2003 Mercedes AMG S55KL

Mercedes really are the grandaddy of all car companies - originally founded by the inventor of the petrol engine, Karl Benz, in 1871 as Benz & Cie, it sold it's first car in 1888. They were closely followed by the inventor of what is commonly accepted to be the forerunner of the modern petrol engine - Gottlieb Daimler and his partner Wilhelm Maybach. Their company was called Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft and they sold their first car in 1891. By 1899 Daimler has started to race, and one of their most succcesful racers was Emil Jellinek. For good luck, he used to paint the name of his daughter on the side of his race car - Mercedes. After Daimler died in 1900, Jellinek obtained the distribution rights for Daimler cars in France, Austria, Hungary, Belgium and the USA. He placed an order for some 36 cars but only if they were to be named 'Mercedes' after his race car! As the Daimler company had sold the rights to the Daimler name in other countries such as France and the UK (hence Jaguar Daimler) the use of the name 'Mercedes' wasn't merely a whim, but necessary to stop legal wrangling in those territories, but also after WW1, it was a name that had no negative connotations in France and other non-germanic countries!

Postwar Germany suffered many economic hardships, and in order to survive the rival Benz and Daimler companies merged in 1926. The new company was called Daimler-Benz AG, and took it's logo from both the laurel wreath of Benz, and the 3 pointed star dreamt up by Gottlieb Daimler to show the suitability of his motors for use on land, air, and sea use. In 1923 Benz entered their first GP, and after the rise to power of the Nazi party Adolf Hitler decided that a successful German racing team would show the might of German engineering prowess. He gave DB (and Auto Union) state subsidies to produce the all-conquering Silver Arrows. Although the traditional racing colour for Germany was white, the paint was stripped off to safve weight, hence 'silver' arrows! As Hitler had intended, these cars did win everything in the 30's, including speed records of 270+mph! During the war DB was central to Germany's war effort, especially for the Luftwaffe, but they did exploit forced labour. Some 30,000 workers were used this way, and when they protested, they were sent to concentration camps....

It wasn't until the 50's that Mercedes starting to function properly after the war and they started to put their experience building Messerschmitt engines to good use. They were the first to use desmodronic valves (separate cam to close valves instead of spring, now used mainly by Ducati) and fuel injection (now used on all cars) both in the 1954 W196 F1 car. This was hugely successful in the 50's until Pierre Levegh's Mercedes Le Mans car somersaulted into the crowd in the 1955 race, killing over 80 spectators, as well as Levegh. As a result of this Mercedes withdrew from racing until the 90's. They concentrated on building road cars, and came up with some of the most innovative cars of the 50's and 60's - safety cells, crumple zones, ABS, Airbags, belt tensioners - all things seen on every modern car, were Mercedes innovations. In a magnanimous gesture, MB also made all these available to other manufacturers without licence! Combined with bullet proof engineering, the name Mercedes Benz became synonymous with engineering excellence and reliability.

The S-class is a name now retrospectively applied to the biggest, and most luxurious Mercedes cars. In 1991 they announced the W140 S-class lasting till 1999 this car truly was MB making a statement. With double-pane window glazing, self-closing doors and boot lid, electric windows which lowered back down when encountering an obstruction, rear-parking markers which appeared on the rear wings and a heating system which emitted warm air even after the engine was turned off, the 1999 W221 S-class had some act to follow. But, it did more than that. With options such as cooled seats and seat massagers, TV tuners and screens front and rear, radar controlled distance sensitive cruise control, keyless entry and start systems and many voice activated controls it properly upped the game.

The S55 is a Mercedes-Benz that got hijacked by Hans and Franz. While other S-class sedans travel from Deutschland to dealership with just a few swipes of chamois along the way, the S55 takes a major detour through the workshop of Aufrecht and Melcher in Grossaspach. Aufrecht and Melcher were two Mercedes-Benz engineers who were disgruntled with the lack of performance orientation Mercedes was taking, and they formed their own company in 1967. As performance cars became more popular, Mercedes-Benz leaned toward them for ideas on what to do with their cars.

So, what did Aufrecht and Melcher (also known as AMG) do to Mercedes' S500? They "bored out, beefed up, forged, stroked, shaped, tightened and tuned" the luxury saloon, turning up the horsepower from 300 to 370 and slashing the 0-60 mph time from 7.3 seconds to 5.8. But they weren’t happy. So in 2003 they strapped on a supercharger and upped the power to a monsterous 500bhp. 0-60 in under 4.5 seconds, torque of 517lb/sqf and if derestricted a top speed in excess of 200 miles per hour. Midrange, it’s probably the fastest car you’ll ever drive. You wouldn't guess it to look at the S55. Except for a few flourishes in the alloys, exhaust and air dam, it looks pretty much like every other S-class.
If you still have trouble telling the cars apart, a test drive will distinguish the S55. Put the pedal down on the wundercar and you'll get a visceral introduction to Aufrecht and Melcher in Grossaspach – firstly the high-pitched whine as the supercharger spools up, and then pure thunder from the quad-pipes. You might also start looking for the least policed piece of tarmac in hopes of getting past the third mark on the speedometer (marked up to 200mph). If you lose your licence, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Our car has only one previous owner – it was Lady Bamford’s (of JCB fame) chauffeur driven car. The Bamfords are notorious car-nuts, with husband Antony still racing his Ferrari 250GTO regularly – if you don’t know what that is go google it! Our car had every option on the list ticked including dynamic driving seats, massage seats, seat-coolers, keyless-go, distronic and linguatronic. For a taste in how the other half live – take this!