Drop everything: Hammer of the Gods for sale
It's not every day a right-hand-drive SL 65 Black Series is put up for sale - serious collectors assemble!
The boss of Mercedes-AMG, Michael Schiebe, is always an interesting man to speak with. Ahead of the launch of the new GT 4-door (coming very soon; you won’t miss it), there was a chance to interview him about what’s coming next for Mercedes-AMG after a little while without much to shout about. With cars like the CLE-based Mythos, GT Track Sport and a new C53 also on the horizon, hopefully that situation will change imminently.
“More AMG than ever” was the line that stood out, both from the most recent chat and other interviews. Schiebe wants to take everything that customers like about AMG cars - the performance, the design, the theatre - and take things up a notch. Which doesn’t sound like a bad idea, given a number of recent products have been a bit tame to carry the hallowed badge. And there’s some amazing heritage to draw on when it comes to turning AMG up to 11 - remember the SL Black Series?
What a mad car, even by Affalterbach standards. Making a track car out of a V12 SL was like trying to make a greyhound out of a St Bernard, but when the end result looked this good it was hard to give two hoots about the mixed messages. And there was no faulting the commitment to the cause: the BS was a quarter of a tonne (!) lighter than a standard 65, despite the pumped-up styling. Some of the Ozempic-spec slimming came from deleting the folding roof and replacing it with carbon, plus ditching the air suspension and active body control for a more focused coilover setup. There were also bucket seats, a lot of aluminium to replace steel, even a carbon bonnet to get the weight down to… well, 1,870kg. Less than a Mustang GTD these days.
And you wouldn’t mind if an SL65 weighed three tonnes, because it looks so outrageously good. The tracks were massively wider than standard - 97mm wider at the front and 85mm at the rear are some serious shoulder pads - and the roofline was lower without the folding mechanism, which actually necessitated new glass. With a rear spoiler (carbon, of course) and a set of huge wheels, the lower, wider, meaner Black was certainly more AMG than ever in 2008. And it was irresistible. Not since the Hammer and probably never since had an AMG bristled with so much intent. A C63 Black may as well be a taxi by comparison.
So no matter, really, that an SL Black wasn’t the greatest AMG to drive. Despite the effort invested in adjustable suspension, lightweighting, steering optimisation and the rest, no contemporary review was totally enamoured with the experience behind the wheel. Safe to say that a 670hp twin turbo V12 left the most memorable impression. Just 350 Blacks were made, costing a quarter of a million each; it’s hard to imagine that much, if any, money was made on them, given the incredible lengths gone to. But as a demonstration of just what AMG could be pushed to the extremes, the SL was a superb halo; it’s hard to imagine BMW M or Audi RS ever really doing anything similar.
This Black is especially notable as one of the UK-allocated cars, believed to be one of just 10. That’s right-hand drive UK spec, too, which might alleviate the fear factor slightly. Specced from new with the matt black paint (remember when everyone loved matt paint for supercars at the end of the '00s?), it’s covered just 3,500 miles in 17 years. So this is a BS that’s as new, really, and looks as mean as ever. There’s certainly no danger of mistaking this for anything but the ultimate AMG V12. The price? £600k, or very nearly half a million more than any other standard SL AMG on PH. It really is a very special sports car. But less than an SLS Black Series, in fact. There’s surely not a car collection in the world that wouldn’t be improved by its presence. And just imagine how quickly you’d clear the outside lane…
SPECIFICATION | MERCEDES SL65 AMG BLACK SERIES
Engine: 5,980cc twin-turbo V12
Transmission: 5-speed auto, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 670@5,400rpm
Torque (lb ft): 737@2,200-4,200rpm
MPG: 19.8
CO2: 344g/km
First registered: 2009
Recorded mileage: 3,500
Price new: £250,000
Yours for: £599,975
No doubt a gearbox limitation but it always struck me as very exact figure
I’ve read many times that when they originally designed the m275 amg, it was reliably capable of more like 1200nm, but the existing gearboxes wouldn’t have it, and engineering one given the traction issues anyway was pointless. So it got pegged back to 1000nm, even on the black series.
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