√Road-legal Mercedes-Benz CLK LM offered for sale

One of just four Mercedes-Benz race cars built to contest the 1998 Le Mans 24 Hour race has been converted for road use and is now offered for sale in the UK

Looking for a Mercedes-Benz CLK that will stand out from the crowd? How about a 1998 FIA GT Championship-winning CLK LM that has been modified for road-legal use?

On the up side, it is one of a kind. On the down side, it wont be cheap.

Back in the late 1990s, Mercedes-Benz had experienced tremendous success in winning the inaugural 1997 FIA GT championship with the CLK GTR GT1 entry.

To build on this, the German brand set its sights on the 1998 Le Mans 24hr race, but the car would need to be modified for the sustained higher speeds and longer timeframe of the endurance race.

Enter the CLK LM.

Larger in all dimensions than the GTR, the LM switched the V12 for a V8 (with the same power) and shaved 60kg in the process.

It would only compete for one season before being replaced by the ill-fated CLR GT1 racer, that famously suffered ‘aerodynamic instabilities’ on the high-speed Le Mans circuit and dramatically became airborne three times, during the 1999 race.

	1997 CLK GTR	1998 CLK LM	1999 CLR
Length	4855mm	4900mm	4893mm
Width	1950mm	1999mm	1999mm
Height	1100mm	1112mm	1012mm
Wheelbase	2670mm	2670mm	2670mm
Engine	6.0-litre V12	5.0-litre V8	5.7-litre V8
Power	441kW	441kW	450kW
Weight	1000kg	940kg	900kg
Times airborne	–	–	3

Anyway, back to the CLK LM.

Mercedes-Benz reportedly built five cars, two of which were campaigned in the 1998 FIA GT series, one used for testing and development, and then two others constructed for series homologation – one was destroyed for crash testing and the other converted into a ‘street version’ road car.

With drivers Bernd Schneider and Australia’s Mark Webber behind the wheel, Mercedes-Benz took the CLK LM to an outright series victory in 1998 (despite retiring at Le Mans).

The car offered for sale is chassis 005, the race-specification test car used by Mercedes-Benz during the 1998 season which was then sold to a Japanese collector when the race season was over. According to the sale listing, the car moved to the UK in 2017 and when given a major overhaul in 2021, was modified for road use and is currently registered!

Unlike the sole ‘Straßenversion’ CLK LM (chassis 002), which features different aerodynamic bodywork to the race cars, LM 005 maintains all the elements of the competition cars, including the huge adjustable rear wing, single seat layout, competition switchgear and ‘fast fill’ fuel loading.

The price, as you would expect, is ‘on application’ only. But considering the Straßenversion car was sold through Mercedes-Benz’s own brokerage in 2016 for €2,000,000 (A$3,370,000), this one wont be cheap.

If you want part of the look and half of the badge, the CLK LM shares the headlights, tail lights and grille with the ‘regular’ CLK, which should set you back under $65,000 for even the range-topping CLK-55 AMG variant. Just throw on some stickers, paint the mirrors yellow and you’ll be as close as any of us will ever get to the real thing.