$53M Mercedes-Benz W196 R Is the Second-Most Expensive Car Ever Sold at Auction

D Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz AG

A one-car auction took place at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart over the weekend, and the car in question—a W196 R Stromlinienwagen from 1954—sold for €51,155,000 ($53,017,370). That makes it the most expensive Grand Prix car ever sold at auction, and the second-most expensive car sold at auction, ever. Driven by both of the Mercedes-Benz team’s ace drivers in the Formula One World Championship—Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss—the car sold out of the collection of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

After picking up the pieces following World War II, Mercedes-Benz eased back into motorsports during the 1950s, first with sports cars and then with a Grand Prix car, timed with the new Formula One regulations for the 1954 season. What Designer Rudolf Uhlenhaut came up with was the W196, and from stem to stern it was a cutting-edge car for the mid-1950s. The 2.5-liter straight-eight engine featured dual ignition, dry sump lubrication, a roller-bearing crankshaft, fuel injection, and desmodromic valves. The brakes were mounted inboard.

Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz AG

The Stromlinie (streamline) bodywork seen on the first W196s was aerodynamic, low, wide and enveloping. It looks like a racing sports car at first glance, until the center seat and lack of lights give it away as a dedicated GP machine. To help offset the weight of the additional bodywork, it was made out of Elektron magnesium alloy, which is lighter than aluminum. The Mercedes team introduced a more conventional, open-wheel body for the W196 later on.

The W196 won nine out of 12 Grands Prix entered, and 11 out of 14 races including non-points races. Mercedes-Benz only campaigned it for two seasons, then pulled out of racing altogether after the 1955 Le Mans disaster. Fangio won two consecutive World Championships in ’54 and ’55 (he won again in ’56 and ’57, driving for Ferrari and Maserati). It is one of history’s most successful (and beautiful) race cars.

According to RM Sotheby’s, just four complete W196s with streamlined bodywork are known to exist, and none had ever been offered for private ownership prior to February 1, 2025. The car, chassis 00009/54, started life as an open-wheel car. The open-wheel versions were better suited to twisty tracks (like Monaco), while the streamliners were at their best on high-speed circuits (like Monza). Fangio drove 00009/54 to victory at the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix in Argentina. The Mercedes team dominated much of the rest of the season, and although 00009/54 was relegated to spare car status, it was pulled into service and fitted with a streamliner body for Stirling Moss to drive at that year’s Italian Grand Prix at Monza, the W196’s last-ever race. Moss qualified second and briefly took the lead of the race ahead of Fangio. Ultimately he retired with a failing piston, but not before snatching the fastest lap of the race and scoring one World Championship point. Fangio and Piero finished one-two in other W196s, and Mercedes-Benz wouldn’t get another one-two finish as an F1 manufacturer until 2014.

Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz AG

After 1955, Mercedes-Benz had a number of W196s in running condition and eventually donated four to prestigious automobile museums. 00009/54 went to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum here in the U.S. and has been a star of the museum’s collection ever since. The museum has been selling some of its more valuable cars, with proceeds going to benefit the remaining collection and restoration efforts, and the Silver Arrow streamliner was the latest. The $53M raised by the car will be “a transformative contribution to increase our endowment and long-term sustainability as well as the restoration and expansion of our collection,” said Joe Hale, the museum’s president.

RM Sotheby’s description of this car was dripping with auction catalog hyperbole (“a halo collectible racing car is like a diamond. To be considered of optimal quality, every facet of the car’s unique cut must emit a brilliance that leaves one speechless.”), but it is a very special automobile. Few of Mercedes-Benz’s signature racing cars from this period are in private hands. They’re highly successful, gorgeous, and have great names attached to them. They would also be welcome at basically any car event you’d ever want to take them to.

Chassis 00009/54 is now the second-most expensive car ever sold at auction, behind the $142M Mercedes-Benz 300SLR Uhlenhaut coupe sold in 2022 and ahead of a $51.7M Ferrari 250 GTO sold in 2023. It is also by far the most expensive Grand Prix car ever sold at auction. The previous record was another ex-Fangio W196, this one fitted with open wheel bodywork, that sold for $29,650,095 in 2013.

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Comments

    For those curious, #1 was…
    The 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe at $142,000,000
    RM Sotheby’s Date sold: 5/5/2022

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