Driving the Uhlenhaut Coupé

Sometimes a racing car can be so special it need not even race to ensure its place in history. Merely to exist is enough. The unique Jaguar XJ13 is one obvious example, the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR ‘Uhlenhaut Coupé’ – common as muck by comparison with a grand total of two being built – the other.

There was a time when Jaguar was quite happy to let the odd tolerably mechanically sensitive hack gently tootle up the Goodwood hill in the XJ13 and I did on a few occasions, but to drive one of the Uhlenhauts? That was a different matter. For a start only one of them was maintained in working order, the one with the red upholstery, while the other, ‘Blue’, was on permanent display in the Mercedes-Benz museum. By the time I took Rudi Uhlenhaut’s well-worn wood-rimmed wheel in my hands at Mercedes’ Unterturkheim test track, no more than a handful of people outside the factory had ever been afforded the same opportunity.

Those who read Mel Nichols’ wonderful interview with Simon Kidston who bought ‘Red’ for a client in 2022 for €135m will know it was intended to race in the cancelled 1955 Carrera Panamericana. It was also due to be Mercedes’ main weapon at Le Mans in 1956, but never got the chance after the 1955 disaster.