Ye, aka Kanye West’s net worth plummeted after several companies, including Adidas, terminated his contracts, but the controversial rapper is still doing pretty well. His fortune is still worth nine figures and he spent some of it on one of the rarest and most unique Mercedes ever made.
Kanye West reportedly owns both a McLaren-Mercedes SLR and a Stirling Moss McLaren-Mercedes SLR. A few years ago he was photographed arriving at the Cannes Film Festival in his Stirling Moss SLR.
Original SLR cameras are rare and very expensive. And Stirling Moss looks even more like a unicorn.
The Mercedes SLR was first revealed as a concept car at the 1999 NAIAS, the Detroit Auto Show, as the spiritual successor to the 300 SLR. Four years later, after a partnership with McLaren for the project, the production car was launched.
Visually, it was a different animal compared to other comparable supercars of the time.
First, it has a very long hood and huge gullwing doors. And the engine is pretty solid too.
The “base” model’s 5.4-liter turbocharged V8 produces 617 hp. Meanwhile, Stirling Moss is even more powerful with a capacity of 641 horsepower.
It accelerates from 0 to 97 km/h (0-60 mph) in just 3 seconds and reaches a top speed of 350 km/h (217 mph). No roof or windshield – imagine that.
As its name suggests, Stirling Moss was designed as a tribute to Sir Stirling Moss, one of the most successful and iconic British racing drivers of all time, while also being a swan song celebrating cooperation between McLaren and Mercedes.
This probably explains why they did this so crazy. The SLR Stirling Moss is a roofless, windowless, windshieldless speedster.
This is as extreme as a road-legal supercar can get. And it also turned out to be a great investment for Kanye and other celebrities who bought one.
Back when it was new, the Stirling Moss SLR started at around $1 million.
Today, however, it would be difficult to find one for less than $3.3 million, which is the car’s current market value.