When it comes down to it, the only nation on earth that can hold a candle to the Americans for building muscle cars is Germany. Well, maybe Australia too, but let’s talk about Germany.

Ze Germans, especially the ones working at AMG, understand the simple joys of a car with a massive V8, enough torque to vaporize the rear tires, and a mean street presence. If you want a car to corner fast and put in great lap times you’d be better off with BMW’s M Division. Wanna go round corners sideways in a cloud of smoke and V8 fury while grinning like a loon? AMG are your boys.

This car, the 300E ‘Hammer’, is one of the first in a long line of four-wheeled hooligans from Affalterbach. It’s a relic from the days before AMG was officially part of Mercedes, and was so good that it prompted Merc and Porsche to collaborate on the 500E as a response.

AMG took a stock 300E, threw out the straight 6, and gave it the full hot rod treatment. It was lowered and had its fenders rolled to fit bigger wheels. Aero tweaks made it slipperier and faster. Big fat tires were installed to maintain some semblance of control and at the heart of it all sat a 5.6 litre AMG-tuned V8 (bored out to 6.0 litres because muscle car). The engine made 375 horsepower and would push the wild German to a top speed of 178 mph.

The Hammer was an amazing car in 1987. Hell, it’s still got respectable numbers 30+ years later! If there was one drawback it was the small matter of the asking price: $320,000 in today’s money. Yes, that’s a lot, but I think worth it for one of the very first German super sedans; a four door Mercedes that could run with Testarossas and 911 Turbos all day long.