Rare GT C in Coupé form
Delivered new in northern Germany
Exceptional colour combination
Freshly serviced this September
Registered in Austria with NoVA paid
Original 51,000 kilometres
When Mercedes-AMG presented the GT in 2014, it had some very big shoes to fill. Very big indeed. After all, the newcomer indirectly succeeded the SLS AMG, albeit without its gullwing doors. In return, it moved closer to the Porsche 911 both in concept and price. Known internally as the C 190, it was the first sports car to be developed entirely by Mercedes-AMG in Affalterbach.
The recipe was a classic one: engine at the front, gearbox at the rear, with a transaxle shaft connecting the two. The new four-litre twin-turbo V8 sat well behind the front axle, while the seven-speed dual-clutch transmission was mounted at the rear. The result was near-perfect weight distribution. At launch, there was the GT with 462 hp and the GT S with 510 hp. The latter was already capable of 310 km/h and 0–100 km/h in under four seconds.
But Affalterbach would not have been Affalterbach had it stopped there. In 2016, the GT R was unveiled at Goodwood. With 585 hp, a wider track, active aerodynamics, rear-wheel steering and plenty of development work on the Nürburgring Nordschleife, the rapid Gran Turismo became a very serious piece of machinery indeed.
The open GT Roadster arrived in 2017, available either as the GT or as the 557 hp GT C. The latter brought the wider body and some of the GT R’s technology, including rear-wheel steering, to the road without adopting its uncompromising character. Shortly afterwards, to mark AMG’s 50th anniversary, the GT C also became available as a Coupé.
With the facelift came still more power and an ever-wider choice of variants. At the very top sat the GT Black Series, introduced in 2020. Among other changes, its four-litre V8 received a flat-plane rather than AMG’s usual cross-plane crankshaft and produced a mighty 730 hp. Add an enormous rear wing, sophisticated active aerodynamics and looks that finally banished any remaining thoughts of a genteel Gran Turismo.
In between came the GT, GT S, GT C and GT R, Roadsters, special editions and ultimately the Black Series. What they all shared was a hand-built V8, a long bonnet and a driving experience in which the rear wheels never let you forget which end was doing the work. Production of the first generation ended in 2021.
This Mercedes-AMG GT C was delivered through the Mercedes dealership in Rostock in April 2018. At first glance, it impresses with its exceptional combination of Hyacinth Red metallic (996) and a matching two-tone leather and Nappa interior in Semianiline Red (857A). The list of optional equipment is as long as it is impressive. An electronic limited-slip differential, panoramic roof and switchable sports exhaust are merely a few highlights.
In 2022, the GT C came to Austria and was registered here regardless of the rather painful taxes involved. To date, it has covered just 51,000 kilometres and comes freshly serviced, having visited Pappas only this September.
With its wider, more muscular stance and large rear wing, the GT C commands respect before you have even climbed aboard. The cockpit feels reassuringly familiar as a Mercedes, yet the moment you press the start button, things become rather more exciting. The sound is so infernal that at first you wonder whether you have somehow selected the wrong mode. Even the gentlest tickle of the accelerator is answered with an awe-inspiring roar. What this piece of German engineering is capable of with 557 hp is something mere mortals can only begin to imagine.
Common sense was evidently not among AMG’s development targets.