Is my 380SE AMG a real AMG?

[Fast_Lane_Dane]

I have just bought an -82 W126 380SE in fairly good condition for restoration.
The car is imported from Germany and has an AMG badge
on the boot lid.
How do I tell whether the car is a real AMG or a normal 380SE with a fake badge (e.g. motor serial number etc...?),
and is there any way of identifying the differences from an AMG to the std. 380SE?
Any help with this is much appreciated. I'm looking forward to get my S-class on the road (and upgrade from my current Volvo 740GLE

Best regards from Hans in DK

 

[Blobcat]

You could put your vin into the Russian site, http://www.mbclub.ru/mb/vin/index.html?lng=eng it should list out the original specification

 

[angus falconer]

In the 70's and 80's you could order any manner of cosmetic and performance upgrades from AMG. In the 90's they started buidling specific models and giving the 2 digit idendifiers - C36, C43, SL60, E55 etec etc and during this period were bought my Mercedes who continued the practice.

So in your case you might just have an AMG badge or spoiler of a range of options.

 

[Fast_Lane_Dane]

Thanks for the answers, the russian vin link is very informative. As per Angus' reply, it doesn't tell anything about the post-factory AMG mods to my -82 380SE.
I'm though pretty sure that the engine has been AMG'ed ;-) , the car is definetly faster than other 380's I've driven.
I'll start a new thread specific for the W126 AMG engines.

Cheers, Hans

 

[jberks]

You mention that there is an AMG badge on the boot, but nothing else. As said before, AMG did body kits, spoilers, wheels etc back then. I will be pretty confident that if AMG had fettled the engine in any way, it would have AMG on the rocker cover and on labels in the engine bay. If it hasn't, I'd be pretty confident that it's just there for show, which was done a lot back then. e.g. the number of BM's with the 'M' badges.

 

[pgilc1]

I have just bought an -82 W126 380SE in fairly good condition for restoration.
The car is imported from Germany and has an AMG badge
on the boot lid.
How do I tell whether the car is a real AMG or a normal 380SE with a fake badge (e.g. motor serial number etc...?),
and is there any way of identifying the differences from an AMG to the std. 380SE?
Any help with this is much appreciated. I'm looking forward to get my S-class on the road (and upgrade from my current Volvo 740GLE

Best regards from Hans in DK

Was the first AMG 'branded' car not the circa 1995 C Class C36 AMG?

Therefore any car before that may have been fettled or modified by AMG, but would still have left the factory as a 'standard' Mercedes...?