The Million Dollar Benz

After Mercedes-Benz had their GT1 racecar approved for competition by producing a single road-going coupe, they dug in and comissioned HWA to build 25 more machines. The exterior on these cars looked just like the racecar, but the suspension was softer, the engine in a mild state of tune, and the interior was spruced up to Mercedes-Benz luxury car standards.

The race editions of the CLK GTR did awesome in 1997 when Klaus Ludwig and Bernd Schneider earned loads of wins and finally won the FIA championship piloting one of these beauties. While the front end of their racecar slightly resembled the CLK sedan, the GTR was an entirely new product.

The GTR sported a midship mounted 6.9-litre V12 producing 600bhp, which was based off of the 6.0L V12 found in the SL600 2 door coupes and convertibiles.

In '98 and '99, Mercedes-Benz built 25 CLK GTR road versions, which were detuned from race spec, rated at 550bhp and they made use of an integral spolier. Most of these GTRs utilized the 5.9 liter Mercedes-Benz M120 engine from the S600 sedan. One was delivered equipped with the massive 7.3 litre AMG V12. This was car was labeled the Super Sport, and there are one or two more GTRs in existence that have been upgraded to this more potent powerplant.

After all 25 of coupe versions were spoken for, HWA produced 5 limited edition roadsters. These few examples of the GTR became one of the most costly production cars in the world running about $1,500,000.