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A uncommon Mercedes-Benz racing automobile referred to as the Mona Lisa of vehicles has been offered by the corporate for a file £115 million.
The 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé, one in every of solely two of its type, is a sister automobile to racing legend Sir Stirling Moss’s record-breaking open cockpit 300 SLR, which coated 992 miles in ten hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds on public roads.
The car was offered to a non-public collector, the basic automobile public sale firm RM Sotheby’s mentioned in a press release, fetching €135 million (£114 milion), nearly triple the earlier file public sale worth for a automobile, which was set in 2018 by a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that went for greater than $48 million (£37 million).
The invitation-only public sale befell on Might 5 on the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. RM Sotheby’s mentioned the car’s excessive worth positioned it within the “prime ten most dear gadgets ever offered at public sale in any accumulating class”.
Its sale can be a reward for the persistence proven by the British knowledgeable Simon Kidston, who had lobbied the German firm’s board for 18 months to contemplate promoting the automobile “that might by no means be offered”. Kidston’s bid of €135 million secured the car for an unnamed collector.
“It had at all times been assumed that Mercedes would by no means half with one of many crown jewels of its firm assortment, thought of the Mona Lisa of vehicles due to its rarity, racing pedigree, magnificence and unavailability,” Kidston mentioned.
The 300 SLR Coupé, recognisable for its uncommon strains and butterfly doorways, was modelled on the W196 R Grand Prix race automobile, which gained two Method 1 world championships in 1954 and 1955 with the Argentinian Juan Manuel Fangio within the driver’s seat.
Named after its creator and chief engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, the car was a growth of the open two-seat sports-racing automobile constructed by Mercedes for the 1955 season and pushed by Grand Prix greats akin to Moss, Fangio and Peter Collins.
Moss’s file drive on the 1955 Mille Miglia has been described as one of many best feats of motor racing, when he and his navigator Denis Jenkinson gained the 1,000-mile endurance race in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR, averaging 99mph.
Kidston mentioned that though the auctioned Coupé’s design shares styling cues with the well-known 300 SL “Gullwing” street automobile there was “nearly no concession to practicality, as none have been ever supposed to be offered to personal shoppers”.
Neither 300 SLR Coupé was raced, although they have been used for observe.
A street take a look at collectively carried out by British journal Autocar and the Swiss periodical Automobil Revue in 1956 mentioned: “Keep in mind that this automobile is just not on the market, and on this type by no means will probably be: it’s a racing automobile tailored for street use with sure experimental targets in view . . . It must be mastered like a mettlesome horse.”
Commenting on the transaction, Kidston mentioned: “An extended-standing relationship with the Mercedes-Benz Museum helped, however even after 18 months of affected person lobbying we didn’t know if or how they might contemplate 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 likelihood to purchase the Mona Lisa of vehicles.”
RM Sotheby’s mentioned the proceeds from the public sale can be used to determine a worldwide Mercedes-Benz Fund that might fund environmental science and decarbonisation analysis.
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