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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 among solely two of its variety, is a sister automobile to racing legend Sir Stirling Moss’s record-breaking open cockpit 300 SLR, which lined 992 miles in ten hours, seven minutes and 48 seconds on public roads.
The automobile was offered to a non-public collector, the traditional automobile public sale firm RM Sotheby’s mentioned in a press release, fetching €135 million (£114 milion), virtually triple the earlier file public sale value 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 happened on Might 5 on the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. RM Sotheby’s mentioned the automobile’s excessive value positioned it within the “high ten most useful gadgets ever offered at public sale in any accumulating class”.
Its sale can also be a reward for the persistence proven by the British professional Simon Kidston, who had lobbied the German firm’s board for 18 months to think about promoting the automobile “that will by no means be offered”. Kidston’s bid of €135 million secured the automobile for an unnamed collector.
“It had all the time been assumed that Mercedes would by no means half with one of many crown jewels of its firm assortment, thought-about 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 received two Components 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 automobile was a improvement of the open two-seat sports-racing automobile constructed by Mercedes for the 1955 season and pushed by Grand Prix greats comparable 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 received 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” highway automobile there was “virtually 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 highway take a look at collectively performed by British journal Autocar and the Swiss periodical Automobil Revue in 1956 mentioned: “Do not forget that this automobile isn’t on the market, and on this kind by no means shall be: it’s a racing automobile tailored for highway use with sure experimental targets in view . . . It needs to 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 take into account 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 will fund environmental science and decarbonisation analysis.
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