The Ferrari 250 GTO, of which one of the thirty-six copies recently changed hands by mutual agreement at more than 70 million euros, is no longer the most expensive car in the world.
RM Sotheby's auctioned 135 million euros for one of the two Mercedes 300 SLR Coupé produced in 1955. This auction, held on May 5 at the Mercedes museum in Stuttgart, is the epilogue of a soap opera that had been going on for several months.
Under pressure from the expert and international dealer Simon Kidston, who no doubt worked for a shrewd collector, the Mercedes board of directors was finally persuaded to sell one of its two 300 SLR Coupé.
It must be said that this racing coupe, nicknamed “Uhlenhaut” after the Mercedes engineer who developed it, represents absolute fantasy.
The streamlined Mercedes W 196s at the start of the 1954 French Grand Prix in Reims.
MediaPortal Daimler AG/Daimler AG
After winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1952 with a 300 SL coupé and then the Carrera Panamericana at the end of the same season, Mercedes decided to return to Formula 1 for the 1954 season. The star firm developed the single-seater W 196, with an all-aluminum body and a 2.5-litre straight-eight engine with gasoline direct injection.
Beginning its career at the ACF Grand Prix in Reims in July 1954, this single-seater flew over the two seasons of 1954 and 1955 and enabled Argentinian Juan-Manuel Fangio to pocket two new titles.
In two years, Mercedes will have left only crumbs to its adversaries, the W 196 winning eleven victories out of fourteen events run.
Rudolf Uhlenhaut and one of the two 300 SLR Coupé.
Mercedes-Benz AG – Communications & Marketing/Daimler AG
At the start of the 1955 season, Mercedes decided to double its objectives, also competing for the World Championship for Makes.
Based on the W 196, he developed a
Sport
barquette from the tubular chassis of the single-seater.
The displacement of the eight-cylinder in line is increased to 3 liters, still with direct injection and externally controlled valves.
In addition to the 300 SLR barquettes, the engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut in charge of Daimler-Benz advanced studies and the racing car program developed two 300 SLR coupes with gullwing doors for long-distance events, despite the refusal of the pilots to the stable to drive them.
ISS Debeos Studios Daniele Di Miero for MS/MCA/Daimler AG
The difficult access, the noise level and the temperature prevailing in the small passenger compartment did not militate in favor of these 300 SLR coupés.
Although they participated in a few training sessions, notably during the 1955 Swedish Grand Prix, these coupés never took the start of a competition but were used by Uhlenhaut as a service car.
In the archives of the German brand, there are even photos where the engineer takes his son.
The two chassis produced "0007/55" and "0008/55" differ only in the color of the interior upholstery, one is red with tartan seats, the other blue.
MediaPortal Daimler AG/Daimler AG
At the end of the 1955 season, out of respect for the victims of the 1955 Le Mans crash, Mercedes withdrew from all sporting competition.
The W 196 single-seaters and the 300 SLR trays were put away.
As for the SLR coupés, they were driven for a few more months before being stored in the reserves of the Mercedes museum.
Since then, these coupes come out regularly for demonstrations.
Thought and designed for competitions it has never practiced, sister of world champion cars, the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut fuels all fantasies.
To this extraordinary destiny, we must add an insolent beauty, a mixture of brutality and feline, and extraordinary performances.
Englishman Gordon Wilkins, the only journalist to have tried the beast, had clocked it at 288 km/h.
This is how the 300 SLR Coupé “Uhlenhaut” has all the criteria to raise the stakes.
MediaPortal Daimler AG/Daimler AG
