baron

I heard that all AMG engines are supposed to be handbuilt by one technician. Other than the exclusivity factor, are there any advantages in having an engine assembled by one technician, especially in an age of modern electronics and robotics? I know Ferrari does the same thing with their V12 engines as well.

Thanks,
Baron

Accord

I always thought it was a small team of 5 or so technicians who built each engine. If it is only one person, they must have a lot of technicians to pump out that many engines for all of the AMG's built each year.

I'm no expert, but it must take a long time for one person to individually build an engine by hand, and since it only takes two days to assemble an entire car, I don't know how much truth there is to this. Mabye in the early days of AMG, it was one technician, but I highly doubt it is like that nowadays.

Each engine is infact built by hand, I just don't know how many people work on it.

We have this hand built German clock that was built by one man and over 100 hours were put in building it. It works perfectly with the utmost precision. The same thing goes for AMG's; they are handbuilt by a single person or small group of technicians with the utmost precision. Just knowing the fact that the engine is handbuilt makes the driving experience just that much sweeter even if you can't tell the difference between an engine manufactured by a machine or handbuilt by a person.

Does anyone know how BMW's M vehicles are manufactured? Are their engines built by hand or by machines? Obviously whomever is building it did a horrible job, lol.

mleskovar

Robots do a superior job to humans doing repetitive mechancial assembly. Volume dictates how/which engines are assembled. "Hand built" does not mean quality. The engines are signed so that they know who to blame when they break. :-)

karl k

Robots don't take sick days and ask for raises via unions, nor do robots strike.

Hand-built quality as associated with a work of ART, it means exclusivity, and if the quality and performance of the finished product exceeds all specs, I maintain:
"The 2002 CLK55 AMG Coupe is the best car ever produced since Karl Benz patented the world's first motorcar in 1886, registered his patent DRP 37435, which is considered as the official birth certificate of the first motor car!

So far I have enjoyed 16,000 exciting miles with this masterpiece hand-crafted by AMG."

ps:

...just wish whether it was Helmut, Franz, Max, Moritz or Helga who built it, so that I could send him/her a christmas card.

Accord

LMAO.... you forgot about Wolfgang.

karl k

...and Fritz!!

Safet

I think the "one man" idea is that one guy is responsible for the engine, but I think a few people work on it. This is "his" engine, so he has to ensure everything is alright with it. If something goes wrong with one of his engines, you know who'll get the blame. Just a way of holding people accountable for their work, which is great (instead of just being a car where nobody takes ownership.)

mdp c230k

Sure, robots are great but they do not have the finese of a human or an understanding of exactly how hard or soft to do something to get the best results. I'll let the robot bore cylinders and mill heads but let the human touch take it from there.

karl k

Creating an AMG car is an ART, not just the assembly of an engine. Some AMG cars are tuned better than others, from the suspension systems up, however ALL are State of the Art performance passenger cars.

They are superlative products, particularly the - 208 CLK55 AMG - created by the Artist-Craftsmen from Affalterbach.

Accord

Karl, i'm surprised you have not flown to Germany to meet the man who built your engine, lol .

karl k

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Accord
John:
My masterpiece was built during an era, when those artist/craftsmen from Affalterbach were producing the 208 AMGs with apparent anonymity.

Despite multiple attempts on this MBWORLD forum - since November 2001 - to find the person responsible for my AMG creation, I had no success.

In the meantime, I contnue to appreciate this rare work of well-tuned machined Art - the 2002 CLK55 AMG - on a daily basis, with an ever increasing awareness of its intrinsic qualities: Beauty and Power.

Accord

Karl, I always enjoy reading your posts. You should be a spokesman for AMG .