RM Sotheby’s announced Thursday that a 1955 Mercedes-Benz, one of only two of its kind, was auctioned off earlier this month for 135 million euros ($143 million), making it the most expensive car ever sold.
According to the classic car auction company, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut was sold to a private collector for nearly triple the previous record price for a car, which was set in 2018 by a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that sold for over $48 million.
According to the auction house, the invitation-only auction took place on May 5 at the Mercedes Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, and the car’s high price places it among the “top 10 most valuable items ever sold at auction in any collecting category.”
The 300 SLR is ranked sixth or seventh in an AFP ranking of artworks sold at auction in recent years, with Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi,” which sold for $450.3 million in November 2017, holding the all-time record.
Andy Warhol’s “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn,” which sold for $195 million this month, is next.
According to RM Sotheby’s, the car is one of only two prototypes built by the Mercedes-Benz racing department and is named after its creator and chief engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut.
According to RM Sotheby’s and press reports, the 300 SLR was inspired by the W196 R Grand Prix race car, which won two Formula One world championships with Italian Juan Manuel Fangio in the driver’s seat in 1954 and 1955.
However, tragedy struck the Mercedes-Benz team in June 1955, when one of its 300 SLR cars crashed during the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, killing French driver Pierre Levegh and 83 spectators.
That tragedy, the deadliest in motor racing history, forced the company to leave the sport for years.
The proceeds from the auction, according to RM Sotheby’s, will be used to establish a global Mercedes-Benz Fund to support environmental science and decarbonization research.
