The Mercedes SL 63 AMG at the Interkrafts workshop in Behala, with its vario-roof that opens and retracts in 16 seconds. Picture by Amit Datta

A gleaming silver dreamboat shipped to town all the way from Germany has raised the gold standard for superfast luxury wheels on Calcutta’s pot-holed roads.

Exporter Babi Nobis’s gift to himself on his birthday may not be the costliest car cruising through town but his new Mercedes SL 63 AMG convertible — priced at over Rs 1.5 crore, including duties — is the most expensive piece of machinery yet to be sold by a city dealer.

The SL 63 AMG, which swimming legend Michael Phelps also owns, is a two-seater, twin-door gazelle that does 0 to 100kmph in 4.7 seconds flat.

You might think that’s no big deal for someone who owns three Ferraris, but even Nobis was left wide-eyed when he turned up in his Bermudas at the Interkrafts workshop in Behala on Tuesday, on the eve of his birthday, to have a look at his latest acquisition.

“The heart of every AMG Mercedes is assembled according to the one-man-one-engine principle, and the signature of the engineer who crafted this engine (Phillip Waibel) is inscribed across its face. It’s about exclusivity,” said the car connoisseur who still drives his Tata Indica to work.

But Nobis, who had gifted himself a black Ferrari F430 three birthdays ago, could find feeding the Merc’s 6.3-litre AMG engine a tad tougher. The convertible does not run on anything other than 97 octane petrol, which is available only at two pumps in Calcutta — one in Alipore and the other on Camac Street.

Fuel availability apart, Nobis thinks there is nothing that would keep his SL 63 AMG — powered by the same engine as the F1 Safety Car — from being “a driveable superfast car on decent roads”.

So where would the resident of New Alipore test Merc’s claim about cruising at 250kmph and feeling it is 80kmph? “I generally don’t go beyond 45kmph,” said Nobis, who tests his superfast cars on the Delhi and Bombay highways.

Even if he drove his SL 63 at its highest speed of 250kmph with the vario-roof open — it takes all of 16 seconds to open and retract into the hood at the touch of a button — not a single strand of his hair would apparently be out of place. “The air scarf at the back of the seat’s headrest will deflect the rushing air,” explained a Merc technician at the workshop.

On the city’s go-slow roads, Nobis can raise the car suspension at the touch of a button to comfort, sport, sport plus and manual modes. “I usually do a recce of the roads first before I decide which route to take when I drive my cars,” he said.

Nobis had showcased his Ferraris at the Ferrari India Discovery Tour that came to Calcutta last year. Apart from his Ferrari line — including a yellow 360 Spider and a red 348 — Nobis owns a 3 series and a 7 series Beemer, besides a C-Class and an S-Class Merc that he keeps at his Delhi Panchsheel address.

But it’s the SL 63, assembled at the Mercedes AMG plant and performance studio at Affalterbach, Germany, that promises to be his most prized beauty on wheels.