There's exclusive, and there's exclusive; how about a limited edition of just five cars?
That's how many Mercedes-AMG SLS GT3 45th Anniversary specials will be built, each one with its engine hand-assembled and installed by a two-man team consisting of Affalterbach's top engine builder and multiple former German Touring Car champion Bernd Schneider, now AMG brand ambassador and well into a second career as an endurance racer.
Each car is finished in a special semi-matte, dark grey paint called designo magno graphite which has only been seen in public once before - on the AMG 45th birthday show car for the New York auto show in April - and won't be used again.
The doors, bonnet, mudguards, boot lid, rear wings, front and rear apron, front splitter and rear diffuser, are all made of carbon fibre - and there's no primer under the paint on the gullwing doors, so that if you look closely you can see the weave of the carbon-fibre through the paint.
Each door also carries a special “45 Years of Driving Performance” logo framed in silver.
The GT3 is, of course, a racing car.
The built-in roll cage of the 45th Anniversary model is finished in same exclusive colour as the body, the dashboard and centre console are finished in matte carbon-fibre, while the six-point racing harnesses and steering wheel are finished in silver.
Unlike the normal GT3 racing version of the SLS AMG gullwing, there's a second carbon-fibre bucket seat on the right side of the cabin, also sporting a six-point racing harness.
Each seat has a special badge with a “1 of 5” logo to remind you exactly how special this car is and each car cones with its own fitted, specially-badged car cover.
Since five-times DTM, 1995 International Touring Car and 1997 GT World champion Schneider - who did most of the test driving during the development of the GT3 racing version of the SLS AMG, including an outright win, with Jeroen Bleekemolen, in the four-hour Round 9 of the 2012 VLN Endurance championship at the Nurburgring - will be involved hands-on with the assembly and installation of the naturally aspirated AMG 6.3-litre V8 engine of each car, their engine plates will carry two signatures instead of the customary one - that of Schneider as well as the technician involved.
Each car will also come with a special certificate of manufacture signed by Schneider.
Just taking delivery of one of these rare birds will be an adventure; each customer will be invited to Affalterbach, where they will be fully briefed on the car's engineering and technology, and how its systems work (remember, this is not a road car) by Schneider himself, in the new 360 square-metre handover hall.
They'll also be invited to tour the factory, including the AMG Performance Studio, where exclusive series of individual AMG cars and one-off vehicles are developed and hand-built, as well as the AMG engine “Manufaktur” (hand-finishing section) and, on request, a race-track coaching session in their car with an instructor from the AMG Driving Academy
OK, you had to ask; each of the five Mercedes-AMG SLS GT3 45th Anniversary cars will sell for €446 250 (R5.1 million) including 19 percent German VAT.