MERCEDES-BENZ has bought one among solely two 300 SLR Coupes that it produced.
Bought on behalf of an unnamed shopper for an unprecedented €135 million ($A203 million), the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Coupe is the sister automotive to Sir Stirling Moss’ Mille Miglia record-breaking, open-cockpit 300 SLR, which lined 992 miles (1600km) in 10 hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds on public roads.
Each autos have been retained from new by Mercedes-Benz with the auctioned car having lined simply 6045km in its complete lifetime.
The automotive, which Mercedes-Benz stated “would by no means be bought” modified fingers at an invitation-only public sale within the agency’s museum. The funds from the sale will profit a charitable fund being arrange by ‘Benz to offer academic and analysis scholarships for younger individuals within the areas of environmental science and decarbonisation.
“We’re proud that we will contribute with our historic assortment to this initiative that connects the previous with the way forward for engineering and decarbonisation expertise”, stated Head of Mercedes-Benz Heritage, Marcus Breitschwerdt.
“The personal purchaser has agreed that the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe will stay accessible for public show on particular events. The second, unique 300 SLR Coupe stays in firm possession and can proceed to be displayed on the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.”
Thought of a crown jewel of the Mercedes-Benz assortment, the sale of the SLR 300 units a report for the sale of a automotive – believed to face at $US78m ($A111.1m) for the personal sale of a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, which happened in 2018 – and locations the automotive within the prime 10 most precious objects ever bought at an public sale in any amassing class.
Writing for British journal Autocar in 1957, Gordon Wilkins stated of the SLR 300, “Do not forget that this automotive isn’t on the market, and on this kind by no means shall be: it’s a racing automotive tailored for street use with sure experimental goals in view… It must be mastered like a mettlesome horse.
“To have drive it has eclipsed all earlier experiences in 20 years of check driving on the world’s best automobiles, and I don’t look forward to finding its match for a very long time to return.”
The 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Coupe was produced as a improvement of the open-topped two-seater sports-racing automotive constructed by Mercedes-Benz for the 1955 season and pushed by Grand Prix greats similar to Stirling Moss, Juan Manuel Fangio and Peter Collins.
Based mostly closely on the single-seat W196 R Grand Prix automotive – with its advanced 225kW 3.0-litre straight-eight engine – the racing instance of the 300 SLR dominated the 1955 World Sportscar Championship and Sir Stirling’s report drive at that 12 months’s Mille Miglia has been described as one of many greatest-ever feats of motor racing.
Daimler-Benz engineer and motorsport chief commissioned simply two closed-cabin variations of the SLR 300, with the fashions’ styling based mostly closely on the well-known SL “Gullwing”. A pure competitors automotive, the SLR 300 was utilized in follow and as a high-speed shuttle car for Mr Uhlenhaut between European motorsport occasions.
When examined by Autocar in 1956, the SLR 300 Coupe carried out a 0-60mph (96.5km/h) run of 6.9 seconds, 0-120mph (193.1km/h) in 20.3 seconds, and a most pace of 176.47mph (284.6km/h) – although it should be famous that the check car was geared up with road-going mufflers on the time, which inhibited its full potential.
Mercedes-Benz says the 300 SLR Coupe was able to 180mph (290.3km/h), making it one of many quickest road-legal automobiles to have been created on the time.
The sale of the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Coupe follows 18 months of lobbying by British skilled and seller Simon Kidston.
Talking on behalf of the client, Mr Kidston stated: “When you had requested classic-car specialists and prime collectors over the previous half a century to call essentially the most fascinating automotive on the earth, there is a good probability that they might have stated the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR.
“It is a mixture of unique engineering, all-conquering racing historical past, the facility of the Three-pointed Star on its nostril and the truth that one had by no means, ever been bought. Many collectors had tried, all had failed.
“That was what the complete motoring world thought, however occasions change, and in the event you do not ask, you will by no means know. A protracted-standing relationship with the Mercedes-Benz Museum helped, however even after 18 months of affected person lobbying, we did not know if or how they might think about letting the 300 SLR out of captivity till simply earlier than it occurred.
“For everybody concerned, and particularly the brand new proprietor whom we represented, this was a once-in-a-lifetime probability to purchase the Mona Lisa of automobiles,” he added.
