Mercedes‑Benz 300 SLR Coupe sells for $142 million

The 1955 Mercedes‑Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe was sold for a record $142 million in a closed‑door auction held on 5 May 2022 at the Mercedes‑Benz Museum in Stuttgart. The event was hosted by RM Sotheby’s and attracted only elite collectors, but the identity of the winning bidder was never disclosed.

Car’s racing heritage

The Coupe was originally a Grand Prix‑derived road car, built on the chassis of the W196 Formula One machine that Juan Manuel Fangio drove. It ran a 3.0‑liter straight‑eight engine that produced 306 horsepower and could reach 180 mph. With its lightweight magnesium body, the car could sprint from 0 to 60 mph in about seven seconds, a blistering performance for the mid‑1950s.

Rudolf Uhlenhaut, the chief engineer who created the car, famously used it as a test vehicle. He once drove it from Stuttgart to Munich in just over an hour to prove its high‑speed capability, a stunt that has become mythologised as a last‑minute escape to a meeting. In reality, Uhlenhaut employed the journey as a calculated high‑speed test of the Coupe’s cooling and reliability.

While the buyer’s name has not been released, the bid was placed by Swiss broker Simon Kidston on behalf of an anonymous private collector described as a “well‑known figure from Britain’s automotive industry.” Speculation points to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, billionaire owner of Ineos and a stakeholder in Mercedes‑AMG Petronas Formula One, who has the means to store, maintain and display the car as required by the sale terms.