Vintage Mercedes to be most expensive car ever auctioned at $10M

By Ed Chatterton via SWNS

A 121-year-old Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP is set to fetch a whopping $10 million, making it the most expensive antique car ever sold at auction.

The ultra-rare vintage motor, built in 1903, is one of only five known surviving examples of the the world's first supercar.

It was the fastest production car in the world at the start of the 20th century - capable of speeds of 80mph.

Experts have described the historic vehicle as ‘among the finest and most significant of all antique cars’ ever made.

Auctioneers estimate it could now fetch 'in excess of $10 million' (more than £7.9 million) when it goes under the hammer and could surpass £8 million.

The record for a pre-1930s car is currently held by a 1924 Hispano-Suiza H6C 'Tulipwood' Torpedo which sold for $9,245,000 (more than £7.3 million) in 2022.

The Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP 'Roi des Belges’ is being sold by Gooding and Company's Amelia Island Auctions in Florida, USA, on February 29 and March 1.

The sale will be led by UK auctioneer and Bargain Hunt, Antiques Road Trip and Flog It star Charlie Ross.

He said: "I simply can't wait for the chance to offer this magnificent and truly historic motor car.

"The importance of this Mercedes is certainly not to be underestimated."

The car was purchased 121 years ago by Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, the founder of the Daily Mail newspaper.

The legendary newspaper magnate, born in County Dublin, Ireland, in 1865, has been described as ‘the greatest figure who ever strode Fleet Street’.

The vehicle's rich history also includes winning races - setting the fastest times at Nice Speed Week, France, and Castlewellan Hill Climb, Northern Ireland, in 1903.

In addition it was exhibited at Hampshire’s Beaulieu Motor Museum for more than six decades and participated in numerous London-to-Brighton veteran car runs.

A Gooding & Company spokesperson said: “Unquestionably the finest motor car of its day, the Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP has been admired and sought after since the earliest years of the collector-car hobby.

"Exclusive, technically advanced, and universally regarded as the model that established the legendary racing heritage of the Mercedes marque, the Sixty has always appealed to connoisseurs.

"Considering their revered reputation and enduring influence, it is remarkable that only five 60 HP Mercedes have survived.”

Harmsworth, who owned the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, used his media empire to promote the cars he loved when he was away from the newsroom.

In 1900, when the motorcar was in its infancy, he backed the Royal Automobile Club’s 1,000 Miles Trial.

RAC secretary, Claude Johnson, wrote of Harmsworth: “He at once put his purse at the club’s disposal and gave the scheme the utmost possible support in his papers at a time when other journals were scoffing at the automobile as being a disagreeable and unnecessary plaything of a few cranks.”

Harmsworth went on to develop a car collection at his Tudor mansion, Sutton Place in Surrey, his home from 1899-1917.

These included Gardner-Serpollet steam cars, a Locomobile, a Daimler, single-cylinder Renault, 12 hp Panhard, and a Mercedes-Simplex 40 HP, believed to be the first Mercedes car sold in England.

He went on to be among the first to order the latest 60 HP machine, his ‘Old Sixty’.

The car’s registration number – A 740 – is among the earliest issued by London City Council, which began supplying registrations in 1903 with A1.

Before the First World War, Harmsworth made regular use of his prized Mercedes, demonstrating its performance to friends and touring the UK and abroad.

Upon his death at the age of 57 in August 1922, the Mercedes was willed to his 12-year-old son, Alfred John Francis Alexander Harmsworth.

A car enthusiast in his own right, John Harmsworth brought the Sixty to his home in England’s New Forest.

In 1954, it was towed to Beaulieu, Hamps., where it was restored and put on display in the then new motor museum.

In the 1960s, in deference to its historic nature, the Harmsworth Sixty was kept as a fixture at Beaulieu Motor Museum.

Car entrepreneur Emil Jellinek (1853-1918) commissioned the first modern car, the Mercedes 35hp, in 1900.

He created the Mercedes trademark in 1902, naming it in honor of his daughter, Mercédès Jellinek.