One of the world’s first Mercedes cars scoops $12M+ at auction

A 1903 Mercedes Simplex 60, believed to be one out of five surviving examples from the early 20th century, has gone on sale after spending over 120 years with one and the same family, where it was passed down from generation to generation. It has now been sold for U.S. $12.1 million including taxes.

According to Autoevolution, this is the absolute price record for any car assembled pre-1930. Mercedes built it in 1902 as an evolutionary step forward from its “35hp” model, the first car on the planet to wear the Mercedes name. It was built at Daimler Motoren Gesellschaft by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, who had designed multiple promising engines capable of 40–60 horsepower. The Simplex 60 ended up with a 9.25-liter, 60-hp engine under the hood that allowed it to hit 130 km/h (80 mph).

The impressive new powertrain let it set a number of motorsport records in the early 20th century. Aside from being a capable racer, though, it was one of the world’s first multi-purpose vehicles, doubling as a highly comfortable grand tourer when it wasn’t tearing through racetracks.

The example on sale was originally acquired in 1903 by British publishing tycoon Alfred Harmsworth, the founder of Daily Mail and Daily Mirror. It proceeded to participate in numerous races, received a custom luxurious cabin from J. Rothschild et Fils and never went on sale, staying within the same family for over a century.

The listing claims that the Daimler company had produced 102 Simplex 60 models in 1902–1905, but only five of them survive to this day, one stationed in the Mercedes Museum. It goes on to claim that the example sold this weekend is the only known Simplex model to come with a fully documented motorsports background. Whoever bought it also got the license plate which the car wore on the roads in 1903.