Our friends at Autblog and eMercedesBenz have made available the first photos of the CL63 AMG. This barn-burner probably will not be sold in the USA, but it is still an amazing sight to behold.
By now, you all know how to break down the nomenclature. This is the hot rod version of the swank new CL-Class, and is powered by AMG's purpose-built 6.3 liter V8. Power will be in excess of 500 horses, but we'll have to wait for Mercedes to release the official specs to know exactly how much the new mill pumps out in this application. 
The AMG body kit adds visual muscle, while prominent "6.3" badging aft of the front wheels announces the goodness underhood. Open-spoke AMG wheels complete the makeover.
Now here's MY story about how I met the founder of AMG (and a little history of Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories):
One rainy night many years ago in Beverly Hills, I met Hans Werner Aufrecht, the "A" in AMG, at a small reception at Andy Cohen's "Beverly Hills Motoring Accessories" (BHMA). Andy, though semi-retired, still has a hand in that business is also kept busy promoting the Malibu Car Show which was held just last weekend (July 22-23). Andy was always and remains ahead of his time.
Andy was born and raised in Beverly Hills, and with friends including Jim DeFrank (with whom Cohen started a successful drag racing team, DeFrank & Cohen's SS/AA Hemi Cuda, and it wasn't uncommon for that car to bomb the NHRA National Record on any given Sunday; DeFrank was from Pennsylvania, and became Andy's original partner in BHMA; Andy bought him out eventually through proceeds from the sale of a much-loved Ferrari; DeFrank started California Car Cover, and his son Jimmie is an NHRA Super Stock drag racer in his own right), Bruce Meyer (whose family owns the world-famous gift store GEARY'S OF BEVERLY HILLS), Peter Mullin (who created a line of children's furniture which allowed him to become one of the world's greatest collectors of French automobiles) and others, Andy's Beverly Hills-based company became the sole outlet for AMG accessories in the USA.
(Photo: A 1990 BHMA calendar)
Aufrecht, from AMG, came in from out of the heavy nighttime autumn California rain. He was tall, with graying hair and sharp features. He was wearing a black leather raincoat, and I'd swear he had a monocle in one eye! But his appearance at Cohen's relatively small showroom (which was backed by a giant worldwide mail-order business with more than 4 million catalogues sent out annually) was the first indication that AMG had come to town --- Beverly Hills, in fact; and every wealthy and celebrity patron of BHMA wanted to be the first to have any AMG parts on their car! Andy Cohen, as always warm and friendly, but just arrogant and discerning enough to appeal to the sensitivities of the Beverly Hills shopper (though away from them he is as down to earth as the next guy) made their AMG dreams come true.
Today, AMG, which was started by three Mercedes-Benz engineers who wanted their own business, was then a separate company from M-B; today, AMG is an in-house division of gigantic Daimler-Benz.
Just one question: When will AMG and MOPAR meld into one outfit providing everything from high-performance Dodge ashtrays to nitrous systems for the soon-coming-to-the-USA SMART cars? (Photo: Mercedes-Benz SL55 AMG ghost view).
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