I happened to stumble upon an ad for the newest monster from the guys at AMG. They have recreated an updated version of the 1950s classic 300SL “Gullwing” Mercedes, a car that I thought would never be redone. Not because it wasn’t cool but because it was so cool that it was impractical. Well for the 21st century they created the SLS AMG, a gullwing car made entirely of aluminium and carbon fiber. It sports a 6.3 liter V8 with a dry sump cranking out 571 horse power that outputs through a 7 speed transmission. I know there are cars that are more powerful than this on the road today but this one weighs just 3571 pound. That is 300 pounds lighter than the McClaren and the 4220 pound SL65 AMG black series. Go figure that AMG would make an obscenely ridiculous automobile.

To showcase this beast Mercedes produced this commercial for the SLS, I am not sure if it is real or if it is faked. Either way it is a really cool commercial.

Though I have never seen video of it I have heard that F1 cars generate enough downward force that they can drive upside down in a tunnel which does lend some credence that this is possible.

btw Top gear did demonstrate that this is possible even in a Renaultsport Twingo.

Putting stunts aside I found this really nice review of the SLS AMG by Jay Leno. Apparently it makes a good street car too.

Though still very expensive at $200k it is cheap relative to the SLR McLaren which was priced at ~$800k. Wow $600k less, but alas it still won’t be showing up in my garage anytime soon. BTW the vintage 1950s 300SL gullwing goes for $500k.

Some related reading