1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 R streamliner bought for €51.155m

The dust has only just settled on an event held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart where RM Sotheby’s sold a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 R racing car donated to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in 1965 for €51,155,000 all-in. That’s around $53m.
The car carried a pre-sale estimate “In Excess of €50,000,000” and was hammered sold to Shelby Myers on the telephone by British auctioneer Sholto Gilbertson when bidding stopped at €46,500,000.
With RM’s usual 12% under €250,000/10% over €250,000 buyer’s premium, that equates to €51,155,000.
Comparisons will be made with the sale of the 1955 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupé for €135m in May 2022, some $142m. Both were invitation-only events, held away from regular visitors to the Museum with security on today’s sale only slightly less strict.The 300 SLR was in fully running condition; today's W196 R has been on static display for decades and requires total restoration by only the best to return it to 'track-ready'. Budget ca. $2m for this.

While the great German company would never sell the sister car to the Coupé, it’s only highly unlikely another W196 single-seater would come to market, particularly with sensational Stromlinienwagen aerodynamic enclosed bodywork. As a single-seater it’s intrinsically less usable and valuable than a sports car. And being picky, this (long) chassis, 00009/54, cannot boast an outstanding record in competition: its sole win was in Fangio’ hands with a 3-litre engine and open bodywork at the 1955 Formula Libre Buenos Aires Grand Prix, and that was an aggregated result over two heats.
Stirling Moss drove the car as a full streamliner at Monza later that year, qualifying second to Fangio, setting fastest lap but pulling up with piston failure.
When Mercedes retired from racing at the close of 1955, 10 W196 Grand Prix racing cars remained in running order, four with streamlined bodywork. This car was donated to the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in spring 1965. Similar arrangements were made with other national collections: Bonhams sold W196 R chassis 00006/54, an open-wheel example presented to the British National Motor Museum at Beaulieu in 1973, for £19,601,500 inc. premium in July 2013. But that left the Museum some years later, going into top-level private ownership from where it was offered at the Goodwood Festival of Speed auction.

Thomas Berns was at the auction for K500 and comments:
“Traffic getting to the event was bad, but that was due to a football match at the stadium opposite the museum rather than interest in the auction. A fair number of those in the saleroom, the same one used for the SLR Coupé sale three years ago, were journalists or RM staff. But one determined bidder was present in the room for the duration of proceedings that lasted 16 minutes from start to finish.
“Considering the sums involved, the atmosphere was subdued. Had this been a sale conducted at Rétromobile or Monterey I think there would have been much more of a buzz. It was ‘efficient’ rather than ‘exhilarating’, perhaps befitting the location. Sholto Gilbertson started at €20m and bids came in from the phones and in the room in €5m increments up to €40m when the car was declared ‘on sale’; it was going to a new home.
“From there, things slowed down a bit and it ended up a battle between a phone bidder and the room bidder in €1m, then €500k stages to €46,500,000 when Gilbertson dropped the hammer in Shelby Myers’ clients’ favour.
“All things considered that is an impressive figure, more than many expected and, with premium, pretty well what RM forecasted, though the champagne corks weren’t popping at the time I left.”

Photos by Thomas Berns for K500