The Last Blast: A Fitting Tribute To The Great Stirling Moss And The Legendary Mercedes 300 SLR 722

Images: Mercedes-Benz

“Who do you think you are? Stirling Moss?” This, so the story goes, is what a policeman asked the legendary British racing driver following a particularly ‘daring’ overtaking manoeuvre on the streets of London. “Yes sir, I am” was the honest reply.

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The Last Blast is a tribute by Mercedes-Benz Classic to the legendary Sir Stirling Moss, who passed away earlier this year; here they are setting up the shoot of the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR with which he won the Mille Miglia in 1955

There’s a nod to this legendary tale—and a number of other aspects of Moss’s life and career—in ‘The Last Blast’, a new short film by Mercedes-Benz Classic.

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The Mercedes 300 SLR with the famous number 722 being driven through London

A police motorcycle outrider admonishes the over-enthusiastic driver of the very Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR made famous by Moss’s win in the 1955 Mille Miglia race. As the camera zooms in on the front wing of the bike, we see a sticker bearing the famous question.

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The Mercedes 300 SLR with the London Eye as the backdrop

With this, part of a police-escorted drive across central London, ‘The Last Blast’ celebrates the life of Moss who died on 12 April 2020 at the age of 90. Filming took place at the end of September 2021 in London—where he lived for more than 60 years—yet, somewhere the famous Mercedes-Benz racing car, with its legendary Mille Miglia starting number of 722, had never been driven before.

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Racing through London early in the morning

But while the Silver Arrow is the visible star of the show, there’s an invisible one too: the late racing driver himself. In this very car, together with navigator Denis Jenkinson, he achieved a famous victory for Mercedes-Benz in the 1955 road race from Brescia to Rome and back.

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Another pic with the London Eye, once again, as the backdrop

And it is in Moss’s honour that the company had the straight-eight engine howl for one last blast on a drive across central London before the car is retired, returning to its permanent home in the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

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Speeding through London in Merc’s most memorable car

The result is a moving three-and-a-half minutes of film. The starting point of the drive, very early one Sunday morning, is The Temple. It then takes in the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, the Royal Automobile Club and The Ritz hotel. On the way, ‘722’ passes what was is Sir Stirling’s very own 300 SL ‘Gullwing’—the car in which he travelled from London to the Mille Miglia in 1955.

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A sense of speed and drama

Its drive through the city ends in front of Moss’s own home in a Mayfair mews. There, his son, Elliot Moss, stands in front of the door and looks at the watch on his wrist, which his father wore for many years. It’s exactly 7:22 am, the original start time of Moss and Jenkinson’s Mille Miglia entry and the reason for the car’s racing number. The 300 SLR rolls to a halt one final time, and its engine is switched off.

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A farewell tour for this original 300 SLR racing sports car before it returns to the Mercedes-Benz Museum: alongside Moss’ personal 300 SL, at St James’s Square

Sounds like a great video—check it out when it’s out.



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