In early February concurrent with Retromobile, Bonhams will offer this 2000 Mercedes-Benz CLK GTR Coupé, estimated to bring $2-2.2 million. When Mercedes-Benz first unveiled its CLK GTR road car in 1998, it sold for $1.5 million, making it the most expensive production car up to that time. To meet racing regulations, Mercedes was obligated to build 25 road-going versions. Supplied new to Switzerland, chassis number “23” has traveled just over 2000 miles, effectively remaining in as-new condition.

It can be imported to the U.S. under the federal government’s show and display rules. For such efforts, auction houses engage specialist firms that can deliver U.S. compliance at a cost of $20,000 to $60,000 in most cases, and there are already CLK GTR's in the U.S. Bear in mind one of Mercedes-Benz’s finest corporate attributes is an almost holy devotion to maintaining their historic vehicles. Mercedes can most likely provide the needed talent to maintain it through its U.S. Heritage Center. That said, I suspect a Mercedes dealer in Switzerland or Germany will place the winning bid, but for a major U.S. collection with an emphasis on exotic cars, this is a special piece.

It’s also a measuring stick for just how far we have come. It covers 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, about a second behind a current Ferrari 488GTB. And it tops out at 199 mph. Of course, it also generates massive downforce and thus incredible cornering speeds, and race cars are about lap times, not the quantifiable performance measures applied to road cars. But it’s the rarity and thundering nature of the car that matter, and its place in sports car history.

For those who care, here’s the backstory. After the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA, the governing body of motorsports) destroyed the highly successful Group C category of the 1980s and early ‘90s by forcing them to adopt 3.5-liter engines related to the then-new Formula One engines, sports car racing was deeply damaged.

But sports car racing has a habit of bouncing back. And in this case, it started with the BPR series developed by Jürgen Barth (ex- Porsche ), Patrick Peter and Stéphane Ratel. BPR started as a one-marque series in Europe based on hot-rodded versions of the French MVS Venturi mid-engine GT car. But BPR evolved into a racing category for all manner of exotic cars. BPR races ran four hours in duration.

Though McLaren and its F1 supercar blitzed all the 4-hour BPR races in 1995, there was no expectation that any of the BPR cars could actually beat the older, faster prototypes that were grandfathered into the Le Mans field for 1995. But it rained that year at Le Mans, and rained heavily. McLaren and its F1 scored a fluke victory that saved what otherwise would have been a lost decade for sports car racing.

With Max Moseley by then more secure in his role leading the FIA, in 1996 there was a rapprochement of sorts between the FIA and the ACO (Automobile Club de l’Ouest, the organizing body for Le Mans). The regional BPR series morphed into the FIA GT Championship, which was a new set of regulations for extremely exotic but fully homologated GT cars, "homologation" meaning the companies had to produce 25 examples for the road. Both Porsche and Mercedes lobbied hard at FIA headquarters in Paris. End result, the GT1 category was allowed more downforce and more exotic materials than found in BPR. They’d be full-tilt racecars masquerading as road cars.

Porsche entered the GT1, which was based primarily on a Porsche 962 Group C car with a 911-inspired body and 911 front suspension. In evolved GT1-98 form it would win Le Mans in 1998. Mercedes brought the CLK GTR to the fight, also a pure sports-racing car, and it utterly dominated FIA GT in 1997-98, securing both the manufacturers and drivers championships both years. In 1999 all manufacturers but Mercedes withdrew from the championship. The FIA then shifted the GT Championship to the less exotic GT2 cars, which was Porsche-dominated thanks to hordes of 911 Carrera privateers.

And that’s the source of the CLK GTR’s quirky, enduring appeal. It did such a great job saving sports car racing that it killed off its category in only two years. When Mercedes decides it's time to win, it usually does.