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Mercedes-Benz E36 AMG: Half Gentleman, Half Killer
Words Matteo Lavazza / Photos BringAtrailer
Sometimes I like to think ‘bout those years when we still got excited for a car that was affordable for us mere mortals. Unfortunately, these feelings have been numbed by the fact that car manufacturers have stuck high-performance engines down to the bottom of their catalogue, let alone now that it happens to see a granny at the wheel of an electric car capable of doing a 0-100 in half the time of a random sports car. Yes, but numbers do not always go hand in hand with emotions and it is precisely these that are reawakened when I see an AMG of those with a few decades on its tread.
An increasingly rare sight, today as 30 years ago, a clear example is the AMG E36, the coupe based on the W124 sedan and therefore named C124. Introduced in 1987, three years after its four-door counterpart, the CE exuded elegance and class from every corner. It did so with a line that was totally faithful to the E sedan, but adapted to the loss of the two rear doors, a metamorphosis that made it a small diamond in an automotive panorama that could only admire it from the bottom up. Avant-garde stylistically and also functionally, as in the case of the automatic sliding guides that offered the seat belts to the front passengers, the CE was launched with 4 and 6-cylinder engines, without therefore embracing the powerful V8.
This did not prevent the bar from being raised even further, when the AMG department got its hands on the M104, the in-line 6-cylinder thus brought to 3.6-liters and capable of delivering a maximum of 272 horsepower and 380 Nm of torque. All combined with a 4-speed automatic transmission and traction only on the rear axle. Astonishing performance for the time, with a 0-100 kph sprint of just 7 seconds and a top speed limited to 250 kph. Who knows what face grumpy granny would make at the wheel of her new electric hatchback now.
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