One of the most important sports cars in history, the Mercedes W196 R Streamline W196 will be sold at an RM Sotheby’s auction to be held at the Mercedes Museum on February 1, 2025.
In May 2022, one of two examples of the Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe set a world record for the most expensive car ever sold at auction. The sale price was €135 million ($147 million) the car was sold through an auction organized by auction house RM Sotheby’s.
Now, RM Sotheby is organizing a new auction on February 1, 2025, at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart where it will try to sell a Mercedes W196 R Streamline. The car comes from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum’s collection of more than 150 vehicles and is expected to fetch a sale price of between $50 million and $70 million (equivalent to 45-64 million euros).
At the moment, the second most expensive car in the world sold at auction is a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO that changed hands for USD 51,705,000 at the November 13, 2023 auction organized by RM Sotheby’s on November 13.
The Indianapolis Museum is selling 11 of its collector cars to refurbish the museum. Also on the list are a Ferrari 250 LM and a Ford GT40 MK II from the 1960s, as well as the F1 monopost Benneton B191 from the 1991 season.
The Mercedes W196 R Streamline W196 offered at auction has chassis number 00009/54 and is one of four Streamline-bodied versions. This model has an interesting history, having been driven by two of the best Mercedes drivers of the 1950s: Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss. The Mercedes W 196 R was developed to comply with the new “up to 2.5-liter displacement” engine rules enforced in 1954. It had an inline 8-cylinder engine, basically formed by joining two inline 4-cylinder engines with two camshafts for each intake and exhaust. The engine produced 213 kW (290 PS) in its most powerful version. Because the new regulations had few limitations on bodywork, Mercedes decided that a streamlined, aerodynamic body with enclosed wheels would optimize the car for high-speed courses, while an open-wheel body would be ideal for more twisting circuits.
The Mercedes W196 R debuted at the French Grand Prix at Reims with three cars where it achieved an exceptional result. The driver team of Juan Manuel Fangio, Karl Kling, and Hans Herrmann came in 1st, 2nd, and 7th, with Herrmann driving the fastest lap of the race.
The Mercedes W196 R was modernized for the 1955 season. The engine was improved in numerous aspects, including the addition of a new intake manifold. The decision was made to run the open-wheel grand prix bodies for almost all of the 1955 races, while improvements and updates resulted in an approximately 70-kilogram reduction in weight over its predecessor. In addition, the Mercedes team was strengthened by the addition of Stirling Moss. Juan Manuel Fangio won the first race with this car in the first race of the season, the Formula Libre Buenos Aires Grand Prix, held on January 30, 1955.
For the Monza race, Mercedes decided to equip the 00009/54 chassis with a streamlined body for the first time. Fangio and Stirling Moss took the first two grid positions. Moss overtook Fangio on lap 9 but finished the race in 7th place due to technical problems. However, the English driver managed the fastest lap with 2:46.900 minutes corresponding to an average speed of 215.7 kph.
At the end of the 1955 F1 season, Fangio took his second world championship title and Moss finished second. In 12 F1 race appearances, the Mercedes W196 R won 9 times.
On August 30, 1965, the car with chassis number 00009/54 was donated to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Speedway Museum. For almost six decades, the W 196 R has been fastidiously stored and maintained by the IMS Museum, occasionally being invited to attend important exhibitions, such as the 1996 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, the 2003 Canadian International Auto Show, and the grand re-opening of the redesigned Petersen Automotive Museum in December 2015. Although the car has appeared at prestigious shows, including most recently as part of the Mercedes-Benz display at the 2024 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, the car has never been submitted for judging at Concours events.
Prior to the auction on February 1, 2025, the car with chassis number 00009/54 was brought to the Mercedes Classic Center in Fellbach, where Mercedes Classic experts will perform a thorough inspection and prepare it for its next owner.
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