R2.2bn Merc in top 10 most valuable items

London – A 1955 MercedesBenz, one of only two of its kind, fetched €135 million (about R2.26 billion) at auction, making it the most expensive car yet sold, RM Sotheby’s has announced.

The 300 SLR Uhlenhaut was sold to a private collector, the classic car auction company said in a statement, fetching almost triple the previous record price for a car, which was set in 2018 by a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that went for more than $48 million.

The vehicle’s high price places it in the “top 10 most valuable items ever sold at auction in any collecting category”, the auction house said.

According to an AFP ranking of artworks sold at auction in recent years, it ranks sixth or seventh, with the all-time record being held by Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, which sold in November 2017 for $450.3 million.

The car is one of just two prototypes built by the MercedesBenz racing department and is named after its creator and chief engineer, Rudolf Uhlenhaut, according to RM Sotheby’s.

“The second original 300 SLR Coupe remains in company ownership and will continue to be displayed at the MercedesBenz Museum in Stuttgart,” the auction company added. –