Automakers had few design restraints within the early years of Components One, lengthy earlier than stringent rules turned the vehicles into thinly veiled copies of one another. Mercedes-Benz took that chance within the mid-Nineteen Fifties to create the W 196 R, an open-seat race automobile that would put on streamlined bodywork. It was known as the Stromlinienwagen, and RM Sotheby’s is promoting one with an unbelievable pedigree.
The automobile made its racing debut on the Buenos Aires Grand Prix in January 1955 with Juan Manuel Fangio piloting the No. 9 chassis to a 1-2 victory. The automobile would conclude its racing profession with one other 1-2 win with Sir Stirling Moss on the wheel, incomes the quickest lap on the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.
Picture by: RM Sotheby’s
Picture by: RM Sotheby’s
Mercedes initially retained all 10 remaining W 196 examples after their campaigns, and stored them in operating order. Nonetheless, it’d ultimately donate 4 of the vehicles, together with chassis No. 9. The automobile discovered a brand new house on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Basis, the place it has been ever since, present process two refinishes all through its life.
In keeping with RM Sotheby’s, that is the one Stromlinienwagen ever supplied on the market to a personal buyer, and it’s one among 4 recognized W 196 Rs to have the streamlined bodywork on the finish of the 1955 F1 season. RM pegs its worth “In extra of $55,000,000.”
The public sale comes simply two years after a Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe—one among simply two in existence—offered for a staggering $143 million, making it the costliest car on the planet. Whereas this W 196 is not as uncommon, its historical past within the racing area is unmatched. We do not doubt that worth estimate within the slightest.
