Some of you may already know by now that I love Mercedes, especially the crazy ones that were breathed on by the smart lunatics at Affalterbach, Germany. The home of AMG.
This is their latest flagship GT car that replaces my favorite SLS AMG. Between the two there are a few things in common. They both have the classy long nose, short rear deck design. Both were developed from the ground up at Affalterbach and both have the same performance figures.
Sadly in this world of constant change that includes regulations on cars, in order for AMG’s creations to survive; the old 6.2 liter naturally aspirated beast from the SLS AMG that made me love the car, must die. But from its ash rises a new generation, a new 4.0 liter twin turbo V8 dubbed M178. The engine despite being smaller, have force induction, and produce less power than the old 6.2's 563hp on a regular SLS with only 503hp in the top trim S version. Its capable of doing the same 0-60 sprint and top speed run as its older brother while returning better fuel economy thanks to a lighter aluminum chassis along with other weight saving tricks like magnesium hood. New turbo technology where the two turbos live within the cylinder bank to provide virtually instantaneous power boost.
The engine is now starting to become the go-to engine for majority of AMG models with it now being offered in the C63 family as well as in the latest E63 and the upcoming revised S63 in various horsepower rating as much as 603hp dubbed as M177 with the main difference is the M178 in the AMG GT/S have a race car style dry sump lubrication where as the M177 used in the hotted up Mercedes passenger cars still uses a traditional oil pan.
With the surprises continue to flow in from the resurrection of Mercedes at Mattel, the Hot Wheels version captured the curve and proportion of the AMG GT perfectly with light tampos front and rear and even door mirrors. When I first heard about Hot Wheels going to introduce the AMG GT I was honestly having a bit of doubt, I was imagining a Mercedes with large rear wheels and maybe a short front nose. I’m glad I was able to put my fear to rest as I later discovered the job for replicating the latest sportscar from Affalterbach was given to Hot Wheels designer Mark Jones who was also in charge of the gorgeous McLaren-Mercedes SLR from Matchbox. There is however, a big problem with the car, and that is the tampo for the headlights. It’s the same lousy job we saw with the Focus RS from last year. When I found mine all of them looked like the car had a stroke and one light is always higher than the other. So what I did when I got home was do the same treatment as I did to my Focus, completely erase the existing lights and redo them. The result speaks for themselves.
Apart from the new lights for the Merc, I also completed my little arts and craft garage project that I got from Stephan Schmatz at scalemodel.photography. He designed a few really cool printable backgrounds for diecast photoshoots that are easy to use including instructions and what’s better its available for free. Go on to his website at: www.scalemodel.photogaphy to print your free backgrounds as well as follow him on instagram @scalemodel.photography.
That marks the end of my own HAWLS and we’ll be reviewing my purchases from Fintail’s Sale of the Century next. Cheers.