Dang.
By J.A. Ackley
Feb 3, 2025
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Mercedes-Benz,
RM Sotheby's
Photography courtesy RM Sotheby's
What’s the most valuable Grand Prix car ever sold? This 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen. The winning bid at the recent RM Sotheby’s auction? €51,155,000.
Why so valuable? Well, it’s the first Streamliner-bodied W 196 R ever offered for private ownership. Only four known examples received the coachwork. Opportunities like this don’t come every day.
Furthermore, the drivers who competed with this Mercedes-Benz certainly didn’t hurt the value. Five-time F1 champ Juan Manuel Fangio drove the it to victory in the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix. Then Sir Stirling Moss steered it to the fastest lap in the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.
Dang.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
Wikipedia says it's now the second most expensive car sold at auction, behind the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe that sold in 2022 for $143,000,000.
Inboard drums?! Straight 8? This thing is crazy.
In reply to iansane :
Having run both supercharged inline eight-cylinder and V-12 engines during the interwar period, the racing department had several options to test, and eventually concluded that a straight-eight configuration displacing 2,494 cubic centimeters would deliver the most consistent power. Designed around a complex Hirth roller-bearing crankshaft, the engine was essentially two four-cylinder motors in unison, with two camshafts for each intake and exhaust. This jewel of an engine was equipped with racing components like dual ignition and dry-sump lubrication while featuring revolutionary desmodromic valve gear instead of standard valve springs; and Bosch high-pressure direct fuel injection that guaranteed reliable and smooth power application. Source
I spied the injection pump and had to do some googling.
By the way, more race cars should have plaid seats.
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