Why you pay 12 million euros for this ugly thing

The Mercedes CLK GTR Roadster is really cool, but let’s not pretend it’s beautiful. It’s completely out of proportion, strange and incredibly inconvenient.

Nevertheless, the auction house RM Sotheby’s doesn’t bat an eyelid and expects that someone will pay around 12 million euros for it. Nondeju! You can also buy a CLK GTR Coupé on November 17th for “only” 8 million.

Mercedes CLK GTR at Le Mans

And we still understand that somewhat. At the end of the 1990s, Mercedes had to build a series of homologation models of the CLK GTR in order to be able to compete in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, among other things.

Ultimately, twenty examples of the CLK GTR Coupé were created. They are all powered by a 6.9-liter V12 with 631 hp and 731 Nm. The street-legal racing cars are hardly usable in practice.

They have rear-wheel drive, a sequential racing gearbox, sills that are far too wide, hardly any storage space and the ground clearance of a snail in a centrifuge.

Mercedes CLK GTR Roadster

And then you have the CLK GTR Roadster. There are only six of them: four silver, one black and one gray with a red inside for the Sultan of Brunei.

They are based on the surviving coupe chassis and have the engine intakes behind the seats rather than on the roof. The mirrors were also attached to the doors instead of the fenders.

If you still have difficulty distinguishing the roadster from the coupe, you can take a look at the modified radiator grille and the completely different rear wing. The two roll bars behind the seats complete the look.

Only 170 kilometers

The Mercedes CLK GTR Roadster that is now going under the hammer is number three of six and only has 170 kilometers on the clock. Too bad, we say. But that’s what makes it attractive to buyers.

At least buyers who don’t mind giving the car a comprehensive service because it has been sitting idle since 2018, which is not good for the engine and other moving parts.