It is rather well known that Hans-Werner Aufrecht (A) and his partner Erhard Melcher (M) founded AMG in 1967 at Aufrecht's birthplace of Grossaspach (G); hence the name, "AMG." What is not as well known is their early history and the humble beginnings of AMG.

Back in the mid-1960s, there were two guys with a small garage in an old mill that were building engines for fast cars, really fast cars. When these two guys acted on their urge they spawned one of today's largest suppliers of exclusive high-performance cars. The two guys were Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, the founders of AMG Motorenbau und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH (AMG Engine Production and Development, Ltd.). Thankfully, the company name was later shortened to AMG.

Aufrecht and Melcher started in 1965 by preparing a racing engine for Manfred Schiek's 300SE. Two years later, the owners officially founded the company and began their humble beginnings in the "Old Mill" in Burgstall, Germany.

According to historical information provided by Mercedes-AMG, the first private customer of the new company was a Mercedes owner from Kiel. With a humble beginning there is always a good story. Here's the gist of the story going around today, which is said to be Friedrick Aufrecht's story. Friedrick is the brother of AMG co-founder, Hans-Werner. Continue reading » »

Bernd Schneider is retiring from motor racing. At the age of 44, he will compete in his last DTM race at Hockenheimring on Sunday, October 26.

Schneider won a total of 43 races for Mercedes-Benz out of the 226 races in which he competed in the DTM series and the ITC, which became a DTM offshoot in 1995 and was held as the succeeding series in 1996. He started from pole position 25 times and achieved 59 fastest lap times. No DTM driver has been more successful.

Schneider won five DTM championship titles in 1995, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2006, as well as the ITC Championship in 1995. In 1997 he won the title in the FIA GT Championship.

Bernd Schneider is now embarking on a second career at Mercedes-AMG. In future the record-holding DTM champion will be active for the high-performance brand within Mercedes-Benz Cars as a brand ambassador, instructor and test driver.

Bernd Schneider is the only driver in the current DTM line-up who has competed in both the earlier (1984 to 1996) and the new Continue reading » »

For those interested, our fellow AMG enthusiasts over at CarAdvice.com.au have some nice photos of the 2010 AMG E63 taken during a performance testing run on the Nurburgring. The non-AMG E-Class is scheduled to make an official debut at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor show; expect the AMG version later next year. Visit CarAdvice.com.au here to view the AMG E63 photographs.