GMW

Just got back from Germany and now taking a short vacation in London.

My Dad had an SL55 on order but has had to postpone the purchase till later. Since I was obviously looking forward very much to driving his, I felt a tad frustrated!?? Anyway, an opportunity came up when I had to attend a DaimlerChrysler workshop in Germany.

With a quick friendly e-mail and call to a contact at AMG I got to spend a day at the 'motherland', Mercedes-AMG GmbH in Affalterbach. Even though I didn't get to drive or have a ride in an SL55 (my friend only had the demo C32 AMG available that day! damn.) I got to hear the sound of numerous SL55s albeit at standstill (no test track at the factory). I also got to hear the Safety Car SL55's sound! Wow!!!!!!!! Both are great and sound similar but the latter is noticeably louder. I could feel the sound throughout their workshop hall. I also got to sit inside, though those bucket seats are a real tight fit!

I also saw the whole range of AMG cars even a test only version CLK55 AMG V8 Kompressor! but was not allowed to take pics of it. No comments on whether it will ever make it into production. I also took a short limited tour of the engine assembly floor and got to see the various technicians at work assembling the engines!

I saw a twin engined A-class and best of all a metallic pink SL55 with a special pink leather interior, fully color co-ordinated. It may sound hard to believe, but it actually looked very nice in the flesh though I still prefer silver/Anthracite.

I could go on all day about the tons of stuff I saw and "didn't" but let me now try to download a few of the pics I took.

Enjoy!


GMW

GMW

Pic 1 pink SL55 with 19inch split spoke rims!

GMW

rear view of pink SL55!

GMW

interior!!

OtisSL55AMG

boy, those are some nice pix. I guess that must be a new color or something, never seen a pink SL55 b4, but I tell you ,it sure looks good, just to show you that the car looks good in any color.

GMW

front with special front bumper for improved brake cooling!

GMW

inside the safety car, very very tight fitting seats!!!

GMW

rear side view!! The safety car runs on 19inch versions of the 5-spoke wheels. I prefer the 18inch ones or the 19 inch split spoke. These 19 inch look a bit too big for the car, it seems to upset the balance of rims to body a bit. Just my 2 cents.

jeffreyy

Thanks for the pics! I love the 19" double-spoke riveted wheels. Does anyone know how much the ride is compromised by the larger (19" vs 18") wheels?

AMGBENZ

Thanks for the pics, If they can paint a sl55 pink they should be able to paint my sl55 in 777 silver arrow silver, thanks again for the evidence!

awiner

In Europe, AMG offers all kinds of custom possibilities. In the States here however, we don't get all the custom choices. For example, that pink SL55, if you asked for that here in the States, your dealer would laugh. Dealers here can't place custom orders like that. I've seen some really amazing Euro cars that AMG customized both interior wise and exterior. I wish we could do the same here in the USA. Maybe some day.

JFawwaz

is that britney spears' custom ordered benzo?

MRI Doc

Britney just bought a Porsche. A friend's Ferrari GTO was on top of it on a trailer from San Diego.

awiner

You friend was on top on Brittany

issanni

Anymore pics? It's such a rare occurance to see pictures of what goes on at AMG. I'm sure not a moment goes by without something amazing going on. How easy was it to get to spend the day there? Did you have any special reason to go there? I'm in the US, but will do anything to take a tour of their facilities.

GMW

As far as I know the public can't yet tour the facilities. There is still a lot of development going on regarding new facilities and buildings being put up, as part of their expansion program. I am sure that at some point in the future they will create a guided tour program.

I was able to go there because I work for a Mercedes-Benz General Distributor and know a few people who work at Mercedes AMG in Germany. My business trip to DaimlerChrysler AG in Stuttgart was just the perfect opportunity to visit AMG as it is only about 40 minutes from Stuttgart and I had one morning free.

The only other people who can take guided tours are internal employees of DaimlerChrysler AG who have to pay a fee and are taken around some of the facilities. They don't yet have the capacity to handle the general public. In fact a public showroom was just having the finishing touches done when I was there. I shall post more of the pics i took shortly.

mookie

Thanks for the pics!