Chassis Number : 1083
With the greatest pleasure, I present you the chassis number 1083. I believe this is the first ever full 360 platform photoshoot of the SLR. I know it sounds impossible, but I indeed tried and did not succeed in finding another one. So, behold: the icon in its full glory.
Special thanks to Classic Cars Club.
Stunning, right?
The Silver Arrow with the red Interior is regarded as the ultimate SLR and you can see why. It looks great, especially in person. The sense of occasion is unmatched. Stop it right next to any supercar/hypercar you can think of, the SLR will stand out. I can confirm this is true and specifically in this color combination.
I also love how low-key you can go with it. If you know what it is, you know what it is. If you don't - "That's a weird looking Merc.", right?! And if you look at it from behind, it'll remind you of a 2000s Mercedes-Benz, but the second the angle changes - "Oh, ok. Never mind". It's something else ... truly. By the time you're wondering what exactly this car was, it's gone and you realise it's likely a once in a lifetime experience to spot one of these in the wild, if you’re lucky. Sad, but it's the reality for most exotics. In the case of the SLR, it's ever sadder. This car was was built to be driven, you'll say "all cars are", but how many cars have Formula 1 roots? McLaren poured their heart and technological know-how into building this supreme machine. It belongs on the track, on a mountainous road, on a highway, even as a daily.
Treating cars as Pokémons isn't new. Rare, unicorn cars have turned into speculative assets. Most billionaires and multi-millionaires have a few of those in their portfolios as a form of wealth diversification. One of the extreme and popular examples is the McLaren F1. From a sticker price of $800 000 - $1 000 000 in the 90s to $2m - $4m in the early 2010s, to over $24 million in 2022. And I expect a further appreciation. This also exposes the devaluation of the fiat - a very current topic.
Let’s talk a bit about the market, because it’s going through something unprecedented. Even though we look at the market as if it has different entities like real estate, exotic cars commodities etc., the domino effect is inevitable. We can’t have a thriving exotic car market, if everything else is crashing. It doesn't work this way. From 2008 to 2020, the world has lived in unusually calm times and this allowed the entertainment industry to boom. Facebook, Instagram, Netflix, YouTube, Amazon - to name a few big names that capitalised on the calm and entertaining decade. 2020s started with Covid and the biggest market crash on record, shortly followed by the most epic bull run, which triggered the most unprecedented re-distribution of wealth in history. All of this is evident in the exotic car market and the prices we witnessed in the recent auctions. Last year, popular car YouTubers rushed to offload their car collections and tried to call the top of the cycle, led by the belief “it’s too good to be true”. Because they rushed, and probably their whole net worth is in the cars, they sold some iconic automobiles south the current prices. My personal prediction is that the luxury real estate market and the exotic car market will crash simultaneously in the next months as the recession narrative deepens - they do have the same target at the end of the day. Might not be as dramatic as the crypto and commodities one, but like I said - it doesn't make sense for them to thrive when everything else is crashing. I know people with vast car collections who are already nervous about the market and passed on some rare cars due to the current meteoric prices. Again - personal opinion and prediction. Good indicators to look out for are the prices of the rare cars. I’m talking about the F1, CLK GTR - anything unicorn-tier. Remember - uncertain times create great possibilities.