--- title: Mercedes-Benz · HICONIUM description: The inventor of the automobile — and owner of the most expensive car ever sold. canonical_url: https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/mercedesbenz image: https://hiconium.com/og/marque/mercedesbenz.png --- > HICONIUM · Index: https://hiconium.com/llms.txt · Every page: append `.md` or send `Accept: text/markdown`. > Path: [Home](https://hiconium.com/) › [Manufacturers](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) › Mercedes-Benz > On this page: [The essential Mercedes-Benzs](#the-essential-mercedes-benzs) · [Every Mercedes-Benz on file](#every-mercedes-benz-on-file) · [SL & Silver Arrows](#sl--silver-arrows) · [Prewar Kompressor](#prewar-kompressor) · [GT1 & AMG Halo](#gt1--amg-halo) · [Hypercar](#hypercar) · [Mercedes-Benz turns engineering programmes into road cars and collector hierarchies.](#mercedes-benz-turns-engineering-programmes-into-road-cars-and-collector-hierarchies) · [Who drew and built the Mercedes-Benz files](#who-drew-and-built-the-mercedes-benz-files) · [A star from a postcard.](#a-star-from-a-postcard) ![Mercedes-Benz — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/mercedesbenz.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) [Manufacturers  /  Mercedes-Benz](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers) # Mercedes-Benz Stuttgart, Germany · est. 1926 Mercedes-Benz turns engineering programmes into road cars and collector hierarchies. Mercedes-Benz turns competition and engineering into collector hierarchies. Value concentrates in the 300 SL family and low-volume AMG programmes; original coachwork separates the strongest examples. Models 9 Top value €135M Period 1926– [Explore models](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/mercedesbenz#essential) [Manufacturer profile](https://hiconium.com/manufacturers/mercedesbenz#house-profile) ![Mercedes-Benz — manufacturer stage](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/stage/mercedesbenz.jpg.w1920.q75.webp) Curated entry points ## The essential Mercedes-Benzs Three cars that explain the manufacturer: its origins, its engineering peak and the shape of its modern ambition. [1954–1957 ### 300 SL Coupé "Gullwing" The gullwinged post-war design icon — 1,400 built, deeply liquid market. Collectibility 97 / 100 Indicative value €1.6M](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/300-sl-coupe-gullwing) [1955 ### 300 SLR "Uhlenhaut Coupé" Two built; one sold for €135M in 2022 — the most expensive car ever. Collectibility 100 / 100 Indicative value €135M](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/300-slr-uhlenhaut-coupe) [2022–2024 ### AMG ONE A genuine F1 hybrid powertrain for the road — 275 built, landmark engineering. Collectibility 92 / 100 Indicative value €3M](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/amg-one) Complete catalogue ## Every Mercedes-Benz on file 9 models · 4 families By family Sort Filter ## SL & Silver Arrows 4 The 1950s apex — the road-going 300 SL in both bodies, the 190 SL that carried the SL face to ten times the volume, and the racing SLR that Rudolf Uhlenhaut turned into the fastest company car of all time. The most traded blue-chip family in the classic market. [1954–1957 · 3 variants 300 SL Coupé "Gullwing" The gullwinged post-war design icon — 1,400 built, deeply liquid market. €1.6M 135 sales · median $1.58M 97 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/300-sl-coupe-gullwing) [1957–1963 · 3 variants 300 SL Roadster The open 300 SL — 1,858 built, the most liquid classic in the top tier. €1.4M 205 sales · median $1.22M 94 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/300-sl-roadster) [1955–1963 · 2 variants 190 SL The SL face at an eighth of the Gullwing's price — 25'881 built. €120k 76 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/190-sl) [1955 · One of one 300 SLR "Uhlenhaut Coupé" Two built; one sold for €135M in 2022 — the most expensive car ever. €135M 100 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/300-slr-uhlenhaut-coupe) ## Prewar Kompressor 1 Sindelfingen Sonderwagenbau bodies on the blown straight-eight chassis — 342 cars in three years, each one an order, the Spezial-Roadster the most expensive of all. [1934–1936 · 4 variants 500 K The blown 5-litre eight — 100 PS, 160 with the Kompressor engaged. €1.9M 91 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/500-k) ## GT1 & AMG Halo 3 The modern collectibles — a road-legal GT1 racer built in a couple of dozen examples, the McLaren-era SLR speedsters and the sharpest of the gullwinged SLS line. [1998–1999 · 3 variants CLK GTR Straßenversion The GT1 homologation car — ~25 road examples, values in eight figures. €6.5M 95 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/clk-gtr-stra-enversion) [2003–2010 · 4 variants SLR McLaren The carbon GT built with McLaren; the roofless Stirling Moss leads. €800k 129 sales · median $406.08K 86 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/slr-mclaren) [2013–2014 · 4 variants SLS AMG Black Series The sharpest modern gullwing — 622 hp, a fraction of the run survives unmodified. €650k 16 sales · median $772.42K 87 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/sls-amg-black-series) ## Hypercar 1 The AMG ONE took six years to tame a genuine Mercedes-AMG F1 power unit for the road — nothing else on the market carries this technology. [2022–2024 AMG ONE A genuine F1 hybrid powertrain for the road — 275 built, landmark engineering. €3M 92 Open the file](https://hiconium.com/vehicles/mercedesbenz/amg-one) The house ## Mercedes-Benz turns engineering programmes into road cars and collector hierarchies. Karl Benz patented the automobile in 1886; the company that carries his name has been setting the industry’s engineering benchmark ever since. When Mercedes goes racing, it strips the paint — the bare-metal Silver Arrows of the 1930s gave the marque its colour and its aura. The 300 SL of 1954 turned a Le Mans-winning racer into the world’s fastest road car, with fuel injection and gullwing doors nothing else could match. Today the Gullwing and its Roadster sibling are the most liquid blue-chip classics in existence — hundreds of clean trades to price against. At the very top sits the 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé: two built, one sold in 2022 for €135 million — the most expensive car transaction in history. The modern era answers with the CLK GTR, the SLR McLaren and the AMG ONE, a Formula 1 power unit with number plates. Founded 1926 Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. merged to form Daimler-Benz, joining the two pioneer lines. 300 SL production 3,258 cars Mercedes-Benz built 1,400 Gullwing coupés from 1954 to 1957 and 1,858 Roadsters through 1963. Series-production first Four-stroke direct injection The 1954 300 SL introduced petrol direct injection for a four-stroke engine in a production car. Auction record €135 million One of two 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupés sold at the Mercedes-Benz Museum on 5 May 2022. Selected milestones ### A bloodline, not a list. 1. 1926 The two companies merge Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie. combine as Daimler-Benz and adopt the Mercedes-Benz marque. 2. 1952 Competition returns The W194 300 SL returns Mercedes-Benz to racing with the light tubular spaceframe that becomes the basis of the road car. 3. 1954 The racer becomes a series car The 300 SL reaches production with direct injection and a spaceframe whose high sills dictate the roof-hinged doors. 4. 1959 Safety becomes structural The W111 introduces front and rear crumple zones around a rigid passenger cell in series production. 5. 1997 GT1 creates a road car AMG develops the CLK GTR for the new FIA GT series in 128 days; the road version follows the homologation requirement. 6. 2022 A Formula 1 power unit reaches the road AMG ONE production begins with a 1.6-litre hybrid power unit derived from the contemporary Formula 1 programme. 7. 2022 The Uhlenhaut Coupe resets the market Mercedes-Benz sells one of its two 300 SLR coupés for €135 million, setting the public auction record. What defines Mercedes-Benz ### Let engineering dictate form The 300 SL's tubular frame created its high sills and roof-hinged doors; the shape records the structure beneath it. ### Move competition work to the road The W194 led to the 300 SL, GT1 rules produced the CLK GTR road car, and the AMG ONE adapted a Formula 1 hybrid power unit. ### Develop safety as a system Mercedes-Benz combines structures, restraints, braking and chassis control rather than treating safety as one component. The hands ## Who drew and built the Mercedes-Benz files One name in the register stands behind this manufacturer. Their own file follows the work wherever it went. - [AI-generated Gordon Murray Engineering lead on the SLR McLaren. One file · engineering engineering 1 file](https://hiconium.com/people/gordon-murray) [The whole register of people](https://hiconium.com/people) The mark ## A star from a postcard. Stuttgart, 1909: Daimler’s company needs a trademark, and Gottlieb Daimler’s sons remember a postcard. Years earlier their father had marked the family house on a picture of Deutz with a three-pointed star, writing to his wife that one day this star would shine over his own factory. Paul and Adolf Daimler filed it on 24 June 1909. Three points for land, water and air — Daimler engines already powered cars, boats and airships. The 1926 merger with Benz wrapped the rival’s laurel wreath around the star; by 1933 the wreath had thinned to a plain ring, and the mark has barely moved since. After Gottlieb Daimler’s postcard star · registered by Paul and Adolf Daimler, 1909 ![Mercedes-Benz crest, 1902–1909](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/mercedesbenz/logo-1902.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1902–1909 The name before the star — Mercedes, after Emil Jellinek’s daughter, registered in 1902. ![Mercedes-Benz crest, 1909–1926](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/mercedesbenz/logo-1909.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1909–1926 The other half of the story: Benz’s laurel wreath, registered the same year as the star. ![Mercedes-Benz crest, 1916–1926](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/mercedesbenz/logo-1916.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1916–1926 The star gains its ring — four small stars and the Mercedes name set around it. ![Mercedes-Benz crest, 1933–1989](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/mercedesbenz/logo-1933.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1933–1989 After the merger badge, the reduction: a line-drawn star in a plain ring. ![Mercedes-Benz crest, 1989–2009](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/mercedesbenz/logo-1989.png.w1920.q75.webp) 1989–2009 The star in silver relief, the compound name set beneath. ![Mercedes-Benz crest, 2009–](https://hiconium.com/_derived/images/marques/history/mercedesbenz/logo-2009.png.w1920.q75.webp) 2009– Larger name, quieter shine — the current lockup.