Rudy Klein's junkyard collection of Mercedes SL alloy gull wings fetches $9 million

A collection of highly sought-after classic cars that had been rotting away in the California sun for decades finally sold last week at an auction hosted by RM Sotheby's.

The collection was assembled by Rudy Klein, a German immigrant who started a scrapyard business in South Central Los Angeles in 1967.

Klein passed away in 2001, and his collection was passed on to his two sons, but has remained untouched ever since. A total of 207 lots, including the car plus many spare parts, were sold, with a combined value of $29,616,400.

The collection includes outstanding models such as the Lamborghini Miura, Mercedes-Benz 300SL, and Mercedes-Benz 500K, often with multiple examples.

The most expensive car sold for $9.35 million was a 1956 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Alloy Gullwing. This was one of 29 built and the only one finished in black. The Alloy Gullwing featured a lightweight body to make it more competitive on the race track. Klein's unit was owned for a time by Luigi Chinetti, a well-known Ferrari importer.

Another standout was a 1935 Mercedes-Benz 500K that sold for $4.13 million, a one-off 1935 coupe originally owned by prewar Grand Prix racing legend Rudolph Caracciola. The car was Klein's favorite and became the second most expensive car at auction.

Other standouts included a 1939 Horch 855 Special Roadster reportedly owned by Eva Braun ($3.3 million), a 1967 Iso Grifo A3/L Spider prototype by Bertone ($1.88 million), and a Porsche 356 Three Miuras were also on display, one of which sold for the low bid of $610,000.

Klein himself was a bit of a gearhead and had an eye for rare automobiles, mainly from his home country. Recognizing the difficulty of obtaining spare parts, he began collecting cars, usually purchased as accidental vehicles. As a result, most of the cars in his collection required a lot of work to get them back to running condition.