One man, one engine – The Unique Story of the Mercedes-Benz C43 AMG

BMW has M (Motor sports) Division, Ford has SVT (Special Vehicle Team) and Mercedes has AMG, which stands for Aufrecht Melcher Grossapach, and is some sort of creative anagram…  Anyway, the first AMG’s (prior to 1999) were in fact “ready to sell” C 230’s completely rebuilt, by hand, and resold with the AMG engine and performance package.

The Mercedes AMG philosophy of “one man, one engine” means that a single technician is responsible for the complete assembly of an AMG high-performance engine from start to finish. Now, unlike the C36 AMG, which was a “ready to sell” C280 disassembled then reassembled for AMG tuning, the C43 was the first AMG car to be completely assembled at the AMG plant in the Affalterbach District, near Stuttgart, in Southern Germany. The change was inspired by the acquisition of AMG by Daimler-Benz in 1998 and also included the first C Series to have the Mercedes-Benz 4.3L V8 M113 engine, giving the C43 AMG deceptively powerful performance.

The C43 AMG, between the 1999 and 2000 production years, is a very difficult car to find and, needless to say, their values are going up. Only about 3,000 C43 AMG’s were made and, out of those, merely 1200 produced for North America. We estimate that 546 were produced in 1999, world-wide, and less than 30 went to the United States in 2000.

We have a 1999 C43 AMG in stock (actual photo). This car was $54,000 new and we’re selling it for $11,995. On the outside it looks like your everyday compact luxury sedan (fully loaded with every option you can imagine), however, on the inside rests a 4.3L V8 M113 engine with 302 LB/FT torque and 302 horsepower that’s ready to pounce at your command.

Nothing short of exaggeration, this car drives and sounds like a monster.

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What can we say, we love cars.

Welcome to West Coast Auto Enthusiasts. What can we say, we love cars. We love talking about them, working on them, caring for them, buying them and selling them, but most of all, driving them.

West Coast Auto Enthusiasts was started by Todd Staver and his good friend during a transitional period in his life. The two realized all they did was talk about cars, so they decided to pursue their passion and share it with others.

Our philosophy is simple. We sell people quality cars and do it honestly. We provide our customers with the best service we can during ownership. We put helping above selling and, most importantly, become an excellent source of reliable information from someone you can trust.

We’re excited to help foster interesting discussions with you, our blog subscribers and social media followers, about our most coveted subject: cars. We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback and experience, as well as, sharing in your passion for exciting cars and the people who drive them. 

Stay tuned!