Question of the Week: what's the best Black Series car from Mercedes-AMG?

Everyone has that one really mad uncle who gets drunker than everyone else at parties and causes a ruckus, and that’s exactly what Mercedes-AMG’s limited-run of Black Series cars are to the automotive world. They’re loud, they’re angry, and they don’t care what you think about them. As it turns out, this ethos has been well-received over the years. And some. 

To date, just six cars have been given the treatment, with every model - barring the V12-powered SL65 Black - equipped with some rendition of AMG’s eight-cylinder engine. There’s nothing civilised about it at all, making it the perfect power plant for Germany’s resident wild bunch.

First came the mercurial SLK55 Black in 2006, of which just 120 examples were made. If Chucky was to ever mutate into a car, this would be it. Why? Well, fitting a car this small with an engine that big means drama. Lots of it, thanks to 355bhp and 376lb ft of torque lying in wait.

Then came the CLK63 Black - which many consider to be the natural leader of the pack. The long, sweeping silhouette has all the fins and skirts to make it more imposing than Zinedine Zidane at the 2006 World Cup final. And a lack of any substantial rear wing only furthers this on-road presence. The displacement was bumped up to 6.2 litres too, so each of the 700 units churn out a huge 507bhp. 

The third build slot was left for the aforementioned SL65 Black, which continued the wild bunch’s seemingly unstoppable power curve ascension and measured in at 661bhp. Oh, there’s also the small matter of 738lb ft of torque to contain, so this destroyer of worlds can easily swat away the hero cars of its day in a game of Top Trumps, including the Ferrari Enzo and Porsche Carrera GT.

Merc’s skunkworks division then took a four-year hiatus to try and think how they could possibly make the W204-generation C63 even more deranged than the standard car already is. It’s still wild, but the C63 Black marked the series’ evolution into actual track cars, with a tweaked chassis and manageable steering.

The penultimate Black Series model to date, and one that’s now touching close to a million pounds at auctions, is the SLS AMG Black. Just 300 examples saw the light of day and, much like the C63 Black, it retains a sliver of the original car’s ferality and only saw a minor increase in outputs. Instead, the SLS looked to exploit the then-growing importance of aerodynamic trickery. So those splitters and wings actually… work. 

Last but not least is 2021’s AMG GT Black - by far the most sensible sibling of the family. Even though its creators looked to remedy the comparatively soft nature by jumping its bi-turbo V8 up to 730bhp, the fact it can get around the Nürburgring quicker than a Porsche 911 GT3 RS speaks volumes about the change in philosophy. The Black Series has ditched its origins, but is that such a bad thing? 

We want you, the readers, to tell us. Is the AMG GT a true Black Series car, or does one of its forebears deserve the title? Leave your vote in the comments below, and tell us why. We’ll do the totting up and release the results on Friday - später reden!