1954 Mercedes-Benz Race Car Sold For $53 Million
Sometimes second place isn’t. bad.
A 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen grand prix race car was auctioned on Saturday by RM Sotheby’s at Mercedes-Benz headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, for €51,155,000, or roughtly $53 Million, which is the second-higest price ever paid for a car at a public auction.
The single-seat car was driven in Formula 1 by legendary drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Sterling Moss and one of four examples of the car that were equipped with a streamlined body.
Mercedes-Benz donated the vehicle to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in 1965, where it had been ever since. The museum is currently undergoing renovations and is selling several vehicles from its collection.
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The car was originally built in an open wheel configuration, but rules allowed for streamlined bodies at the time and Mercedes-Benz designed one with high speed tracks like Monza in mind.
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The car is powered by a 3.0-liter straight-eight-cylinder engine that produced between 257 hp and 290 hp during its racing career. With the streamlined body, it was able to reach a top speed of 186 mph.
The highest price ever officially confirmed for a car sold at auction was for one of the two Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe race cars that were developed for the 1956 season, but never raced. It went for €135 million at a private RM Sotheby’s event in Stuttgart in 2022, which was $143 million at the time.
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Second place on the list had been the $51,705,000 that was paid for a 1962 Ferrari 330 LM / 250 at an RM Sotheby’s auction in New York in 2023. A 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO was also reportedly sold privately in 2018 for $70 million, but the price was never officially confirmed.
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