Book Review
BOOK REVIEW – MERCEDES-AMG: RACE-BRED PERFORMANCE
BOOK REVIEW – MERCEDES-AMG:
RACE-BRED PERFORMANCE
As a young car enthusiast (this was long before I had a license), Mercedes-Benz – especially from my perch in Lincoln, Nebraska – seemed almost exotic, even in its 4-door, diesel-powered form. More captivating, of course, was the company’s racing history before World War II, post-WWII and the horrific crash involving a Mercedes at Le Mans in 1955; that – with the apocalyptic death of some 80 spectators – brought the company’s involvement in motor racing to an immediate, tragic end. All of this came long before the beginnings of AMG, and all came before MERCEDES-AMG: RACE-BRED PERFORMANCE, an automotive history by author Matt DeLorenzo.
It’s been 50+ years since those years as a teenager, and some 40+ years since I was selling BMWs. As you’d guess, in the mid-‘80s BMW was most often cross-shopped with Mercedes, and I’d have fun referencing BMW’s side gig – building and selling motorcycles – and contrasting that with the Mercedes side gig, building commercial trucks. Since the mid-‘80s I have notably devolved, while Mercedes-Benz has grown its lineup and re-entered motorsport with winning results. In DeLorenzo’s history that ‘race-bred performance’ is front and center, both on the book’s cover – where the company’s initial success, the Red Pig, is shown with a far more contemporary AMG iteration – and throughout its 220+ pages.
Built on the partnership of Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher in the German town of Großaspach; taking the ‘A’ from Aufrecht, the ‘M’ from Melcher and the ‘G’ from the hometown gives us AMG. And today, 50+ years after its founding and 20 years since the company was absorbed under the Mercedes-Benz corporate umbrella, there is nothing more closely associated with high-performance Mercedes models than AMG.
Behind its cover, the book begins with a foreword by racer, writer and race analyst Sam Posey. Within that, Sam recalls his purchase of a 300 SL Mercedes in 1958, for the not insignificant sum of $2500. Of course, the 300 SL had a racing pedigree, and to some extent so did all of the M-B lineup, even its stodgy sedans.
Aufrecht and Melcher, while still working as engineers at Mercedes-Benz, began working nights and weekends in pursuit of a better Benz. The key was horsepower, and unlocking that horsepower was the singular vision of Aufrecht; Melcher was the driver behind the partnership and the eventual formation of the company, while Aufrecht stayed under the hood. His commitment and competence is outlined in Chapter 4 – One Man, One Engine – and the eventual move into their own shop. The driving force was racing, and working at a dyno on production machinery held little interest.
In what could be a pull quote, Aufrecht notes for an official history on AMG’s 40th anniversary: “It’s important to remember something – we actually wanted to work in car racing right from the beginning. That was our passion. Then, more and more racecar drivers came to us who wanted more performance in their road vehicles…we just hadn’t thought that far ahead. We didn’t want to be tuners, we just transferred a bit of high-end racing technology to road vehicles.”
Matt DeLorenzo’s research is exhaustive, but not exhausting. AMG’s work began with the fintail SE, roughly analogous to Carroll Shelby beginning his work with Ford’s Falcon and not – as you’d know – an AC rolling chassis or eventual Mustang. When Mercedes introduced a V8 in conjunction with the launch of the 600 SEL, and subsequently installed that motor in its smaller 300, the die was cast for the overheated adaptation built by AMG – the aforementioned Red Pig – which would generate international attention. Racing would take a hiatus through much of the ‘70s, but returned with a vengeance in the late ‘70s and through the ‘80s. Platforms included a 450SLC, an AMG 500 SEC and two DTM models – the EVO II and C63 DTM.
Today, not only are AMG-specific models on a Mercedes-Benz showroom – the AMG logo is often on the dealership’s building. And while somewhere a young BMW rep may reference that company’s motorcycles, he probably isn’t as dismissive of Mercedes-Benz as this young salesman had been. Of course, that kid has left the building…
Matt DeLorenzo’s MERCEDES-AMG – RACE-BRED PERFORMANCE is published by Motorbooks International. It retails for $55 (printed in China, that’s subject to change…), and is available through your local bookseller or at Quarto.com.
