Road and Track test drove a Hammer back in 1987 or so at the Nardo ring in Italy and topped the Hammer out at 186mph on the banked circuit. That was for a 5.6 litre version with the 360bhp engine. Mine is an earlier Euro spec only 5.0 which pumps out 340bhp...the 6.0's pump out 380bhp.

It will be interesting to see how the Hammer compares against a 500E....I had one of those for a couple of years and they are great cars.

In theory the 500E has the better chassis/brakes, whereas the Hammer has more power + a Gleeson rear diff and snappier autobox

In terms of the registration plate, the AMG agents kept that when they sold the car onto the next owner, so sadly thats no longer with the car. I did check recently with the licencing authorities to see what car now has " 1 AMG" and its currently on a Jaguar X Type....don't think you get those in the States, as its Jaguars entry level car and is effectively a Ford Mondeo with different clothes....what a waste!

If I remember correctly the most expensive registration plate sold in the UK was "K1 NGS", ie "KINGS" which sold for in excess of £250,000

In terms of the 560 suspension....I'm sure that Euro spec cars could be ordered with all round hydro pneumatic suspension that automatically dropped the car by "X"cm's once the car passed 85mph and that its this version that can be an absolute nightmare to fix, if ever it goes wrong.

Infact it was the first thing my Mercedes Indi looked for when I took the car into the shop to query the thumping from the rear. He took one look under the hood and said " thank goodness its the cheaper version.....we wouldn't touch the more expensive system!!!"

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Current Mercs
R129 1994 300-24SL
W124 320E Turbo Technics Twin Turbo 350bhp

Previous Mercs
W124 1986 Quad Cam AMG Hammer, 45,000 miles
W124 300E Turbo Technics Twin Turbo 320bhp
W124 E500