Renntech Will Make A Modern Mercedes-amg Hammer With A Hand-made V12 Engine

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Out of each of RENNtech's creations, fewer carried a much salient sanction than nan "Hammer," a conception that began pinch nan iconic RENNtech W124 and nan broader pre-merger practice of AMG. Although it's been a agelong clip since these cars were new, RENNtech is bringing backmost nan Hammer sanction — and this time, it's a nary disbursal spared, hand-built, restomod powered by a 7.5-liter V12 producing 660 horsepower. 

Called nan Sledgehammer, nan caller creation will beryllium constricted to conscionable 12 examples and is based connected a afloat restored Mercedes C126 SEC. Although it does lucifer a well-known AMG-built 6.0-liter Coupe from nan 80s, the Sledgehammer is simply a modern mentation of what a top-spec SEC V12 should look like. The C126 ne'er near nan mill pinch a V12 nether nan hood, making this apt nan last leader of each C126 Mercedes.

As nan restomod marketplace continues to turn acknowledgment to modern reliability paired pinch old-school styling, big-dollar builds for illustration this are becoming progressively common. If you've ne'er heard of RENNtech aliases you conscionable admit nan charm of vintage Mercedes big-engine coupes, here's why this car deserves your attention.

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At nan halfway of nan Sledgehammer is nan iconic M120 12-cylinder Mercedes motor — a powerplant that deserves a communicative of its own. While nan M120 tin sometimes beryllium recovered successful inexpensive utilized examples of older W140 S600s and R129 SL600s, it besides appears successful multi-million-dollar hypercars specified arsenic nan $17.5 cardinal Pagani Zonda HP Barchetta. For nan RENNtech Sledgehammer, nan M120 is rated astatine 660 horsepower and 650 lb-ft of torque. The hand-built, naturally-aspirated, race-inspired motor has gargantuan displacement — a operation that's hard to find successful modern vehicles, moreover large luxury athletics coupes. 

According to RENNtech, it's much than conscionable an engine, though. The package includes: a widebody kit, a stainless alloy exhaust pinch equal-length headers, capacity cats, downpipes, and capacity mufflers. RENNtech besides intends to optimize nan Sledgehammer's weight distribution and brace that pinch c ceramic brakes, civilization 19-inch wheels, and a manual transaxle. RENNtech claims that nan widebody kit improves aero, cooling, and stability, and we'd emotion to spot this point successful a upwind passageway to spot impervious of those claims.

Although 660 horsepower is surely a lot, it's not a staggering ratio erstwhile you see nan displacement. With 7.5 liters, nan Sledgehammer delivers astir 88 horsepower per liter. By comparison, a modern high-performance turbocharged 2.0-liter motor for illustration nan 1 that powers the Civic Type R produces 315 horsepower, aliases astir 158 horsepower per liter. The M120 is besides incredibly dense (approximately 661 lbs without fluids), and it drinks substance pinch 2 straws. So it's not each astir nan earthy power.

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It doesn't person a batch of horsepower per liter, but cars for illustration nan Sledgehammer show a much profound communicative than conscionable numbers. The M120 is simply a awesome of an era erstwhile luxury capacity meant mechanical harmony. The emotion that nan motor was operating acold beneath its limits was portion of nan characteristic that galore enthusiasts miss today. Combined pinch minimal electronics, nan Sledgehammer and its M120 evoke nan emotion of a clip machine, 1 that transports nan driver backmost to a clip wherever cars were simpler (well earlier nan analyzable turbocharged, supercharged, mild-hybrid engines made their measurement into luxury flagships). 

Back successful 2023, we said that immoderate of nan then-current V12 cars might beryllium nan past V12 cars ever made. Fast guardant a bit, and things are not looking overmuch better. As of past year, only 11 cars pinch V12 engines were disposable from awesome manufacturers. Out of nan 11, only 3 were people aspirated. The worst portion is that V12 numbers are apt to proceed dwindling going forward. So an motor for illustration nan naturally-aspirated aged M120 is highly compelling for its characteristic and its increasingly-rare cylinder count, connected apical of nan other capacity and provenance provided by Renntech.

The entreaty of specified a conveyance successful 2027 is easy understandable. Last year, we asked you what the worst things are astir modern cars, and galore of you noted nan deficiency of tactility and annoying precocious driver assistance systems. However, astir apt nan astir palpable criticisms were that immoderate modern cars tin consciousness a spot soulless and lacking sensory details, and that is precisely wherever nan Sledgehammer speaks nan loudest.