pifcat2

am in the process of purchasing a wrecked '86 that is supposed to be an AMG or have factory supplied AMG options. It has leather Recaro seats that match the interior and there are no door seat switches because of the switches on the seat . The sunroof switch is different too. It has Zebrano panels but not like the later cars. It has a thick AMG leather steering wheel,and I believe a smaller diameter. There are multiple speakers on the rear deck but that may be aftermarket. It has AMG stamped on the tail pipes and a Plastic AMG body kit however the rear bumper is fiberglass. The wheels are 15" 5 spoke but no AMG logo. I haven't checked the engine yet but it appears to be stock. What else should I look for for AMG authenticity?

Jim's500E

The best way to find out is e-mail or FAX the VIN to AMG. They'll be able to tell you all that was done to it if it is a real AMGed car...

Gunther is my contact there: g.riese@mercedes-amg.com

FAX +49-(0)71-44-302-202

Their address:
Mercedes-AMG Gmbh
Daimlerstrasse 1
71563 Affalterbach, GERMANY

Best of luck....

pwagner

It sounds like you didn't get a custom engine, suspension, or transmission, so AMG didn't special-order the vehicle before making modifications. (I believe AMG sometimes ordered cars without engines, for example.) Daimler-Benz didn't buy AMG until the mid 1990's. Thus the VIN will only show a "stock" Mercedes.

If you had engine modifications, that would probably be noted prominently. Sounds like the car has some plastic body bits and used seats that had a new value of a few thousand dollars. Yipee. (sarcasm)

An AMG tailpipe doesn't do anything for you if you don't have upgraded catalytic converter and upgraded engine. (The stock tailpipe is more than sufficient to handle the stock engine.) Perhaps the AMG tailpipe makes more noise or something; not exactly a benefit in my book.

The AMG logo on the trunk costs about $20 from the dealer and can be glued onto any car... looks kind of cute on a Toyota Tercel. :-)

pifcat2

Maybe AMG did some mods. Maybe AMG west imported it Euro stock and later did their own. Maybe a previous owner added a few. I guess the attraction of a "factory" AMG car is how thorough of performance improvements they added. Who knows how they rated a car's modifications worthy of AMG badging. They were prolific in promoting their services and parts. AMG badged and equipped cars are plentiful and support the enthusiasm of the marque. Real or imitation, the right parts and modifications can make a great car better. If I were only looking at the investment aspect, I wouldn't be looking at cars.

pifcat2

Finally got the car and am still debating whether to transfer the nice parts to my '86 or have it repaired. Unfortunately the cost of repairs could yield me a very clean and later year 300E. The car has many good features and the PO took car of alot of the details ($2.5 k in the A/C, elect problems, tune up) The non-factory AMG aspect is not a consideration as most of the parts are damaged. Thanks JimE, as the AMG contact did resond. I hate to see rebuildable cars go to the wrecker but economics say just use the parts.

soldsep

Amg body kits are made of reinforced plastic not fiberglass. There should also be a sticker und the bumper somewhere that says amg.

AMG CE 3.6

Hi,
In those days I had an "original" AMG conversion of the 86 300E. As one of the very first it was delivered in march of 86 and the conversion included the front and rear spoilers. There were two different setups to choose from and I had the one without side skirts for better clearence.
Suspension and 17" wheels were from AMG, engine was light tuned to about 235 hp with a special non cath exhaust and the rear axle was geared down so top speed was only 225 km/h. Outside the engine you had no signs that it was tuned, you had to lift the valve cover to see the mods.
Interior was by Recaro in grey buffalo with burgundy piping and included doorsides, dashboard and steering wheel. Instruments was with a grey background and instead of the AMG marking it had a personal name in the speedo. Stereo was Alpine with Macaudio which was the nicest you could get.
I had it to 91 and after that it got 25 other owners until crashed a couple of years ago and now is out of the registry. Is yours imported from Europe, have a look at the pictures and see if something is the same.
Finally, the new price for the car with this conversion was three times of an ordinary 300E...
L.

pifcat2

AMG CE 3.6,
The body kit is all plastic except for the rear bumper which may have been replaced at some point. I'm surprised there were 17" wheels in 1986. My car has 15" 5 spoke ATS wheels which look similar to the hammer wheel 16" design. The Recaro seats are all tan and match the rest of the interior. There are no front door seat switches since the Recaros have them mounted on the seat. There is a nice "Z spot" speaker package nicely mounted and upholstered in the rear shelf and a CD player which must have been added later. The engine has dual air inlets but I haven't checked the cat yet. What should I look for under the valve cover for engine mods? The speedo has AMG on the stock black face. I think it is a small decal. The non-airbag steering wheel is a smaller diameter four spoke with a leather AMG embossed cover. I tried to attached photos with no success but will try again. Where would differential or tranny mods be identified? The shifter has an "s" and "e" sliding switch. Does anyone know what this does?
Thanks,
Felix

AMG CE 3.6

Hi Felix,
They had 5 spoke design in 15x7" and disk design in 16 and 17 up to 10" wide, already then. I don´t think the door switches existed then though and the electric Recaros had three different styles, with buttons for air cushions as well. And "Recaro" embossed also in the back seat rest if custom made.
What you will find under the valve cover is a custom camshaft, but don´t ask me about the difference...also some mods for oil distribution.
Original speedo had AMG printed and in Europe had 300 or 330 km/h top.
Steering wheels were also in two styles, mine was with a quite squared center and the other was with the upper bars in "ten to two".
On the differential I would guess the ratio is stamped in, they had up to eight different, probably as they were into racing as well.
The S is for Standard, the normal position (when you can read the S). E is for Economy and will save you some fuel. At kickdown the switch will go back to S where it remains. Exists on both 4 and 5 speed automatics.
You can also have a look if it has active suspension which was an expensive option, but probably very difficult to transfer to another car...
I have all the brochures from then if you should like some more info.
Good luck!
L.

pifcat2

Here's a pic of the instruments and wheel.

AMG CE 3.6

It shows one of the two steering wheels I mentioned and I have found out that two more were available, one with three spokes. All in two diameters. The speedo marking doesn´t look as they use to, in the beginning they had the AMG letters in the logo typeface, and later when MB took over they added the "slashes" as well. You can see it on a very blurry pict from my car...
You could also get the AMG engine in 3.2l with 12 valves before the MB 3.2 appeared with the 24 valve version. You can see on the cylinder diameter if it has the bore 90mm. This version gave 245 bhp 324 nm.
L.

AMG CE 3.6

Not to confuse you, the picture above is from my present CE 3.6, not the old one I posted before...
L.