You are here : Cars Homepage > News and Reviews Hub > F1 boss Bernie's Mercedes sells for £3.9 million
F1 boss Bernie's Mercedes sells for £3.9 million
01 November 2007 Formula One mogul Bernie Ecclestone’s vintage Mercedes-Benz sold at auction for a whopping £3,900,000 last night. His antique 1937 Mercedes-Benz 540K Special Roadaster was the highlight of last night’s classic car auction held in Three collectors, including Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone, offered up more than £20 million worth of automotive exotica to lucky bidders, including a classic 1966 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL with only 113 miles on the clock which sold for £60,000. But the star of the night was undoubtedly Ecclestone’s old Merc – before the car was introduced, organisers dimmed the lights in the impressive arena and trumpets blared out as the gorgeous Roadster was elevated onto centre stage on a platform to rapturous applause. Bidding started slowly and the atmosphere became tense as a handful of lucky buyers slowly racked up the price of the rare and mint condition 540K – until auctioneer Peter Bainbridge slammed the hammer down and announced the winning bid of £3,550,000 plus taxes. And Auto Trader even spotted Fifth Gear’s ‘wookie’ Tom Ford lurking in the crowd. The injured television presenter – who earlier this month broke his foot in a car accident while filming for the popular Channel 5 motoring series – was rumoured to be bidding for a pristine Ford Anglia for the show, but was unsuccessful. The event was held by Italian Giuseppe Prevosti has collected the cars on offer for 20 years, and has decided to sell his collection to make space for a select few ‘wish list cars’. And Chinese-born Abraham Kogan – known to his friends as ‘Abba’ – previously worked for the Japanese Taito Corporation and was ‘instrumental’ in the development of popular video game ‘Space Invaders’. Inside the Classic car connoisseurs milled around drinking in the array of cars on offer – many of whom took to sitting in the rare exotics on display as the seats quickly ran out. CEO of RM Auctions Rob Myers said: “We were expecting around 600 bidders – but we didn’t expect this kind of crowd. I welcome you and wish you a spirited bidding.” Indeed, one of the organisers had to warn the 1,000+ visitors “not to sit or lean on the cars – they are very rare and some are quite fragile, so please be careful.” However, the bidding kickstarted with a different kind of memorabilia – a rare 007 cinema advertising poster for the 60’s classic ‘Goldfinger’, which sold for £400. The so-called ‘garage sale’ of Bernie Ecclestone’s eclectic and dizzying collection of classic automobiles – to make space for his racing car collection – is more interesting given that the F1 supremo hasn’t tested them. “I have never driven any of them”, he said. “I bought them for their style.” And there was plenty of style on offer for the viewing public, including George Harrison’s old 1964 Aston Martin DB5, which sold for £223,000, and a 1961 Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Roadster – which sold for £240,000. One onlooker said: “It’s amazing to think about the background behind the people who used to own these cars and how they came across them.” Another simply uttered the obvious: “Absolutely jaw-dropping.” Check out our exclusive slide show. Auto Trader links Auto Trader blog News Motor shows Frankfurt Motor Show 2007 Geneva slide shows Detroit Motor Show 2007 Paris Motor Show 2006
New York Motor Show British Motor Show 2006 Other motor shows |
Page 1
RSS FEEDS 
Receive the latest news and features directly to your internet browser or RSS reader.
Find out more and how to subscribe
Bookmark this page with: