MERCEDES-BENZ: AMG RED PIG RACER

That’s what they called the 300 SEL sedan powered by a 6.8 liter, 428 horsepower V8 sedan that won its class at the 1971 24 Hours of Spa and finished second overall! The MERCEDES-BENZ: AMG RED PIG RACER is credited with the birth of AMG.

MERCEDES-BENZ: AMG RED PIG RACERToday, AMG is the in-house performance arm of Mercedes-Benz, but it started out as a humble operation run by two engineers. The car that launched AMG on the path to three-pointed stardom was a hulking sedan named the “Red Pig.” Hans Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, whose last names became the “A” and “M” in AMG, founded AMG in 1967. The “G” stands for Aufrecht’s birthplace of Grossaspach, Germany. While Aufrehct and Melcher did some work in that location before forming their company, it has never been based there. The performance division is currently headquartered in Affalterbach, Germany.

Aufrecht and Melcher started out with Daimler-Benz, working on a race engine for the Mercedes-Benz 300 SE. When the company discontinued motorsports activities, the pair continued to work on the engine independently, based out of Aufrecht’s house in Grossaspach. In 1965, Manfred Schiek, another Daimler veteran, used the modified engine in the German Touring Car Championship, winning 10 times. That convinced Aufrecht and Melcher to start their own company, and one the first things they decided to do was build a racecar – the Red Pig – to show off their skills.

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For more information about Mercedes-Benz AMG history and the latest AMG performance vehicles, please visit https://www.mercedes-amg.com/en.html