The car in question is chassis number 3765, which was the only GTO Tipo to be raced by the Scuderia Ferrari team. It was driven by Mike Parkes and Lorenzo Bandini at the 1962 24 Hours of Le Mans race, and also took a class win and second-place finish at the Nürburgring 1,000km in the same year.
This 250 came onto the market after belonging to its previous owner for a whopping 38 years, which also helped stir up the pre-sale frenzy for a car with such a rich history.
1. 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe
- Auction: RM Sotheby’s, Stuttgart, 2022
- Price: $135,000,000 (estimated)
The most expensive car ever sold at auction is this 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé. It takes its name from Mercedes’ chief engineer and the car’s designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut, and only two were ever made.
A measure of just how exclusive this Mercedes racer is was the sale was run as an invite-only auction. It was held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Germany and it’s thought only 10 bidders were invited to take part. The tactic clearly worked as the car was sold for an astonishing £115 million ($135 million).
Incredibly, the starting bid for this German racer was higher than the second-place Ferrari 250 GTO’s winning bid. It was owned by Mercedes from new, covering only 3,756 miles in seven decades and the sale came with strings attached. Mercedes insisted the new owner care for it in the same way it had, and that it would still be shared at events.
While neither 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé was raced, both featured an upgraded 3.0-litre straight-eight taken from the iconic two-time Grand Prix World Championship-winning W196 R, driven by Juan Manuel Fangio.
More of the world’s most expensive cars sold at auction
- Ferrari 410 Sport – 2014, $23,000,000
- Aston Martin DBR1 – 2017, $22,550,000
- Ferrari 410 Sport Spider – 2022, $22,005,000
- Ferrari 290 MM – 2018, $22,005,000
- Duesenberg SSJ – 2018, $22,000,000
- Jaguar D-Type – 2016, $21,780,000
- Aston Martin DP215 – 2018, $21,455,000
- McLaren F1 – 2021, $20,465,000
- McLaren F1 LM – 2019, $19,805,000
- Alfa Romeo 8C Lungo Spider – 2016, $19,800,000
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