Mercedes-Benz has announced selling a very rare 1955 Mercedes-Benz SLR coupe from its collection for €135 million, the equivalent of $142 million.
This rare Mercedes-Benz has become the world’s most expensive car after selling at auction.
The 300 SLR Uhlenhaut coupe – the ‘Mona Lisa of cars’ – is one of just two of its kind to still exist, from a total of nine built.
While its open-top sister car was used to break speed records by racing legend Sir Stirling Moss, the 1955 coupe was used as a runaround by Mercedes’ chief designer at the time, Rudolf Uhlenhaut.
The two-seater was the first to feature the ‘gullwing’ doors which became a Mercedes signature, and has been in the firm’s collection of most cherished vehicles.
A private collector paid the record – more than double the £52million for a 1962 Ferrari four years ago – at a Sotheby’s auction at the German firm’s museum in Stuttgart. The cash will help set up a fund offering environmental scholarships.
British dealer Simon Kidston secured the car for the collector after months of lobbying the firm. He said: ‘It had been assumed Mercedes would never part with one of its crown jewels of its collection, considered the Mona Lisa of cars because of its rarity, racing pedigree, beauty and unavailability.’
This article has been amended from its original source.
