Mercedes-AMG has earned quite the name for itself over the years as Mercedes-Benz's performance arm, and for those who have forgotten the past—or never really knew it in the first place—a video is making the rounds showing AMG's roots. The video takes the viewer from AMG’s founding 50 years ago as a performance engine builder to its early motorsport efforts and eventual transition to official performance arm of Mercedes-Benz.

The company, founded by Hans-Werner Aufrecht and Erhard Melcher, was set up in an old mill in 1967, as an “engineering office and design and testing center for the development of racing engines.” The name AMG comes from Aufrecht, Melcher and Aufrecht’s hometown of Großaspach. In 1971, their AMG 300 SEL 6.8 claimed victory completely out of the blue in its class and took second place overall in the 24 Hours of Spa.

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Collaboration with Mercedes didn’t really begin until 1990, with the C36 AMG resulting just three years later. In 2005, AMG became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mercedes and just four years later launched its first standalone car, the SLS AMG. The SLS AMG was followed by the GT in 2014. And along with the new car, we saw AMG's name change to Mercedes-AMG, to reflect the connection between the two firms. Around this time, the AMG name was also added to Mercedes' Formula One team.

With 99,235 vehicles delivered in 2016, and the biggest strategic model initiative in the company's history thanks to the new “43” series and the announcement of a hypercar, AMG heads into this anniversary year with record figures—figures some standalone automakers will be envious of.

For a more in-depth look at AMG’s history, watch this previous video from 2013.