Video: AMG Hammer

I generally find myself stumbling through one of my favorite autoblogs, The Smoking Tire, and as a result have come to know the YouTube channel /Drive.  After fumbling through a few videos on I came across this one...

Any true Mercedes fan, or auto enthusiast over the age of 25 knew exactly what car this post would be about just by hearing the title "AMG Hammer."  For those who don't, its essentially a super tuned E-class that cost around $160,000 in 1987, which adjusted for inflation is around $300,000.  With a price tag like that, its little wonder that there were only about 30 examples of these amazing autos built.

Watching the video, its not hard to see the excitement plastered all over Chris' face and its pretty simple to understand.   He got to drive one of the rarest and most exciting factory maintained/owned AMG on the planet.  To give a bit of perspective Chris has a new Ferrari 599 GTB, which he bought after trading in his Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0 and he spends his life reviewing the best and most exciting cars.  So for him to say that this is a "heavenly experience" is really saying something.  He also notes this car as being in his top ten driving bucket list, and one that he would choose to drive, over any other car old and new, from the UK to LeMans.

Though Chris makes some very critical comments of the car, I can say that as an owner of a Mercedes of that era, hes right.  The transmissions take a lifetime to downshift and the accelerators are just without any feeling.  But that's using today's cars as a comparison and at the time this was the pinnacle of the automotive world.  Another point that I felt Chris left out of his video, is that the Mercedes of these era weren't exceptionally quick off the line.  Where their performance came into play was when you were doing about 40 MPH and you floored it.  This 40-whatever MPH blast is a truly special feeling, unique to these Mercedes'.   It is even rumored that the Hammer would go faster from 60-120 than a Lamborghini Countach, that's pretty incredible.

All things considered, I had to share this video.  As soon as Chris gets in the front seat of this car, I couldn't wipe the smile off my face either, I was excited for him.  This car really is a special piece of history, for AMG, Mercedes, hell, for the industry as well.  I've put up a few pictures of the Hammer below, just to get your drooling...

As always, any comments are welcome!