John Cena's classic Mercedes-Benz recreation falls $400,000 short at auction
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The former pro-wrestler and Hollywood star's Mercedes-Benz SSK 'Count Trossi' tribute failed to meet its reserve, with bids reaching only half the expected amount.
A replica of the famous 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK racer – nicknamed 'Count Trossi' – owned by celebrity John Cena has been passed in at auction in the United States.
Cena, star of the upcoming Matchbox movie, has owned the car since 2021.
Yet after putting it up for sale through Naples Motorsports – advertised on auction website Bring A Trailer the highest bid of $US256,000 ($AU413,000) did not meet the reserve.
Naples Motorsport made a statement on its website following the failed auction, apologising for the non-sale and revealing bidding was well short of expectations, with Cena spending at least $US500,000 ($AU807,000) on the project – double the highest offer.
The genuine 'Count Trossi' SSK (chassis 36038) was built in 1930, one of only 42 Mercedes-Benz SSKs made, with Type SSK standing for 'Super Sport Kurz' meaning 'Super Sport Short', wearning an open-top two-seat body 480mm shorter than the W06 Type S it was based on.
The original was powered by a 7.1-litre supercharged inline six-cylinder petrol engine with up to 300 horsepower (221kW) and a 190km/h top speed.
Various SSKs competed in legendary road races of the time, with one winning the 1931 Mille Miglia – a 1000-mile (1609km) race through Italy.
Count Felice Trossi would finish second in the 1932 Mille Miglia driving an Alfa Romeo for il Commendatore – the emerging Enzo Ferrari – before purchasing SSK chassis 36038 in 1933.
As a young, brash, confident member of Italian nobility and a risk-taking auto racer, Trossi decided to create a special body for the Mercedes-Benz.
The designer of the car Count Trossi wheeled out in 1934 remains a mystery, but the result gave the world what's now said to be the most famous and sought-after example of what was already an extremely rare car.
It is now part of the collection of cars – which combined is worth up to an estimated $US500 million ($AU806 million) – owned by fashion designer Ralph Lauren, a passionate car connoisseur who had the vehicle restored after he bought it in 1988.
Winning countless shows – including the iconic Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance in the United States and Luxe Concours at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in the UK – the restored SSK was even displayed at The Louvre museum in Paris, as part of the L'art de L'automobile exhibition in 2001.
John Cena's replica faithfully reproduces the gloss black Mercedes-Benz's wild, swooping body draping each individual wheel – with covers enclosing the rear axle – the Batmobile-like shape of the car influencing designs of the 1930s and into the 1940s.
Its registration papers described the donor vehicle as a 1969 Mercedes-Benz, but there's little evidence of the car's relative youth after a thorough custom build to pay homage to the Count Trossi design.
It was built in Argentina by Iconic Autosports, who is said to have hand-made the body with its low-cut sides, nacelle-style – meaning streamlined – wheel arches, and 'boat tail' rear-end shape.
The replica has been fitted with a 3.0-litre 'M186' inline six-cylinder petrol engine taken from a 1953 Mercedes-Benz 300 road car.
While it is single-overhead cam, the engine has an aluminium cylinder head and twin Solex carburettors, and is mated with a four-speed manual transmission sending drive to the 18-inch wire rear wheels.
The car features (more modern) Wilwood brakes, a brass steering box, the artful stainless steel exhaust pipes breaking through the side of the louvred engine cover, and the black leather bench seats.
The classic four-spoke steering wheel sits below a two-piece windscreen, while the wooden dash houses classic instruments including a 200km/h speedometer, a clock made by German brand Junghans, and a five-digit odometer currently reading 330 kilometres.
Cena most recently sold a replica Jaguar XJ13 sports car through Bring A Trailer and was famously sued by Ford Motor Company in 2018 after he sold his Ford GT supercar soon after purchase – allegedly breaching an agreement with the US car giant.
Following the reserve not being met, a comment by Naples Motorsport on Bring A Trailer read:
"Thank you bidders … and sorry about our Reserve Not Met – as you can see we have an extremely high sales rate.
"This one was a tough one in the sense that we do not own it and it belongs to a very good client and friend of the dealership. Our job was to try to show the true market but we feel it may be somewhere between what the owner had into it/what he wants for the car and where it was bid to.
"I will now share that we believe the owner has about $US500,000 [$AU806,650] into this. His expectation was a LOT higher than what it was bid to. We were NOT close on the bidding however he's always been reasonable for us to work with."
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