Mercedes streamliner set to become most expensive F1 car ever sold at auction

F1

A Mercedes W196 R streamliner F1 car driven by Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss could become the most expensive F1 car ever when it goes up for sale this weekend

1954-Mercedes-Benz-W-196-R-Stromlinienwagen_1293472x

Mercedes W196 R could become most expensive F1 car of all time – if it sells

Mercedes

This Mercedes W196 R won in Buenos Aires in the hands of Juan Manuel Fangio. Cloaked in its Slipstreamed bodywork, it was used by Stirling Moss to set the fastest lap at Monza.

It could add another accolade to its roll of achievement this weekend when, if it sells at auction, it will become the most expensive Formula 1 car of all time.

Even Janis Joplin would have underestimated the amount of divine intervention needed to become the next owner: auctioneer RM Sotheby’s will only entertain bids in excess of $50m (£40m), more than double the current auction record for a Formula 1 car of £19m, set by a non-streamliner W196 in 2013.

This model has been owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1965 and is significant enough to merit a single-lot auction: it’s the sole attraction at the Stuttgart sale on February 1.

Juan Manuel Fangio Buenos Aires GP 1955 Mercedes

Fangio at the wheel of 00009/54 in Buenos Aires

Mercedes

More cars from Indianapolis will be sold later this year as the circuit clears out its non-IndyCar vehicles in a series of sales that could raise almost £100m, as it makes its collection more US-focused and secures the financial future of its museum.

The W196 was developed by Mercedes to enter the 1954 world championship, the first time the Silver Arrows had entered grand prix racing since WWII.

The car proved a revelation, as the team claimed a 1-2 on its debut at the 1954 French GP at Reims, Fangio heading home Karl Kling.

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Last record F1 sale was also a Mercedes F1 streamliner

Mercedes

The Argentinian would use the car to claim the ’54 and ’55 titles, the Merc winning nine of the 12 world championship GPs it entered.

Fangio drove W196 chassis number 00009/54, the one being auctioned this weekend, minus the streamlined-bodywork during victory at a home non-championship race in Buenos Aires at the start of the ’55 season.

From the archive

Having claimed a famous Argentine GP win two weeks earlier, the Formula Libre Buenos Aires event was used by Mercedes to do further in-race testing.

Held over two 30-lap heats, Fangio would finish 10.5sec behind Giuseppe Farina in the opening round, before coming home second again in the next.

However, once the times were combined a margin of 11.9sec over young team-mate Moss and more than half a minute on the Ferrari of Farina was enough to secure the win on aggregate.

But after the introduction of new short wheel-base W196 thereafter, the streamliner became a rare sight. While it had been mighty at Reims, a circuit with only three real corners, it proved ineffective at tracks with mid-speed and fast turns, having a tendency to understeer.

It appeared at two further races in 1954: the British and Italian GPs, then made a return at Monza in 1955 when the longer-wheelbase chassis 54 was fitted with streamliner bodywork and brought back for Moss, the car running second and setting the fastest lap before the Brit had to retire with reliability issues.

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Moss at the wheel of car in its streamliner bodywork in Monza

Mercedes

This would be the final world championship appearance for chassis 54. Mercedes withdrew from motor sport activities at the end of the year after the Le Mans ’55 disaster in its driver Pierre Levegh crashed into the crowd, killing himself and 83 spectators.

Chassis 54 remained in Stuttgart until it was donated – still in its stromlinienwagen bodywork – by Mercedes in 1965 to the then-new IMS Museum, where it has remained ever since.

The Merc will go up for auction with RM Sotheby’s this weekend, part of an 11-car collection being sold which also includes the 1965 Le Mans-winning Ferrari 250 LM and Craig Breedlove’s Spirit of America Land Speed Record contender.

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Car is being sold to fund IMS museum restoration

RM Sotheby’s

IMS hopes to raise £95m from the combined sale, with the restoration of its museum set for completion in April 2025.

“If we can have that kind of funding in the bank, the interest income alone is going to allow us to buy new things for our collection, take care of our staff and take care of our cars,” said museum president Joe Hale. “It is going to guarantee the future of this museum.”

You can find more information about the IMS sale here.

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