The Most Expensive German Cars Ever Sold at Auction

Darin Schnabel/RM Sotheby's

Sold for $9,905,000 at RM Sotheby’s Monterey in 2022

The 540 K was a favorite among the wealthy and powerful, including heads of state and royals. This one, ordered new in the desirable high-door, long-tail, covered spare Special Roadster body by Sindelfingen, went to Mohammed Zahir Shah. Not exactly a household name, but he was Afghanistan’s last king, who reigned from 1933 to 1973.

The king’s son-in-law took the svelte Benz with him to England in 1950 and, while there, sold it to a dealer. By 1953 the car was in the U.S., and when it sold in 2022 it was still in largely original condition. In 2023, it had been restored and won its class at Pebble Beach.

Gooding & Co.

Sold for $10,120,000 at Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach in 2015

For most of the 1980s, Porsche was the manufacturer to beat in top-level endurance racing, thanks to the 956 and the 962 that succeeded it. Both cars were fast and reliable, and because Porsche sold them to privateer teams, they were plentiful. This car, chassis 956-003, is the third of 10 works-campaigned 956s, finished in the blue and white livery of Rothmans Tobacco, who is right up there with Gulf Oil and Martini in terms of legendary Porsche racing sponsors.

In 1982, the car raced at Le Mans, driven by Jochen Mass and Vern Schuppan. At the end of the 24 hours, 956s had swept the top three places, followed by two Porsche 935s. Chassis 956-003 finished second. It won its next four races, and then came back to Le Mans in 1983 with Schuppan, Al Holbert, and Hurley Haywood driving. This time, 956-003 won the race outright, barely a minute ahead of another works 956. When it sold at auction 32 years later, it became the first Porsche to break eight figures in a public sale.

Neil Fraser/RM Sotheby's

Sold for $10,235,000 at RM Sotheby’s Las Vegas in 2023

The CLK-GTR was Mercedes’ answer to the McLaren F1 and Porsche 911 GT1 in international sports car racing. Per the regulations, there was a Straßenversion (Street Version) of the German GT1 racer, and total CLK-GTR production totaled just 28 road cars, including a couple of prototypes, 20 coupes, and six roadsters.

The third of those six roadsters went up for auction in Monterey back in 2013, but was a no-sale at a $1.3M high bid. Interest in exotics of the ’90s and ’00s has exploded since then, and with McLaren F1s selling for eight figures, it makes sense that its Mercedes-Benz rival, which is over three times rarer, would sell for huge money as well.

Gooding & Co.

Sold for $11,770,000 at Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach in 2012

Wearing the highly desirable and very swoopy high-door, long-tail Special Roadster bodywork, this car sold new to Paris socialite Baroness Gisela Josephine von Krieger for her son. Pigskin upholstery and Telefunken radio were notable extras, as was the hand-painted family crest on the driver’s door.

The car made it through the Second World War unscathed. The eccentric von Krieger moved it to Switzerland and then to Greenwich, Connecticut, where she kept it up until her death in 1989. After going to a new owner and receiving a Pebble Beach class-winning restoration, this 540 K was a star of Monterey Car Week in 2012. At the time, it was a world record price for both a Mercedes-Benz and a prewar automobile at auction.

Cameron Neveu

Sold for $12,105,000 at Gooding & Co. Amelia Island in 2024

Despite peeling paint, weathered upholstery, drab colors, not-so-sporting coachwork, and the fuel economy of a freight train, this ancient Mercedes was the most expensive car at Amelia Island 2024 by nearly a factor of three. Its originality, usability, and history explain the eight-figure price.

One of the fastest and most exclusive cars in its day, it is also one of the oldest cars in the world called “Mercedes.” ( The three-pointed star didn’t adorn an automobile until 1910, and the brand we know as Mercedes-Benz didn’t hit the road until 1926.) “Mercedes Simplex” referenced the young German company’s priority of “comfort by means of simplicity,” and the 60 HP version of the Mercedes Simplex was the ultimate and best iteration of these early Mercedes motorcars, powered by a 9.25-liter engine with F-head valve configuration. This one sold new to Alfred C.W. Harmsworth, the British publishing magnate who controlled much of Britain’s newspaper circulation during the early part of the twentieth century. It soon set fastest times at Nice Speed Week and the Castlewellan Hill Climb. Afterward, it went to Paris for a new body in the style called Roi de Belges, after similar coachwork was fitted to the car owned by King Leopold II of Belgium.

Kept in largely original condition, it stayed with Harmsworth’s family for the next 121 years, until it sold at auction. It is also one of five surviving examples of its type and eligible for the exclusive London-to-Brighton Veteran Car Run, which is only open to vehicles built before January 1, 1905. At $12.1M, it’s the most expensive pre-1930 automobile ever sold at auction.

Gooding & Co.

Sold for $14,080,000 at Gooding & Co. Pebble Beach in 2017

The 917 was the first Porsche to take an overall win at Le Mans and is one of the most celebrated race cars from any manufacturer. This one, however, boasted no serious race history in-period besides its use at the 1970 Le Mans test day, where it set the fastest time. It sold to Swiss racer Jo Siffert, who then leased it to Steve McQueen’s Solar Productions to use in his 1971 film Le Mans. Production used it as a camera car, but it also saw screen time. The car even reportedly led Siffert’s funeral procession when he was killed in a BRM F1 car later that same year.

Pulled out of a French warehouse in 2001 in well-preserved condition, it was later restored. It is currently the most expensive Porsche ever sold at auction.

Alex Penfold/RM Sotheby's

Sold for $18,815,000 ($29,650,095) at RM Sotheby’s Las Vegas in 2023

After a decades-long absence from Formula One, Mercedes returned to the series in 2010 in the form of “Mercedes-AMG Petronas.” The first three seasons for the twenty-first-century Silver Arrows were decent but unremarkable. Then, for the 2013 season, the then-one-time World Champion and not-yet-Sir Lewis Hamilton moved to the team from McLaren. This is the car Hamilton drove in 14 of the season’s 19 Grands Prix, to four podium finishes, including a win at the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Hamilton finished fourth in the Drivers’ Championship that year, but would then go on to win six titles (2014–15, and 2017–20) with Mercedes. The 2013 season was also F1’s last to use the screaming, 18,000-rpm, naturally aspirated V-8s.

Bonhams

Sold for £19,601,500 at Bonhams Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2013

The W196 won nine out of the 12 Grands Prix it entered, and 11 out of 14 races if you count non-points events. Juan Manuel Fangio won two of his five World Drivers’ Championships (the Constructors’ Championship didn’t start until 1958) with the Mercedes-Benz team, in ’54 and ’55.

Fangio drove this one to victory in both the German Grand Prix and the Swiss Grand Prix, propelling the legendary Argentine to his ’54 title. When it sold in 2013, it was in all-original condition and was the only W196 in the world not still under factory ownership or in a major museum. It held the overall record price for cars sold at auction until a $38.1M Ferrari 250 GTO broke it in 2014.

Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz AG

Sold for €51,155,000 ($53,001,696) by RM Sotheby’s in 2025

Sold via a single-car auction at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, this is the most expensive Grand Prix car ever sold at auction as well as the second-most expensive car sold at auction, ever. It wears the Stromlinie (streamline) bodywork seen on the first W196s, which were the most advanced cars on the Formula 1 grid in the mid-1950s, thanks in large part to a 2.5-liter straight-eight design that boasted dual ignition, dry-sump lubrication, a roller-bearing crankshaft, fuel injection, and desmodromic valves. Made out of Elektron magnesium alloy, which is lighter than aluminum, the Stromlinie was at its best on high-speed circuits, while W196s wore more conventional open-wheel bodywork for twistier tracks.

This one, chassis 00009/54, started life as an open-wheel car. Juan Manual Fangio drove it to victory at the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix. Later in the season, the Mercedes team slapped the streamline body onto it for the Italian Grand Prix at Monza, where Stirling Moss qualified second, briefly took the lead ahead of Fangio, and snatched the fastest lap of the race before retiring with a failing piston.

After 1955, Mercedes-Benz pulled out of racing and eventually donated four W196s to prestigious museums. Chassis 00009/54 went to the Indianapolis Speedway Museum and became a highlight of the museum’s collection. That said, the museum sold a few of its more valuable pieces in recent years, including the famous streamlined Silver Arrow. The $53M raised by the car was “a transformative contribution to increase our endowment and long-term sustainability as well as the restoration and expansion of our collection,” said the museum’s president, Joe Hale.

James Lipman

Sold for €135,000,000 ($142,938,000) by RM Sotheby’s in 2022

While the W196 was the dominant car in Formula One, the 300SLR—itself largely based on the W196—was the top dog of endurance racing in the mid-1950s. It won the World Sportscar Championship in 1955, with Stirling Moss’ famous victory at the Mille Miglia adding to the tally.

The 300 SLR race cars were all roadsters, and although two coupes were eventually built, Mercedes-Benz’s withdrawal from motorsports after the 1955 Le Mans disaster meant that neither coupe saw competition. This example still saw extensive testing with Fangio behind the wheel, along with Stirling Moss, Karl Kling, and engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut. The car never left its maker until 66 years later, when the Germans sold it via a small, invite-only auction at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart. Proceeds from the car, nicknamed the “Uhlenhaut Coupe,” went to “provide educational and research scholarships in the areas of environmental science and decarbonization for young people.” It is the first automobile to bring nine figures at auction, and currently the most expensive car sold publicly. That record probably won’t be broken any time soon.