It was an incredible sight to see the 722 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR in convoy with an enormous selection of other machinery from Stirling Moss’s career at the 2021 Goodwood Revival. As we said our goodbyes to Mr Motor Racing in our way, so too was Mercedes-Benz. See, as much as it was a send-off for Sir Stirling, it was a part of a swansong for his most famous car.
Now Mercedes has unveiled The Last Blast, a short film starring the car, that takes this legend of the Mille Miglia on the road in London (with a police escort, of course). For the first time, the city that Sir Stirling called home for decades echoed to the sound of the rapturous 3.0-litre straight-eight that he exercised so famously. A journey through the capital that ended so appropriately, at the Moss family home, where etchings of 722 can be seen in the glass of his balconies. The time: 07:22, the number of the car and of course the time that he set off for his incredible record-setting run in 1955. His journey to that drive began here. Now, this phase of 722’s journey, has ended here.
Why? Because the man who knows these cars better than anyone, Gert Straub, is retiring. A fourth-generation Mercedes-Benz man, it’s always been his job to look after this car. Along with him, so too will 722 retire, to static display in the Mercedes-Benz Museum. Fitting, that Straub should have this last drive.
Mercedes-Benz
300 SLR
722
Stirling Moss
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