As you likely have figured out, we love documentation here at The Common Gear. The idea of documentation, of course, goes well beyond just maintenance records; documentation also includes details like build sheets, competition history, and of course, the official invoice from AMG when you fork over the cash to turn your sedate W124 sedan into a real-deal Hammer.
The upcoming Amelia Island auction will feature one of the elusive AMG "Hammer" sedans based off of a standard Mercedes-Benz 300E. In addition to plenty of cosmetic tweaking to make the car look quite a bit more aggressive than the standard production model, the biggest transformation came under the hood. The silky inline-six was removed and a 5.5L V8 from the S-Class was dropped in, albeit with a twin cam, four-valve setup good for 355 horsepower, and just under 400 lb-ft of torque.
In addition to being completely restored by renowned Mercedes tuner Renntech, the one-of-30-made 300E "Hammer" also comes with supporting documentation that shows how these special cars are ordered by high net-worth customers with the means to have the likes of AMG build the exact car of their dreams. The original owner of this Hammer was Don Byerly, who owned a food manufacturing and distribution operation in Minnesota. The invoices from AMG reveal that after spending roughly $40,000 in 1987 money for the standard 300E, Byerly coughed up an additional $98,000 for his car to receive the high-performance treatment. With a tick over 32,000 miles on the clock, the car is fresh out of reconditioning by RENNTech, the North American service facility for AMG cars, to the tune of $79,000.
The best part about the history file of this special German performance sedan is four simple words on the sales invoice: Build into a Hammer. The 1980s were special times, indeed.