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, has never been driven before.
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. 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.
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 The Ritz hotel. On the way, “722” passes what was Sir Stirling’s very own 300 SL “Gullwing” –
the car in which he travelled from London to the Mille Miglia in 1955. 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.
This is Mercedes-Benz Classic’s tribute and thanks to Sir Stirling Moss who dedicated decades of service to
the brand. And also to his family, for the unwavering support they showed him, and for their personal
involvement in this very special film project.
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