Mercedes Brookland With 17.3-Liter Engine Is So Expensive It Will Make You Faint

The early days of the automobile were in some sense the glory days of racing. Having created new machines that allowed them to travel faster and in a simpler fashion than ever imagined until that point, humans resorted to some incredible engineering and skill to set records and write history, aided by truly incredible machines. Like this here 1908 Mercedes Brookland.
 

For today’s humans the moniker 1908 Mercedes Brookland may not mean all that much. Sure, it’s probably a Mercedes that was produced in 1908, but what is that Brookland thing?
 
Well, Brookland, or more precisely Brooklands, is the name of what is arguably the world’s first purpose-built race track. Located in Surrey, England, it opened its doors in 1907 to give people access to a 2.8-mile (4.5 km) circuit.
 
The car was (nick)named after the track because ever since that very first year and into the following ones a number of Mercedes vehicles have had a field day there. Some of them set speed records for the 10-mile and half-mile races (88.8 mph and 95.5 mph, respectively), while another reached an impressive-for-the-time 109 mph (175 kph) top speed in 1911.
 
It’s not clear how many of these Brooklands Mercedes made, and even less so how many of them are still around, but collectors like to think of the model as being the Holy Grail of their world. So when hearing one of them is for sale, their hearts probably started pumping hard.
 
This particular car popped up for sale as part of an auction to be held by RM Sotheby’s in Miami at the end of February 2025. It is a vehicle that was commissioned in 1908 as a one-off, and it’s expected to fetch (get ready, as this could make you faint) up to $9 million.
 

The Brookland is just as juicy as all the others of its breed, but the fact that it is the only one of its kind in the world makes it even more appealing. Its uniqueness comes, among other things, from the fitting of a four-cylinder whose size was above what Grand Prix regulations allowed at the time.
 
But this vehicle was purpose-made to take on the Semmering Hill Climb in Austria, and that matter little. In the early days of racing, the event was considered a premiere one, not in small part on account of the fact it had no limits and no actual rules.
 
The car ended up taking part in the competition it was meant for, at the hands of German race car driver Otto Salzer. Not only did it compete, but it won it, traveling fast enough to achieve a new speed record for the event: 50 mph (81 kph).
 
Shortly after, though, having been sent back to Mercedes, the car received the engine that made it famous over the years, a positively huge 17.3-liter monster that cranks out just 150 horsepower. History notes this engine is the only one of its kind ever made.
 
With this powerplant on, the Merc was driven by the same Salzer in the same Semmering hill climb in 1909, and it again climbed to the top first, averaging a speed of 52 mph (84 kph) – and that’s something that went unbeaten for 15 years.
 
Later in 1909, another driver named Camille Jenatzy, from Belgium, took control of the Brookland and finished third during the Champion du Monde event held near Brussels.
 

Somehow, the car ended up being exported to Australia soon after that achievement, where it changed hands several times and competed in local events at Artillery Hill, Argus, and elsewhere, well until the 1950s.
 
That decade the car made the trip across the ocean and landed in California, and in 1964 it arrived on the premises of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, its current owner and seller. Just to give you a sense of how much the value of the Brookland grew over the years, consider the fact that the Museum paid $30,000 for it back then, which is about $303,000 in today’s money.
 
While in the Museum’s care, the Mercedes was displayed at various venues and events, including the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.
 
The most exciting thing about the car, officially listed by RM Sotheby’s as the 1908 Mercedes Brookland Semmering Rennwagen, is that it still runs even now, 116 years after it was made. Top that off with the fact that almost the entire car is still in its original condition (down to the radiator, carburetor, exhaust system, and gauges), and you start to get a sense of why expectations run so high with this one.
 
We’ll keep an eye on “one of the most significant pre-war competition automobiles in the world” and report back once we learned how it does in February, when the hammer falls for the first time on this vehicle.