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World’s Most Expensive $10M Auction Car Comes Up After 121 Years With Same Family


7th Son

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https://www.motorbiscuit.com/worlds-most-expensive-auction-car/

 

World’s Most Expensive $10M Auction Car Comes Up After 121 Years With Same Family

 

A Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP the world's most expensive auction car and drivers shown after winning the Gordon Bennett Race, Athy, Ireland, 1903.

 

An iconic classic car is heading to auction this spring. After over a century with the family of British publishing magnate and motorhead Alfred Harmsworth, a painstakingly preserved 1903 Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP will hit the Amelia Island Auctions stage on February 29, 2024. It is believed to be the world’s most expensive car auction, with an estimated get in excess of $10 million.

 

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Edited by 7th Son (see edit history)
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It's a fabulous car. It was fairly common to fit retired race cars with a touring body before 1910...I wonder if this one was actually raced. The implications is that it's the car in the original photo but it doesn't say that.

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I know absolutely nothing about the car. Since Gooding has listed it and put a ten mile price tag on it, it’s got to have good documentation. The real question? Will a car that early actually bring that number………10 miles takes it out of 99.999999 percent of car collectors. I can’t remember last time a very early car tempted eight figures. Time will tell…….maybe a contest of “pick the number”?  Wouldn’t surprise me that it can’t pass 3 miles…….they sure have big expectations.

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11 hours ago, JV Puleo said:

It's a fabulous car. It was fairly common to fit retired race cars with a touring body before 1910...I wonder if this one was actually raced. The implications is that it's the car in the original photo but it doesn't say that.

 

It does list it under a small link that says "Race Highlights"

image.png.e5195fbe2b3e82e4473c55943be24445.png

 

Then in the "exhibition highlights" it continues:

image.png.c22cd542e53483cd20b25c2b05b3eb7b.png

 

 

 

 

1903 Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP 'Roi des Belges' | Gooding & Company (goodingco.com)

 

 

 

image.png.0454a20d884d8714210a9e7f02aab7d0.png

 

 

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1 hour ago, Knowsitall said:

I know absolutely nothing about the car. Since Gooding has listed it and put a ten mile price tag on it, it’s got to have good documentation. The real question? Will a car that early actually bring that number………10 miles takes it out of 99.999999 percent of car collectors. I can’t remember last time a very early car tempted eight figures. Time will tell…….maybe a contest of “pick the number”?  Wouldn’t surprise me that it can’t pass 3 miles…….they sure have big expectations.

I'd speculate that the very best of the very early cars never see an auction and change hands quietly, behind the scene. This is probably true for most of the best cars which makes citing auction figures specious even if they can be trusted (which I doubt is always the case). Many years ago I had a tour of the famous Waterman collection of early race cars. That was a treat because most (or all) of them are now in museums, mostly in Europe.

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If you ask me, the 10 mil price is more about the total cars to be sold off at that auction than the one car. Look at the way the statement is worded. It's a 10 million dollar auction with this car as its headliner.

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1 hour ago, AHa said:

If you ask me, the 10 mil price is more about the total cars to be sold off at that auction than the one car. Look at the way the statement is worded. It's a 10 million dollar auction with this car as its headliner.

I can completely believe that David Gooding is planning on getting someone to pay 10 million for a single 60HP 1903 car with provenance since most 1903 cars have 10HP.

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Al, I'm sure Gooding is expecting to get as much as he can for the car, but the statement is misleading. You are right, how much is a 1903 60 horse race car with provenance worth? It's called marketing. He is at least suggesting it is worth 10 mil. If anyone is in the market for a 1903 Mercedes race car, this is probably your one and only chance to buy one.

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It would be pretty hard for me to believe the next owner is not known today and the script for the cars few minutes on the block have not been already written.

 

121 years with the same family, the hucksters probably thought about emptying a couple vacuum cleaner bags and pushing it as  a "barn find".

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4 hours ago, AHa said:

If you ask me, the 10 mil price is more about the total cars to be sold off at that auction than the one car. Look at the way the statement is worded. It's a 10 million dollar auction with this car as its headliner.

Nope not at all.  Gooding's Amelia Island auction is one of their biggest.  They have Duesenberg, Ferrari, Bugatti and all sorts of high dollar multi-million dollar cars up for sale.  They also have a portion of the Mullin Museum collection.  If you read the bio of the writer of this article it does nothing to suggest she has a clue about collectible cars.  She also did not even do a modicum of research as she would have found out that quite a few cars have sold in excess of 10 million at auction.  

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