Who doesn't know the famous Uhlenhaut Coupé with its legendary gullwing doors? Only two examples were ever built. It was - and still is - a sensational road car. Even though you would usually only see it from behind as it drove past: while the fastest BMW of the time reached a top speed of 170 km/h and the fastest Porsche managed 200 km/h, the Uhlenhaut Coupé sailed past them at nearly 300 km/h, leaving at the very least utter amazement in its wake - and very probably envy too.
No wonder: beneath its bodywork sits a Formula 1 engine enlarged to three litres. In fact, the two coupés were originally built for racing; they were meant to be used primarily in endurance races, such as the Mille Miglia and the 1956 24 Hours of Le Mans. But when Daimler-Benz surprisingly withdrew from motor racing at the end of 1955, everything changed.
Rudolf Uhlenhaut, the brilliant engineer and head of Mercedes' racing department, rightly felt that these two thoroughbreds were far too good to simply stand around in the garage. So, without further ado, he made them his company cars - to this day, they are known worldwide by his name. Whenever he set off for work, the whole neighbourhood knew about it, as the 300 bhp eight-cylinder engine let out an infernal roar that was only marginally reduced in traffic by a silencer fitted to the two side pipes. Uhlenhaut relished his good fortune (he certainly had the driving skill to match) and, according to contemporaries, managed the Stuttgart - Munich route in under an hour. Something we can only dream of in today's traffic.
If you want to admire the original vehicle, you'll need to visit the Daimler Museum in Stuttgart. But if you'd like to admire the Uhlenhaut Coupé every day, why not simply place this incomparably beautiful model in your display cabinet.
CHF 1'450.-
