To be sold at the Gooding & Company Amelia Island Auction on March 8, 2013. For further details please visit www.goodingco.com or contact a vehicle specialist at 001.310.899.1960 or specialist@goodingco.com.
Engine Specifications:
5,439 CC SOHC Supercharged V-8 Engine
Sequential Multi-Port Fuel Injection
617 HP at 6,500 RPM
5-Speed AMG Speedshift R Automatic Transmission
4-Wheel Carbon-Ceramic Disc Brakes
4-Wheel Independent Double Wishbone Suspension
About this Car:
Only a truly significant car would tempt Mercedes-Benz to utilize the legendary SLR designation, and their work with McLaren proved deserving. Thanks to the brute force of a supercharged AMG-tuned V-8 engine and the phenomenal ESP traction control, the SLR can sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 3.6 seconds, and with its substantially large brake calipers and carbon-ceramic rotors, it provides equally impressive stopping power.
The car’s otherworldly performance immediately captured the attention of automotive journalists during initial test drives. Car and Driver magazine reported times of 30 to 50 (at 1.7 seconds) and 50 to 70 (at 2.4 seconds), which “are the best pair of top-gear acceleration times we’ve ever recorded for a production car.”
To highlight the engineering strengths of the SLR, Mercedes-Benz designed a strikingly aerodynamic body that took cues from the firm’s contemporary Formula 1 cars and well-established classics. With its imposing hood, butterfly doors, and carbon fiber construction, the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was the ultimate representation of the classic front-engine, rear-wheel-drive GT.
This pristine Crystal Laurite Silver SLR with red leather interior was sold by Mercedes-Benz of Beverly Hills, California, to a prominent local collector in mid-2005 and has remained in his collection ever since. The McLaren has been driven only on an extremely limited basis, showing just 122 total miles at the time of cataloguing. The SLR is supplied with its set of manuals, extra key, and a wide array of factory booklets and documents, as well as its original car cover and factory-supplied, plug-in battery support module. Still riding on its original Michelin Pilot Sport tires, and its four SLR-specific alloy wheels, each with a distinct part number, the car appears just as it did when new in 2005.
Now out of production, the SLR McLaren is remembered as one of the most aggressively styled yet approachable and comfortable supercars of the new millennium. The vast experience of the Mercedes-Benz and McLaren companies came together for only a brief period and resulted in the construction of just over 2,000 SLR cars of all variants. The SLR’s inspired design and superb pedigree make each one an important car to own today and in the decades to come.
From an Important Private Collection
From an Important Private Collection