1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R Stromlinienwagen

Offered by RM Sotheby’s | Stuttgart, Germany | February 2025

Photo Courtesy of RM Sotheby’s

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum had one of the world’s great collections of cars. And it’s slowly dissipating. They sold a bunch of cars with Bring a Trailer a few years ago, including some wacky but not super notable race cars, some classics that formed the original basis of the museum, and some recent racing-related things, like a Honda Accord Hybrid IndyCar pace car.

They sat on the best stuff, some of the stuff that, once it’s gone, will never be back. Visiting the museum was always a treat, because you never knew what amazing thing might be on display. Well, they are narrowing their focus to “Indianapolis” and the W196R streamliner seen here never raced there. So it’s got to go. Along with other previously “priceless” treasures. It’s pretty sad.

The W196 Silver Arrow was Mercedes’ last F1 car until 2010. It competed in the 1954 and 1955 seasons before Mercedes pulled out of racing after their cars started killing pedestrians. They built 14 examples of the W196R, and 10 still existed at the end of the 1955 season. Four of those would end up getting donated to various museums. This one, chassis 00009/54 ended up going to Indiana.

Of the 10 surviving cars, only four were ever fitted with streamliner bodywork. The car is powered by a 2.5-liter inline-eight that was rated at 256 horsepower. The race history for this chassis includes:

1955 Argentine Grand Prix – 1st (with Juan Manuel Fangio as open-wheel car)

1955 Italian Grand Prix – 14th, DNF (with Stirling Moss as streamliner)

RM estimates a sale price “in excess” of $55 million. We’ll see. The car will probably end up somewhere and will never be seen again. Click here to read a LOT more about the car’s history.

1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R

Offered by Bonhams | Goodwood, U.K. | July 12, 2013

There’s been a lot of talk about this car and its forthcoming auction held at Bonhams’ sale at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. There’s talk of it breaking all kinds of auction records. It seems every time a car comes with that kind of talk, it mysteriously disappears and is never auctioned because it cannot be authenticated. Well this one can.

The W196 was Mercedes-Benz’s entry for the 1954 and 1955 Formula One seasons. Their drivers included Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss – two of the biggest names in the history of motorsport. Mercedes withdrew from competition of all kinds in 1955, and they went out on top with this car.

This is the only W196 that is not owned by Mercedes themselves or housed in a mega-museum. It is the only surviving W196 to have won multiple Grands Prix. Fangio clinched his second Drivers’ title driving this car. And it remains in nearly that state today – unrestored, original and complete. Mercedes has inspected the car and said that, with the exception of a few pieces, this is exactly how the car was prepared for its final race in 1955. That’s amazing.

Chassis #00006/54 can be lightly prepped and run in the condition it is in today. No need to restore it (please don’t!). The mechanicals are described as being pretty complex for 1954 and the engine is a naturally-aspirated 2.5-liter straight-eight making about 290 horsepower. It was a beast and its competition history is as follows:

1954 German Grand Prix (Nürburgring) – 1st, from Pole (with Juan Manual Fangio)
1954 Swiss Grand Prix (Bremgarten) – 1st, with Fastest Lap (with Fangio – who clinched his second title by winning this race)
1954 Italian Grand Prix (Monza) – 4th (with Hans Hermann)
1954 Spanish Grand Prix (Pedralbes) – 12th, DNF (with Hermann)
1955 Italian Grand Prix (Monza) – 11th, DNF (with Karl Kling)

After its final race, the car came into the control of Daimler-Benz’s “Exhibition Department,” which showed the car at events around the world. It was then used for testing in the 1970s before Benz swapped it for another car at a museum in England. When the museum wanted to add on to the their building, they sold the car. The new owner sold it a while later to a man who paid a world record (and undisclosed) price for it. In the 1990s, it was acquired by Friedhelm Loh, a German businessman, who ran the car in a few historic races such as the Monaco Historic Grand Prix and the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Then he sold it. Now it can be yours, if you happen to be wealthy in the most villainous of ways.

Obviously, no estimate was provided for this car because anything that has sold for a “world record price” is unlikely to have an estimate attached to it. It should bring an incredible amount – should it actually meet its reserve. I have to say, this is a very exciting car, as cars of this magnitude so rarely come up for sale. And to think, what could end up being the world’s most expensive car could have plaid seats! Only 14 W196s were built and only nine survived until Daimler decided to restore a written-off chassis. Now there are ten of them – and this is the only one you can buy. Daimler owns seven of them and two are in other museums.

Click here for more information and photos and here for more from Bonhams at Goodwood.

Update: Sold $29,614,692.