The Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Coupe, also known as “the Mona Lisa of cars,” recently set a record for the highest price paid for an automobile at an auction that was open only to invited buyers.
The vehicle, which was never produced for commercial use, sold for €135 million (£115 million), breaking the previous record of £63 million, which had been paid for a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO in 2018.
According to the Telegraph, Simon Kidston, a British expert and dealer based in Switzerland, spent the better part of 18 months attempting to persuade Mercedes to postpone the sale on behalf of a customer.
It was Mr. Kidston’s bid on behalf of a customer that ended up being the successful one. The new owner has made the decision to maintain anonymous.
“If you had asked classic-car experts and top collectors over the past half a century to name the most desirable car in the world, there’s a good chance that they would have come up with the same model: the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR,” the author writes. “There’s a good chance that they would have named the most desirable car in the world.”
On May 5th, the auction took place, and the German automobile manufacturer participated in selecting the bidders.
The Bavarian marque is auctioning off the 1955 automobile that was based on the racecar that Sir Stirling Moss drove to set a new record for the distance traveled in the Mille Miglia.
In the past, it had pledged that it would not sell it.
Mercedes-Benz plans to establish a charitable fund for young people using the money gained from the sale of the vehicle.
The company’s most successful road-racing car, which was driven by Sir Stirling Moss, served as the inspiration for the 300 SLR Coupé.
Rudolf “Rudi” Uhlenhaut, a British-German engineer who worked for Daimler-Benz and was in charge of the company’s motorsport division, commissioned two closed-cockpit versions of the car, which became known as Uhlenhaut Coupés as a result.
The now-famous gull-wing doors and lightning-fast performance were both hallmarks of this model. A road test conducted in 1956 revealed that the vehicle was capable of going from 0 to 60 miles per hour in 6.9 seconds, 0 to 120 miles per hour in 20.3 seconds, and a maximum speed of 176 miles per hour. The performance-reducing silencers were installed specifically for the test.
However, because Mercedes had no intention of ever selling the vehicles for commercial use, they were almost entirely impractical, with performance taking precedence over any and all other considerations.
Although they were never used for racing, Mr. Uhlenhaut did ride them throughout Europe so that he could compete in various events.
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