Merc makes a million

Some $1.9m (£1.2m) has been paid for the works Mercedes-Benz 300SL Coupe in which Hermann Lang and Fritz Riess won the 1952 Le Mans, representing almost a quarter of the total revenue of Brooks USA’s second sale of automobiles at Quail Lodge, Carmel, California on August 28. The valuable racer was sold with the rolling chassis of a sister car.

Another million dollar hammer fell on the 1956 short-nosed Jaguar D-type supplied originally to Jerry Austin. The $1.01m (£639,241) paid for the car was trumpeted as the highest for a standard customer version for many years.