Mercedes-AMG One Gets a Full Wrap of PPF, and It's Pure Visual Car Hedonism To Watch

Let's narrow that down to hypercars – so we'll have a limited range of options. What the Countach was to a generation of gearheads half a century ago, the likes of Koenigsegg, GMA, Rimac, Bugatti, Hennessey, Porsche, Ferrari, and Mercedes are now.

Or, if we want to be purists, think of the original hypercar. Not the Bugatti Veyron – too contemporary. Not the Jaguar XJ220 – still within our lifetime. Go deeper, and when you reach 300SL, stop. You've made it to the roots of the "hyper" hype—the Mercedes-Benz of seven decades past.

Over the years, the German company has released countless iconic models, but legendary-worthy, only a handful. But when they did – man, did they take everyone by storm! Including the Valhalla-aura Nürburgring – remember who's the current record holder there?

It's the one, the only, the One. AMG One, the hypercar of the Silver Arrows. Naturally, this fits the picture we envisaged in the opening of this story – the supreme expression of "wowness" from the inner kid in all of us. So, if you had one One, what would you do with it?

At just 275 built, they're pretty rare, and at $2,72 million apiece, they're also pretty expensive. But what if? Well, the options are to either race the star of its nose (regardless of all consequences), keep it in a safe haven for future profit, or use it as the car that it ultimately is.

Suppose the third option presents a reasonable amount of decency. In that case, you'd probably want to make sure the F1-engined machine is as good-looking as the day the salesman handed you the keys.

The choices vary from climate-controlled storage, weather forecast-planned driving sessions, and trailer service to and from the track to moving to a friendly-climate private island to protect the car from the elements.

Or wrap it in PPF (Paint Protective Film) to enjoy the shark-profiled Mercedes-AMG whenever, wherever (reasonably) possible, without flaking the paint. It's common practice for car addicts to put a coat of invisible plastic on their beloved vehicles.

However, one of these gearheads is living the dream mentioned above and has an AMG One, which he sent straight from the dealership to the PPF shop without as much as a second thought.

Not to any PPF-installing enterprise but to the merry car elves of Topaz Detailing in England – the One is a UK-delivered example. It makes us wonder if that certain someone has solid connections with the carmaker, particularly from Formula One. But we're not here to speculate on a particular seven-time F1 world champion, so let's focus on the car.

What is different in how Topaz applies the PPF is that they don't simply take a roll of film, throw it on the car, make it stick, and that's it. Things are a little bit more… complex. The process – explained in the video below – starts by creating templates for each panel.

This stage can be time-consuming because the PPF is installed, inspected, measured, and adjusted. The process starts again until the thin plastic sheet becomes invisible on the car's body. And on the inside, too - there are countless scratch-prone surfaces in the cockpit of this multi-million dollar not-for-the-US-market Mercedes hypercar.

Also, Topaz design the templates themselves and pair them to each automobile's VIN for future reference. In case a part – or all – of the PPF covering needs replacement (whether covered by the ten-year warranty or not), the exact template will be used to produce a perfect match every single time.

The designing part is the company's trade secret and therefore kept outside the reach of a curious camera lens. Nonetheless, judging by what projects Topaz wraps up (PUN intended), they are in high demand. Apart from the One, the shop is busy casting their plastic cloak on an Aston Martin Valkyrie and its Vulcan track-only elder. Need I say more?

And the AMG One is getting all the spoils of the trade – after all, as the detailers unveiled, the owner likes to drive his cars. This magnificent Silver Arrow-clad track missile for the road will see action soon.

As if a "regular" One (if such a thing can be classified as regular) wasn't intricate enough, the livery on this particular car is impossibly complicated. The STAR motorsport styling package – with all the three-pointed stars on the body – is not easy to fix if a scratch or chip scars the impeccable paint job.

Of course, there's always the option of sending it back to Mercedes for a fresh coat of paint, but that's a very time-costly adventure. The PPF is the handiest of options – it takes hours to apply a new wrapping on a car (provided the VIN template already exists).