Classic Mercedes-Benz reportedly sells for $204 million in new world record
A British billionaire has reportedly forked out the equivalent of 400 Mercedes-AMG GT sports cars to secure a 66-year-old “Uhlenhaut” coupe.
The record price paid for a car may have nearly tripled this week, with a historic Mercedes-Benz reportedly selling for €135 million ($AU204m).
According to Hagerty UK, one of just two 1956 ‘Silver Arrow’ 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut” coupes ever built has been offloaded from the German car giant’s private collection.
The outlet claims 10 wealthy collectors were quietly flown into Stuttgart for the auction under strict conditions, including a guarantee the successful bidder would not re-sell the car.
The buyer hasn't been revealed, however is reportedly a “well-known figure from Britain’s automotive industry and a long-standing collector of specialist cars."
If the claims prove to be accurate, this would comfortably make it most expensive car of all time – the previous record holder was a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO sold in 2018 for $US48.5 million ($AU70 million).
Multiple other vehicles – including several Ferraris and a Bugatti – have been rumoured to sell for more, however these claims have not been substantiated.
The 1956 300 SLR “Uhlenhaut” coupes were modified road-legal variants of the 300 SLR race car – best known for a catastrophic accident at Le Mans that left 83 spectators dead.
While several examples were set to be built for customer sale, the project was cancelled following the accident and Mercedes-Benz's subsequent exit from motorsport.
A 3.0-litre straight-eight petrol engine sent 228kW/317Nm to the rear wheels via a five-speed manual transmission, allowing the 0-100km/h sprint to be completed in a claimed 7.7 seconds.
Top speed came at 290km/h, making it comfortably the fastest road-going vehicle to have ever been built at the time.