1986 Mercedes Benz AMG Hammer

Mercedes Benz s skunkworks studio AMG is known for some pretty exceptional vehicles, but none so impressive as the AMG Hammer. In 1986, if you were very, very rich, and wanted to go very, very fast, and wanted four seats, there weren t many options, Chris Harris, of /Drive, says in the video above. But fortunately, AMG was around to create a modified 300E, giving it a 396 horsepower V8 up front (powering the wheels at the back). At the time, for $17,000, AMG would transplant the 5.6 liter M117 V8 of the Mercedes 560 SEC under the hood of the E Class and then bolt on DOHC cylinder heads with four valves per cylinder, stretching the performance envelope from 177 horsepower to 355 horsepower.