Market Intelligence
High fever from Stuttgart to Monaco
The sale of the Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut coupé for 135 million euros signifies the positive and lively collector's market. Investing in original and carefully selected collector's cars can be a good decision, even if their price is a fraction of this astounding figure. The auctions in Monaco had some interesting results, with the Aston Martin V8 Vantage Volante X-Pack and the 1973 Dino 246 GTS "chairs and flares" fetching record-breaking prices. However, some cars like the Jaguar E-Type S2 Roadster and the 1984 Audi Sport Quattro failed to attract high bids.
What does the sale of the Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut coupé for 135 million euros, conducted by the Mercedes-Benz Museum at the beginning of May, just before the two Monaco auctions of RM and Bonhams, mean for the collector’s market as a whole?
To use an automotive comparison, it’s comparable to attaching a turbocharger to an already positive and lively market. Let us be clear however: that astronomical figure is by no means a multiplier index of market prices. However, it is a reassuring symbol of what the value of an object truly means. This particular car has four wheels, a steering wheel and an engine like all the others. But it brings together uniqueness, the certification of the manufacturer itself through its museum, the return in the 50s of Germany wounded by defeat in war to the very highest levels of technology, and the subsequent stream of successes by Mercedes-Benz in the world sports car and Formula 1 championships of those years, a milestone in a sporting history that stretches from the beginning of the last century to the present day. Finally, and of extreme importance at this moment in time, it illustrates how the car as we know it, with its complex and sonorous engine, will forever be an irreplaceable reality.
135 million Euros, twice as much as the already astronomical estimates of legendary models such as the Ferrari 250 GTO, also means something else: investing in collector’s cars, original and carefully selected ones, is not a bad decision, even if their price is a fraction of this astounding figure.
