The ultimate two-for-one deal
Photos: RM Auctions
Dan Trent writes:
“A race car for the road” is a much-used hack’s cliche but in the case of the 631hp Mercedes CLK-GTR it is, for once, bang on the money. After all, the car was built to race in the FIA GT category in 1997, a class it then dominated for three years straight. It was only when someone piped up “erm, isn’t it meant to be based on a road car?” that Mercedes coughed, said “oh, um, yes, sorry…” and hurriedly ‘civilianised’ the CLK-GTR for the street. Which is to say they put a normal interior in it and, well, that’s about it really. They were supposed to make 25 of them and years after the car had been retired from racing they still hadn’t sold them all. They added the 664hp 7.3-litre V12 from he Zonda to create the Supersports version. They even hacked the roof of five of them to make them into roadster versions. Maybe it was the €1m-plus price that put people off. Or maybe the fact that it had to be returned to AMG for a full strip down and service every few thousand km.
Anyway, they very rarely come up for sale. So to have two - one coupe and one roadster - at the same auction is a big deal. As is the fact you could have picked both of these cars up for the price of one if you’d been in Battersea last night at the RM Auctions sale. True, at £616,000 for the roadster and £522,500 for the coupe it’s a bit pricier than the two for one deals on tins of beans at your local supermarket but it’s not every day you get to pick up a half price super car. And with 35km and 25km (that’s actual km, not abbreviated thousands!) on the clock respectively the ‘as new’ condition really is the truth.
And no, though it looks similar, this isn’t the same as the CLR that famously flipped at Le Mans in 1999.
In case you were in any doubt about just how potent the ‘roadgoing’ CLK-GTR is just take a look at the following video. 243mph isn’t too shady at all for a 10-year-old motor…
Race car for the road? Sounds about right.
Dan
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Links:
RM Auctions Automobiles Of London sale
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Posted: October 29th, 2009 under Automotive Events.
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