The most expensive car dump in history will go under the hammer (11 photos)

After two decades of deliberation, the heirs of a publicity-shy car collector have decided to put his life's passion up for auction.





German butcher Rudi Klein emigrated to the United States in the 1950s, and the scrap metal recycling business he established in his new homeland made him a millionaire. The opportunities that opened up allowed Klein to finance his hobby of collecting rare European sports cars and other four-wheeled goodies.

After his death in 2001, the already closed collection finally became inaccessible to those wishing to view or, if they were lucky, buy something. However, sometimes something went to the side, like a gorgeous 1939 Horch 855 Special Roadster, one of eight built, bought by Audi for the factory museum.

For more than twenty years, the classic car garage in South Central Los Angeles fell into disrepair, as no one was involved in restoring the cars and maintaining their condition at an acceptable level. And the deceased himself was not particularly successful in this area; for him, it was more important to get the rarity itself.

The auction, brokered by RM Sotheby’s, will take place in October. The auctioneers will publish the full list later, but even what has been revealed as a teaser is more than impressive. Stacks of Porsche 356s, one of the 29 light-alloy 300 SL Gullwings ever made, several Lamborghini Miuras, another Horch 855 (rumored to have belonged to Eva Braun), the only Iso Grifo convertible by Bertone ever made, etc. The cars are in poor condition, which has led the auctioneers to officially call the collection a dump.

The crown jewel of the collection is the one-off Mercedes-Benz 500K Caracciola Special Coupe.

Rudolf Caracciola's six victories at the German Grand Prix and the 433 km/h he achieved on the autobahn in 1938 behind the wheel of a W125 Rekordwagen (a record that was only broken in 2017) have forever etched his name into the history of the three-pointed star. The company's grateful gift of an elite 500K in a closed body specially adapted to the height of the racer in 1935 was the least that Mercedes could do for the legend of world motorsport.

The unique car survived the upheavals of the war, although it had to travel around the world to do so. Klein got his hands on the 500K Caracciola Special Coupe in 1978, and a couple of years later it made its last public appearance. Nevertheless, given its historical significance, interested people never forgot the Caracciola car, and now the moment of truth has arrived.







Mercedes-Benz 500K Caracciola Special Coupe