To finally award the crown to the most expensive car in the world, we need to split the category into new and used cars. There is a huge discrepancy. The most expensive car you can buy right now is the Gordon Murray Automotive (GMA) T.50s Niki Lauda for $4.36 million.
But that high price seems paltry compared to the 135 million euros ($143 million) recently paid for Rudolf Uhlenhaut’s Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR coupe. The car belonged to Mercedes (one of two built) and was sold to a private collector. Proceeds will support a new Mercedes-Benz Foundation that will distribute funds to colleges to support students working on environmental science projects that advance the future of engineering and decarbonization.
Let’s take a closer look at these two machines. Both support the current bull market in racing cars. Niki Lauda’s GMA T.50S is a track version of the GMA T.50S from the man Gordon Murray who gave the world the McLaren F1, considered by many to be the best supercar ever. The T.50S, which will begin shipping this year, is something of an encore for it. Under the hood, instead of a BMW V12 F1, there is a Cosworth GMA V12 four-liter aluminum engine built from scratch with 654 horsepower and 344 lb-ft of torque (at 11,500 rpm). Zero to 60 is estimated at 2.7 seconds.
The rear wheels are also driven by an all-new six-speed manual transmission co-developed with Xtrac. The driver will be in the center, and the passengers on the sides. (Scuderia Cameron Glickenhaus also uses this layout for the SCG 004S.) Only 100 examples will be built, and each costs US$3 million. The full run was sold out within 48 hours of the premiere. Are you short of a car? GMA has more.
The standard $3 million GMA T.50 is not the final version.
GMA photo
The T.50S version by Niki Lauda is for the track. Lauda, who died in 2019, was an Austrian Formula One driver and three-time World Drivers’ Champion (1975, 1977, 1984). He has raced for both Ferrari and McLaren.
The car bearing the Lauda name features engine modifications, including titanium intake and exhaust valves, a pressurized air intake and a lightweight direct-flow exhaust. It will be loud. The compression ratio has also been increased to 15:1. In doing so, the 725-horsepower engine, which can rev up to 12,100 rpm, lost 35 pounds compared to the T.50S. The carbon fiber bodywork is also lighter, bringing the entire car to just 1,878 pounds. The ride height has been lowered and brake cooling has been improved.
A total of 25 Niki Laudas will be built and the price is now $4.3 million, making it the most expensive new car you can buy anywhere. The price does not seem to have scared off buyers - by the beginning of 2021, 15 cars had already been announced.
The star of it all is that bespoke creations from Rolls-Royce and other manufacturers also get prohibitively expensive, but that’s on a case-by-case basis.
For the price of 33 Niki Lauda, a car enthusiast could buy a 300 SLR. Benz kept both SLRs in his collection in Stuttgart for over 50 years, and the RM Sotheby’s auction on May 5th was very private. The incredible result at the company museum topped the previous $70 million reportedly paid out in 2018 by WeatherTech founder David McNeil for a 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO.
Why is this car so special? Benz, designated W196, was developed from the 300 SLR racing car with a 2.5-liter straight-eight engine. Stirling Moss won the 1955 Mille Miglia in a 300 SLR. And the SLRs took first, second and third place in the Tourist Trophy in Ireland and two first places in the Targa Florio.
These victories led to winning the World Sportscar Championship that same year. But at Le Mans, the SLR crashed horribly into the crowd, killing 84 people. This resulted in Mercedes withdrawing from racing.
Two of these SLRs were converted to road cars under chief designer Uhlenhout, and he drove one of them as his personal vehicle at 180 mph.
Visually, they have a lot in common with the 300 SL Gullwing. Beneath their skin, they were barely disguised racers, albeit with an added silencer. Motor Trend tested the SLR and said it was unflappable and treated “the laws of centrifugal force with obvious disdain”. Uhlenhout reportedly drove his car 137 miles on the Autobahn in just over an hour. It is not clear if the car just sold was a Uhlenhaut daily driver or a different one.
According to Markus Breitschwerdt, head of Mercedes-Benz Heritage, “The private buyer has agreed that the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe will remain available for public viewing on special occasions.
Source: https://www.barrons.com/articles/the-worlds-most-expensive-cars-new-and-used-01654705159
