2005 Mercedes SLR McLaren Bidding at Over $185,000 Even After Being Crashed
Between its flood damage and smashed-up rear-end, this SLR clearly needs work. The question is, how much?
Car YouTubers all across America are going to be dueling each other, wallets in hand, when they see this 2005 Mercedes SLR McLaren on Copart. I can already see the cookie cutter headlines: "I Bought America's CHEAPEST Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren!!!" As nauseating as that outcome may be, this sale does offer a unique opportunity to obtain one of the rarest and most interesting supercars of the 2000s for far cheaper than usual.
This SLR McLaren currently lives at a junkyard in Sun Valley, California and wears a salvage title for its flood damage and obvious rear-end trauma. The Copart listing doesn't say if there's any major structural damage to the chassis, but it all looks mostly cosmetic from the photos. If that's the case, depending on the severity of the flood damage and the condition of its electronics, this could be a pretty simple fix.
If you want to find out just how simple—or not so simple—that fix will be, you have a few hours left to bid. The current bid is already up to $187,000, so be prepared to drop big bucks on this beat-up SLR. Even that could work out to be a steal, provided the problems aren't too severe.
While SLR values vary, they typically range from $300,000 to $500,000, depending on the body style, spec, condition, and mileage. The most recent SLR coupe to sell on Bring a Trailer went for $357,000 back in May, and that one only had 8,000 miles on it. Copart's listing neglects to mention mileage, so it's hard to tell how fresh this one is. In truth it looks decently clean, considering it's in a junkyard with a smashed rear end, broken rear window, and flood damage.
The Mercedes SLR McLaren was an oddball of a supercar, and one that car nerds tend to either love or hate. It was the result of a partnership between then Gordon Murray-led McLaren Automotive and Mercedes-Benz while the two entities were still racing together in Formula 1. Although the final product didn't turn out exactly how Murray hoped it would, the SLR was still among the most impressive performance cars of its day. Under that long hood is a hand-built, all-aluminum 5.4-liter supercharged V8, making 617 horsepower and 575 lb-ft of torque. Despite criticism for employing a five-speed automatic transmission, the coupe was still capable of 0-60 mph in 3.4 seconds and a top speed of 207 mph.
Is this SLR McLaren worth risking six figures on, in hopes that you can fix it? That's a dangerous gamble, given that the SLR has a carbon fiber-reinforced plastic (CFRP) monocoque chassis and, if it's damaged, it might not be repairable. However, if the blemishes merely consist of some wrinkled body panels and flooded carpets, the YouTuber who buys this is bound to get a billion clicks.
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