Mercedes-AMG has revealed the first car in its Mythos series, the PureSpeed. It’s an SL-based roadster that features design cues from F1, including a halo-style rollover protection. It’s fitting then, that Mercedes chose to debut the first of its Mythos low-volume, high-priced specials ahead of this weekend’s F1 race at Monaco, whose residents also happen to be some of the few in the world wealthy enough to afford one, though no price has been announced. The two-seater enters small-scale production next year and will be limited to 250 units, each of the cars going to a hand-picked bunch of Mercedes’ most obsessive collectors.

The Mythos design team took the current four-seat 2024 SL and turned it into a two-seat speedster, replacing the windshield and A-pillars with a tiny aero screen and a structural spine that bisects the view forward. Buyers also get a pair of “aerodynamically optimized” helmets specially designed for the car. But the halo roof protection is far from the only visual update; the new Mercedes PureSpeed also brings an entirely new shark-like front end that dispenses with the traditional AMG grille, replacing it with a large three-pointed star to help everyone else on the road identify it. Mercedes has used this look before on the C-111 concept back in the 1970s and on the Mercedes-McLaren SLR Stirling Moss.

 

Continuing the Moss connection, the flying buttresses behind the seat are said to be inspired by the ones on the 300 SLR driven to victory by the legendary Brit racer at the 1955 Mille Miglia, while the red paint is a nod to the color worn by the Mercedes that took the chequered flag at the 1924 Targa Florio in Sicily. Though Benz race cars a century ago were usually white, the factory chose to mimic the look of the red Italian-brand cars to fool spectators into getting out of the way when they approached. The winning Mercedes at that race was number 10 and the PureSpeed wears the same number on its front fenders.

Mercedes has developed its Mythos series to tap into the lucrative bespoke car market that rivals like Ferrari and Aston Martin are so good at exploiting. Those brands always retain the donor cars’ stock engines and Mercedes is almost certain to have done the same, though it hasn’t confirmed any details. It most likely uses the SL63’s 577 hp V8 under the hood and not the SL63 S E Performance’s 805 hp hybrid-assisted V8 powertrain.