If you have a nice, long highway-based road trip coming up and you need to get where you’re going quickly, you have an opportunity to grab possibly the best car in the world for the task. This pre-merger AMG-built Mercedes 500SEC has a big honking 6.0-liter V8 under the hood, and it’s ready to stretch its legs. If you are the high bidder on this auction over on Cars & Bids, you can take it wherever you want. Personally, I’d be on my way to the longest, loneliest highway in the country for a properly chill high-speed run just barely above idle. And I’d enjoy the seatbelt presenters.
AMG, before it was consumed by the Mercedes-Benz empire in 1993, was a tuning shop that specialized in putting big engines from big cars into smaller cars. It’s the oldest tuning hack in the book and the backbone of the muscle car. Is it going too far to say that AMG was the German Shelby?
In any case, AMG was putting 6.0-liter V8s into Mercedes’ S-series of cars which often, like this one, came with a 5.0-liter V8 from the assembly line. As-built by Mercedes, this car would have made do with a paltry 184 horsepower and 247 lb-ft of torque, but thanks to AMG the big motor turns out 325 ponies and 387 lb-ft. Can you say “Hell yeah?”
This particular Merc also received an AMG-specific exhaust, 17-inch OZ Racing wheels, upgraded front brake calipers, an aero body kit, wood interior trim and a 300 km/h speedometer. Before AMG ever touched it, the car was already a pretty high-spec build, with an optional limited-slip differential, fog lights, sunroof, heated seats, air conditioning and cruise control.
So throw in a cassette of Michael Jackson’s Thriller, put on your fingerless leather gloves, and head for the coast. Which coast? Whichever one is farther away. You deserve it.
If you think this thing sounds like the best idea in the world, head over to Cars & Bids and try to bid on this car.