Le Mans with all the subtlety and grace of a sledgehammer.<\/p>\n

That engine was good for around 420bhp \u2013 a lot for 1971, but it had a lot of car to lug around with it. It was almost twice the size of its competitors, sizing up against a field made up of lightweight Ford Capris and Alfa Romeo GTAs. Weight problems also meant the pig chewed its tires almost as fast as it emptied its fuel tank.<\/p>\n

That didn\u2019t stop it achieving success \u2013 it took 2nd in its class at Le Mans in 1971. That car has since disappeared into obscurity, with the rumor being that AMG sold it to an airline as a rig for stress-testing jumbo jet tires, as few vehicles combined strength, size and speed like the Red Pig.<\/p>\n

See the replica of that Le Mans legend in the video below:
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