Slideshow: CLK 63 Black Series - Subtle Rage

Ten Years After

Not just one of the sportiest CLKs, the 2008 63 AMG Black Series is one of the sportiest AMGs ever, and that's not an easy thing to be. The 63 Black's 6.2-liter naturally-aspirated V8 cranks out 507 hp, enabling it to reach 100 km/h (62 mph) from a standstill in just 4.3 seconds, on its way to an electronically-limited top speed of 300 km/h (186.4 mph). Even without the aid of today's exhaust-sound enhancement switches, the engine's low, taut burble is as entertaining as it is adrenaline-pumping. Made for only one year, with only 367 examples sold in the U.S., and fewer than 600 worldwide, it's also one of the most exclusive AMG vehicles ever offered to the public. With a little help from our friend Doug DeMuro, let's take a look at the personality traits of the car he called "The best AMG."

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

DTM For The Win

Of course, the most noticeable difference between the CLK 63 and the Black Series is the bodywork, though the enhancements are tasteful, and fully justified from a performance standpoint. Up front, there's a special bumper with integrated vents and functional carbon fiber ducts, while out back there's not a huge, ugly, wing in sight—what is there is a sizeable carbon fiber diffuser. The most fetching change is the addition of simple, fat flares so rarely found on today's performance vehicles, making room for attractive 19-inch forged alloys. The flares and rims, as much as any other trait, have given the 63 Black the nickname 'Hot Rod' in the motoring press, while also alluding to M-B's DTM (German Touring Car Championship) CLK race cars.

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

SubShifter

From photos, it's easy not to notice anything unusual about the Black's shifter, but once in hand, you'll notice it's something like 1/2 scale. Being a Mercedes item, it has a heft and positivity to it despite its diminutive size. It also makes you feel like a giant.

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

Wheel in the Sky

The Black's steering wheel has a flat bottom, something even more common in 2018 than back in 2008, but AMG's ergonomic engineers didn't stop there. In a move that's reminiscent of superspeedway tri-ovals like Daytona and Talladega, they gave it a penta-oval shape, slightly flattening the lower portions of the wheel on either side. Perhaps it was to help tame the notoriously tail-happy behavior of the car under heavy acceleration. In fact, many drivers have noted that the traction control struggles to keep control of the rear wheels when the pedal is mashed from a dead stop, so perhaps the wheel helps you rein in the rear like a leather rudder.

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

Seated

Doug, as regular viewers may have noticed, knows his seats, and the 63 Black gave him a lot of material to work with. The Black's seats are much more performance-oriented than the stock seats—more supportive and a great deal lighter. Controls for their movements are split between three locations—outboard of the seat bottoms, beneath the seats for the fore/aft control, and inboard of the seat backs for lumbar controls. Seat heating and cooling have been deleted, which leaves a large number of blanked-out spots on the car's dash/console, which isn't all bad because it makes the lonely traction control button (ESP) that much easier to spot and punch.

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

Seatless

Since the rear seats have been deleted there's no rear seat access lever, to get back there you have to electrically tilt the back forward to reveal the space. Once you have, you'll find a couple of recesses where the seats used to be, which actually increase cargo room vs the standard version. Between the rear cubbies is a raised hump that houses the battery, though there is a charging port located under the car's hood for much easier access. Since the Black's center console is shared with the CLK, there are still rear-facing A/C vents and an ashtray, and floormats still cover the floor behind the front seats.

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

Glove (?) Boxes

The Black's glovebox isn't so unusual, it includes a nice integrated sunglass case, but it also includes a hard-wired circa-2008 iPod connector cable that was a 375 dollar option. If obsolescence wasn't a consideration back then maybe the cord's paltry reach might have been—you can't hold your device from the passenger seat, it needs to stay in the box while connected. Lurking directly to the left (on LHD versions) of the main glovebox is a mini-box that pops out when pushed, and looks for all the world like just piece of trim.

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

Belt Help

Since the Black is a coupe, the seatbelts are a reach and a half behind seated occupants. Mercedes-Benz generously designed a mechanism that politely hands you the belt, or at least it goes the first several inches toward that end, retracting once the belts are secured.

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

Trunk Help

On the Black's driver's door, there's a button that pops the trunk, again, not so unusual, but it has an LED that lights up to alert you that the trunk is open, and it doesn't go back out until the trunk lid has been latched. Helpfully, it also lights up if the trunk is opened manually. Your golf clubs have never been safer. Possibly even more helpful is the coilover tower connector bar that runs through the trunk, tightening up the chassis considerably.

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

Hardtop

The Black is a coupe in a way that's rare these days—it lacks a center pillar/B-pillar. It's a styling feature that used to be called a 'hardtop', and it not only gives the Benz a cleaner look, but also an airier feel. A peculiar feature of the design is that not only do the door windows creep up that extra few seal-promoting millimeters when the doors are shut, the rear side windows inch forward as well. The styling choices made by Merc AMG effectively present a series of classic curves to the fewer than 600 lucky motorists who own one. With resale values remaining high we just hope those lucky few drive their cars as much as possible, so the rest of us can take in those curves. And that exhaust note.

>>Join the conversation about the CLK63 AMG right here in MBWorld.

For help with your M-B maintenance and repair projects, please visit our how-to section in the forum.