In 1955, Sir Stirling Moss, the legendary British Formula 1 and endurance racing icon, drove a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR to an unforgettable victory in the Mille Miglia road race. With his brave navigator, Denis Jenkinson, holding on at his side, Moss piloted the car over 1,000 treacherous miles of public Italian roads at a staggering average speed of 97.96 mph. Decades later, that performance is still universally considered to be one of the greatest single drives in the history of motorsport.
To celebrate this monumental achievement, Mercedes-Benz—collaborating extensively with McLaren—created a breathtaking, speedster-bodied version of its famous scissor-doored SLR coupe. Naturally, the car was christened the SLR McLaren Stirling Moss edition. Built between June and December 2009, this ultra-exclusive tribute was strictly limited to just 75 examples worldwide, serving as a fittingly radical send-off for the SLR era.
Now, a particularly exceptional chapter of that limited run is heading to the market. The very last Stirling Moss example to roll out of the McLaren factory in Woking, England, and the only one finished in a striking Fire Opal Red paint job, is being offered through an RM Sotheby’s Sealed auction running from November 25
through December 2.
Like Sir Stirling’s historic 300 SLR, the McLaren-built homage is completely open, featuring no traditional windshield or side windows. Instead, engineers fitted only small glass wind deflectors for both the driver and the passenger, designed purely to deflect insects at high velocities. Beneath its dramatic bodywork lies a potent Mercedes-AMG 5.4-liter supercharged V-8 engine, which churns out a massive 650 horsepower. This immense power allows the speedster to launch from a standstill to 60 mph in just 3.5 seconds, before charging on to a breathtaking top speed of 220 mph.
What adds exponentially to this specific car’s considerable appeal is its unique provenance and configuration. It is widely believed to be the only example of the 75-car production run that has been fully federalized and legally road-registered for the United States market. When the model was originally launched, none of the vehicles were built to American stateside specifications, meaning they were never officially road-legal in the United States out of the box. Combined with its exceptional rarity, this particular auction vehicle has covered a remarkably scant 32.9 miles since it left the factory floor, making it a virtually brand-new time capsule of automotive history.
“This is a truly remarkable find . . . Investment-grade supercars don’t come better than this,” Harvey Stanley, the director of Private Sales for RM Sotheby’s, told Robb Report.
The vehicle carries an extraordinary backstory. This particular chassis was originally commissioned by the Royal Family of Kuwait and was delivered new to Switzerland, where it spent its formative years safely tucked away in a climate-controlled storage environment. Beyond its one-off Fire Opal Red exterior paintwork, the vehicle was outfitted with a matching red-leather interior—officially dubbed Silver Arrow—which features contrasting yellow stitching. It also includes widened front seats for enhanced comfort and special Alutex aluminum trim throughout the cockpit, diverging from the standard carbon fiber weave found in other models. Furthermore, it is one of only two SLR Stirling Moss editions ever built to feature an integrated stereo system, with the other remaining securely inside the Royal Family of Jordan’s prestigious collection.
At the time of its initial release, a standard SLR Stirling Moss commanded a baseline price tag of around 750,000 euros, or roughly $1 million before factoring in bespoke options. Fast forward to October 2024, and this exact car crossed the auction block at a Bonhams event in Belgium, where it was offered completely without reserve. Prior to that Bonhams appearance, the vehicle had undergone a comprehensive $40,000 reconditioning process handled by the Stratton Motor Company, a well-known U.K.-based supercar specialist. Even though Bonhams gave the car a pre-sale price estimate ranging between 1.5 million and 2.5 million euros, fierce collector interest drove the final sale price up to an astonishing 3.22 million euros, which translates to roughly $3.5 million at the time.
Following that auction, the new owner promptly arranged to have the vehicle shipped across the Atlantic to the United States, where it was housed within a private collection. The car made a rare public appearance last February during the rain-soaked ModaMiami car show, where its dramatic presence earned it a spot among Robb Report’s 10 best cars displayed at the event.
In direct preparation for its current appearance in the RM Sotheby’s Sealed auction, the car was dispatched to G&K Automotive in Santa Ana, California. There, it underwent the intricate, highly complex engineering and administrative process required to achieve full federalization and legal road registration for American highways.
“Yes, an SLR Stirling Moss owner could have their car federalized to drive in the U.S., but I think most people wouldn’t know where to start, or have the patience to do it. To have it already done . . . has to be worth its weight in gold,” Stanley explains.
When discussing why RM Sotheby’s has placed an auction estimate in excess of $6 million on the car, Stanley points directly to the current strength and dynamics of the high-end U.S. supercar market.
“The closest rival to the SLR Stirling Moss is arguably Ferrari’s Monza SP2. Today, that’s a $6 million car,” he notes. “Yet along with the single-seat Monza SP1, Ferrari built a total of 499 of them. To me, this SLR Stirling Moss, in this color, that’s the last of the 75, with this mileage, and being U.S. road legal, should make it three times the value of an SP2.”
Because it is an RM Sotheby’s Sealed auction, the final realized price and the identity of the winning bidder will not be publicly disclosed. Online bidding opens on November 25, giving collectors their final opportunity to acquire what is quite possibly the most unique and heavily documented iteration of Mercedes-Benz and McLaren’s collaborative masterpiece.
