This $142 Million Mercedes-Benz Has Become the Most Expensive Car Ever Sold

This is something that only Mercedes-Benz could do.

On Thursday, at the new hotel on the Riviera Maybourne above Monte Carlo on the Cკოte d’Azur, Mercedes-Benz concluded the Capital Markets Day Summit with several groundbreaking revelations for investors. Formula 1 drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell helped unveil the all-electric Vision AMG concept car, which would have been a grand finale in any other case. This time, however, the reveal followed the spectacle of the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, which became the most expensive car in history when it crossed over for a staggering $142.8 million earlier this month.

It’s hard to believe that a car that represents such a significant shift for AMG could move, but it really did. Less than an hour after the public launch of the Vision AMG, Mercedes-Benz CEO Ola Callenius has officially announced what is said to be not only the world’s most expensive car sold at auction, but also the most expensive of all time. . The stripped-down coupe raked in a record $142.8 million at an event at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart, Germany on May 5, run by RM Sotheby’s.

The car is one of two prototypes developed by engineer Rudolf Ulenhaut and his team for the 1955 Carrera Panamericana. However, that year’s race was canceled and Mercedes abandoned motorsport altogether, all due to the infamous Le Mans in June, where Pierre Leveg and his SLR catapulted into the crowd and the driver was killed along with 83 spectators. The Uhlenhaut project was later terminated, and this particular example, adapted to a 297 horsepower eight-speed engine connected to a five-speed gearbox, passed into his possession. The fact that its top speed is around 186 mph only added to the mystique of this 300 SLR.

“As the saying goes: never say never,” Callenius said in a press release. “Collectors, museums and others interested in purchasing Ulenhaut have been contacted many times over the years; We always said no. But it is becoming increasingly clear to us that hiding in the hallowed halls of our heritage is, to some extent, a missed opportunity. These amazing machines are works of art and should be mentioned more fully. We thought, “Wouldn’t it be interesting to see what it’s really worth… what if we did something good with the money, something for the community?”

This thought process led to the formation of the Mercedes-Benz Fund, which began with the sale of the Uhlenhaut Coupé. Renata Jungo Brunger, a member of the Mercedes-Benz Board of Trustees and Legal Affairs, refers to profits as “starter money”, which she describes in an official statement as a “global scholarship program to help young people learn and commit”. And actions for a more sustainable future.”

It’s true that the location on the French Riviera, not far from where the Mercedes was first revived in 1901 at the hippodrome in Nice, was the setting where the oldest automaker in the world focused on these two different cars. Although they are nearly seven decades apart, they now each serve the same purpose: to light the way for Mercedes-Benz.

This story was originally published in the Robb Report.