Germans are fans of the sleeper. Yes, they have wild machines…look up anything with the words “Black Series” made by Mercedes if you want to see what off-the-rails looks like in Deutschland, but for every wild and obvious machine out there, there is the subtle, adult, mature Autobahn missile that you could realistically park at a church without anyone blinking an eye. It’s not a brash method of showing off, but instead one that Theodore Roosevelt would appreciate: walking softly and carrying a big stick. It might look like any other machine on the dealership lot, but this one will redefine what fast can truly be.

What you are looking at here is the one-of-one 1987 Mercedes-Benz AMG Hammer. This was a six-liter, 400 horsepower beast of a car in the era where a hot Ford Mustang was barely over 225 horsepower and Mopar was still futzing around with turbocharged front-drivers. It was a stomper new and still commands respect today, but in wagon form is beyond unreal. An E-class diesel wagon had to be sacrificed for  the conversion to Hammer status, and this was back when AMG was more-or-less a tuning firm and not an in-house part of Mercedes. Somebody wanted this car built and trucked over the cash to make it happen. And bless them for doing it.