Black Magic: Mercedes CLK63 AMG Black Series v C63 AMG Black Series

Every three years or so, Mercedes-AMG dusts off the Black Series badge, sticks it to the rump of some grossly overpowered road-racer and the world becomes a better place. Or if not better then certainly louder. There have been six Black Series AMGs in all, the first arriving in 2006. With every new model, the ambient atmospheric volume rises a notch higher.

Two of those six have been based on the humble C-Class – these two. The first was the CLK63 Black Series in 2007, the second the C63 Black Series four years later. Others in the model line have been lunatics of the stark raving kind: trashing hotel rooms, biting the heads off bats – regular madman stuff. But these two? I can’t quite work out if they wear their Ozzy Osbourne garb as authentically as the SL65 Black Series of 2008, for instance, or if they’re more like sixth form students queuing at a bus stop in Rocky Horror fancy dress. Do they even deserve their Black Series badges?

These are the things you ponder as you wait for the rain to stop. Down it comes, harder and harder. The weather app on my phone insists the clouds will part and the sun will shine imminently, but the view from where I’m sitting says otherwise. I suppose you shouldn’t bring a pair of Black Series AMGs, both painted black, to the Black Mountain in South Wales and be surprised to find the skies have dressed for the occasion too.