Mercedes-Simplex 60 HP bought by Daily Mail founder Alfred Harmsworth is set to become the most expensive antique car ever sold at auction

It is one of only five known original examples of the world’s first supercar.

Capable of reaching speeds of 130 km/h, the 60 HP Mercedes-Simplex was the fastest production car in the world at the beginning of the 20th century and was also successful in racing.

Now this one, built in 1903 for Daily Mail founder Alfred Harmsworth, is set to break another record: being the most expensive vintage car ever sold at auction.

Its price tag “exceeds $10m” (more than £7.9m) and experts estimate it could reach £8m. The record for a pre-1930s car is currently held by a 1924 Torpedo Hispano-Suiza H6C ‘Tulipwood’ which sold for $9,245,000 (over £7.3m) in 2022.

The 60 HP will be offered at classic car specialists Gooding and Company’s Amelia Island Auctions in Florida on February 29 and March 1. Its sale is led by British auctioneer and television personality Charlie Ross, who described the car as ‘magnificent’ and ‘truly historic’.

The auction house’s president, David Gooding, said it was “one of the most important first cars ever brought to market.”

Alfred Harmsworth, who became the 1st Viscount Northcliffe, and his brother Harold, who became the 1st Viscount Rothermere, founded The Daily Mail in 1896.

In addition to being a pioneer in popular journalism, Alfred was also a pioneer of the automobile. In 1900, he backed the Royal Automobile Club’s 1,000 Mile Trial, prompting RAC secretary Claude Johnson to write: “He immediately put his purse at the disposal of the club and gave the plan the fullest possible support in his articles in a time when other magazines were mocking the automobile as an ugly, unnecessary toy of a few nutcases.

Alfred also developed a car collection at his home in Surrey and was one of the first to order an HP 60. It is not known how much he paid for it, but the auction house estimates that it probably cost around $10,000 in 1903 prices.

Between 1902 and 1905, about 102 60 HP Mercedes-Simplexes were manufactured in Germany. Auctioneers claim that while most racing cars of the era were “purpose-built monsters” with virtually no relation to production cars sold to the public, the HP 60 could be transformed into a competitive racing machine by removing the seats. rear and fenders and placing a light two-seat body.

In 1903, Alfred’s car, driven by early motor racers, set the fastest times at Nice Speed ​​Week in France and at the Ballybannon Hill Climb in Northern Ireland.

Shortly afterwards, it was fitted with its elaborate ‘Roi des Belges’ (‘King of the Belgians’) coachwork, as seen in our photographs: a coachstyle with rear bosses incorporating two seats like bathtub-style chairs that was used in luxury motor vehicles in the early 20th century.

The car’s registration number, A 740, is among the first issued by London City Council, which began providing registrations in 1903 with ‘A 1’.

In the years leading up to the First World War, Alfred made regular use of the car, demonstrating its incredible performance to his friends and touring with it throughout the UK and the Continent. He affectionately referred to it as the “Old Sixties.”

Following his death, at the age of 57 in August 1922, the Mercedes passed into the hands of his 12-year-old son, Alfred John Francis Alexander Harmsworth.

It was later restored and displayed for more than six decades at the Beaulieu Motor Museum in Hampshire. He also participated several times in the Veteran Car Run from London to Brighton.

The auctioneers claimed that the car no longer runs because it was decommissioned in the late 1960s.