Will the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé become the most expensive car in the world?
It's definitely a (more and more confirmed) rumor at the moment, but it seems that Mercedes-Benz is selling or looking to sell one of their two Uhlenhaut coupes, built in 1956 based on the 300 SLR. The price is said to be £115 million (EUR 135 million, CHF 140 million). This would make the gullwing coupé the most expensive car in the world. This honor currently belongs to the Ferrari 250 GTO, which is said to cost around EUR 70 million.
Of course, the Uhlenhaut Coupé is something special. We published a historical test report on it some time ago ( test drive over 3500 km! The photo above shows the car during test drives in Monza) from 1956. Among other things, it said:
"We are driving in a car that comes from a standstill to 160 km/h on a straight of half a kilometer in length and can be braked to a standstill again, that overtakes the vehicles of other traffic in just over a second, a car in which 200 km/h on a low-traffic highway is a dawdling pace, a car whose cornering safety seems to defy the laws of centrifugal force, a car that needs less gasoline at 160 km/h than some sedans at more modest speeds, but also a car that you will never be able to buy and that no average driver would ever buy."
It is therefore quite likely that someone would be prepared to spend a nine-figure sum on one of these two previously factory-owned cars. After all, this sum would make perfect sense compared to half that for a GTO, of which 36 were built. The famous Mille Miglia 722 SLR, in which Moss and Jenkinson won the 1000-mile race in Italy in record time in 1955, would probably be even more valuable, but Mercedes-Benz is unlikely to want to give it away. However, one of the two Uhlenhaut coupés could probably be dispensed with in Sindelfingen, although this is also surprising.
Whether there really is anything to the whole story will certainly become clear in the coming weeks and months, we'll stay tuned ...
_RM.jpg)
