Time Capsule SLR McLaren Looks Absolutely Stunning
Stored in a climate-controlled warehouse with just 1,000 miles on the clock, this Benz is our fantasy daily driver.
The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was a very late continuation of the legendary 1950s 300 SLR Coupé and one of those few cars that translated from concept to reality smoothly. Since the first McLaren SLR rolled out of production in 2003, it didn’t do quite as well as Mercedes and McLaren expected. Production was limited to 3,500 but demand meant only 2,157 were built on the UK and then sold worldwide.
A lot of them went into storage as investment pieces, which we suspect could be the case with this one we’ve come across on Bring a Trailer. The problem for those investors is that when purchased new, they cost around half a million dollars but now you can find them gathering dust for around $350,000.
If you just happen to have that kind of money tucked away, that makes for a bargain supercar with one hell of a nameplate, a ton of character, and pumping 617 horsepower with 580 lb-ft of torque engine controlled from what’s best described as a cockpit.
It’s hard not to lust after this result of Mercedes relationship with McLaren at the start of the century. It truly is a breathtaking example of a synthesis of tradition and innovation. The interior luxury, styling, and the gullwing doors are all classic Mercedes. Underneath though, there’s plenty of AMG and a trickle-down of McLaren’s F1 experience an innovation.
The carbon-fiber reinforced plastic construction houses the dry sump front-mid mounted and supercharged 5.4-liter AMG V8 engine, a cutting-edge fly-by-wire brake system, and underbody aerodynamics to suck the car to the road as well as an actual airbrake featured in the bodywork’s aero system.
We predict it’ll still be some time before the McLaren SLR is truly appreciated for the what it truly is, and prices will hold for a while yet before appreciating. Buying a McLaren SLR now to hold onto while putting some real miles on it could turn out to be a fun way of enjoying a modern classic supercar.
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