It's a well-known fact that AMG is Mercedes-Benz's in-house tuning firm. It's a lesser-known fact that AMG started out as two men in a shed.

Welcome to 1967, when former Merc employees Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher set up the famous German skunk works at Aufrecht's birthplace, Grossaspach as an independent tuning company. These chaps had a penchant for massively powered motors and fell in love with tuning the Mercedes 300, building racing models from it. Witness the 300 SEL 6.8 AMG that took a surprise victory in the '71 Spa 24hrs...

They slowly grew in size and stature and eventually became an official part of Mercedes-Benz, with the first 'proper' AMG the 1995 C36. In 2007, the company - which still operates a 'one man, one engine' philosophy - rolled out a hardcore version of the SLK AMG, and thus gave birth to the 'Black Series' range. Welcome to the dark side...