The following is a nerd answer coming from a guy who is firmly implanted in the auto industry, so if you have ADD, keep scrolling...

The moniker of "hand-built" or "hand assembled" is really taken too seriously by too many. All one has to do is look at the total production numbers for the supercharged 3.2 (we shall call it 32K) and you can quickly see that the number of Daimler-Chrysler vehicles receiving the 32K motor, divided by the handful of technicians whose name graces the plate, is a staggering number. A number that, if taken quite literally, would mean that one man is fully assembling 4-5 engines daily, without fail, on the 32K motor alone. In 2004, the 55K motor was also being produced (for several platforms, mind you). Germans, in general, don't work that hard. They work smarter, not harder.

Likely, the bare engine assembly arrives as a unit, and all accessories (supercharger, charge pipes, etc) are bolted on by the "legendary" technician whose signature lives in infamy. Yes, the 32K motor and the standard M112 have different internals, but there was nothing preventing Daimler-Chrysler from having two production runs for the separate motors. We do it all the time at Nissan, which is the difference between the standard 2.5L Altima motor and the 2.5L Sentra SE-R. Same block, different guts.

Halo models (such as the SLS AMG) are likely built completely by hand... you have such a small volume of annual sales, it's a feasible task. But with the 'standard' AMG motors, the engines should be roughly 60% complete before they ever see human hands. Since the final assembly is "completed" by human hands, it can receive the moniker of "hand-crafted". Same thing with cigars -- if a human hand works the lever on the machine that rolls the smoke, you can put a "hecho de mano" sticker on there. Hardly "hand-made" but it sounds good, and it sells.

The GT-R with Nissan is no different. We have 8 (yes, eight) technicians in Japan that are cleared to build those motors, which are assembled by hand from the stud girdle to the valve covers. But, the GT-R is a halo model and annual sales are relatively low. So, it's doable.

Now, let's talk service parts. Spares must be built... at least 1 in every 20 engines must be "saved" for dealer service parts support. Combine that with the idea that the engine assembly line used to produce the 32K motor is the same one used for the AMG/SRT motors, and you can quickly get a picture of the volume passing through... In 2004, you had these motors going into the SLK32, C32, and the SRT-6. Let's go conservative and say that's 6,000 engines (remember, add 5-10% production run for dealer service parts). I've only seen 8-10 different names on the infamous plaques...

So, 6,600 engine assemblies / 8 techs = 825 32K units per tech, annually.

Divide that by 251 (number of business days in a year) and also remove 15 days annually, per tech, (for vacation) and you come up with ~4 units per day, per tech, on the V6 engines alone.

I've seen the same name-plate go on the V8 55k motors and the 32k motors... so that's a busy guy if he's truly "hand crafting" each engine.

As for the bullsh!t debate about SRT motor being different than the AMG motor, that's simply not true. The icing was changed, but the cake is the same. The power output is identical, the durability is the same, the damn stampings are the same. Besides, the retooling costs to make two different production lines, all for the sake of some AMG elitist to sip his tea without worry, would put a department in the red in a heartbeat. Daimler-Chrysler loved money too much.

I can promise you that the engine builder in Germany had two parts bins to work from in '04, as the 32K motors came down the line: SRT, and AMG. AMG motors get a set of AMG manis and a name plaque, and the engines pointed in the direction of Chrysler got different brand markings. The companies were in bed together, but they weren't one in the same. AMG hid what they could (poorly) and omitted the engine plaque. That's that.

So... yes, Virginia, it's the same motor. It came from the same assembly line. And it was touched by the same builder. Chrysler paid Daimler to pay him. He could give a crap less which American would be butt-hurt about the business arrangement, as long as he gets his Weihenstephaner at the end of the day.

BTW, if you really really want an engine plaque:

000 221 12 01

You will need a VIN, indifference to whose name is on the plaque, and a dealer that only sees dollar signs.

Cheers,