Whenever a car is auctioned off as the newest world’s most expensive car, it is always a delight to see which incredible piece of speed and craftsmanship has now topped the bill. As former wearers of the world’s most expensive car crown include the likes of Ferrari’s G250 GTO, Aston Martin’s DBR1 and Jaguar’s D-Type, clearly it’s going to be something extraordinary. And then we get to the price point. The current most expensive car in the world was sold at auction for $90 million more than the previous one (adjusted for inflation). And the previous one’s adjusted auction price was in the $52 million range. Which means this most expensive car was almost 3 times as expensive as the last one, which is an incredible jump. So, without farther ado, let’s introduce you to the $142 million Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé.
A Dive Into Racing History: Uhlenhaut’s Rare Speedy Gem
If you haven’t ever heard of Merc’s 300 SLR Uhlenhaut before hearing of this auction, you probably wouldn’t have been alone. The car sold is only one of two in existence, with the first remaining on display at the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart, Germany. But the real story isn’t just the two sleek Uhlenhaut Coupés, but where they came from.
The Uhlenhaut Coupé is the street legal version—only two of which were ever made—of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR that was both briefly a racing champion and part of the most deadly racing accident in the history of motorsport. The racing version of the 300 SLR—largely designed by Rudolf Uhlenhaut—won a number of victories in 1955 during its short career, including the Mille Miglia, and the Targa Florio in Sicily. These victories, among others, led Mercedes to their win the 1955 World Sportscar Championship in the 300 SLR’s very first season.
The racing car was a marvel of speed. It had a straight 8 naturally aspirated engine that produced a little over 300 horsepower—which is nothing to sneeze at even these days—and was an absolutely bonkers at the time. For example, the Ferrari 750 Monza that came in second and the Jaguar D-type that came in third in the World Sportscar Championship that year only had around 250 hp each. Not only was the engine powerful, but the car itself was light due to the bodywork being made of the superlight magnesium-alloy called Elektron.
The End of the 300 SLR and the Birth of the Uhlenhaut Coupé
Though the 300 SLR had an incredible season in 1955, it all came crashing to an end (literally) at the 1955 Le Mans race. When Jaguar driver Mike Hawthorn pulled over to slow for his first pit stop of the race, Austin-Healy driver Lance Macklin pulled out around the Jag—inadvertently entering the path of the Mercedes driver Pierre Levegh who was going significantly faster than either of the other two cars. Leveigh braked hard, but ended up rear-ending Macklin, which launched Leveigh’s car into the air. The airborne 300 SLR went over a protective barrier at speeds still well over 100 mph and impacted the stands holding some of the race’s spectators. It then broke apart and ultimately burst into flames, killing Leveigh and 84 of the race’s spectators, and leaving over 100 more injured. Due to this tragedy, Mercedes put its racing team on hold indefinitely, and also ended any production of the racing version of the 300 SLR. The company was not involved in any sort of motorsport racing again until 1985, when it began to supply engines for Sauber’s team.
This brings us back to the most expensive car in the world: the Uhlenhaut Coupé. Before the disaster at Le Mans, designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut had two gull-winged street-legal versions of the 300 SLR made for the purpose of racing the Carrera Panamericana. After the disaster at Le Mans, the Carrera Panamericana would be cancelled, and these original two Uhlenhaut Coupés would be the only two to ever exist. For a while Uhlenhaut used one of these street-legal coupés as his company car, simply slapping a muffler on to keep the noise down a little bit. This car, if you remember, had a top speed approaching 180 in 1955, and was undoubtedly a fantastic time on the Autobahn.
A Good Cause: Seed Capital for the Mercedes-Benz Fund
Since only two of the gull-wing version of the 300 SLR were ever made, it is unsurprising that Mercedes held on to them and kept them safe in their museum collections for all of these years. Mercedes finally decided to put one up for auction to bring in some money as seed capital to start their Mercedes-Benz fund. Their website declares that this fund provide scholarships to help students “realize/conduct research on environmental science projects” as well as scholarships “focusing on [helping] pupils to realize local environmental projects in their communities.” Though it is sad to see the second Uhlenhaut Coupé go, the original still remains on display on the Mercedes museum in Germany.
Though $142 million in as incredible amount of money to pay for a single car, the car’s place in motorsport history can’t be denied. One of only two ever made, and inextricably associated with the most deadly disaster in car racing history, the Uhlenhaut Coupé is an incredible jewel in one lucky car enthusiast’s collection.
