What is it that makes a car desirable in an auction? Is it its rarity, the reputation of its manufacturer, age, vehicle performance, or that individual vehicle’s history? Arguably, it’s a mixture of all three, with the cars that sell the best hitting all the qualities for a specific set of buyers. RM Sotheby’s has put up just such a vehicle for auction, a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen.
The car is part of a special single-lot sale titled W 196 R: The Monza Streamliner taking place on 1 February in Stuttgart, the headquarters of Mercedes-Benz. The lot is estimated at US$50 million, fitting as it is one of only four examples of this vehicle to exist and was driven major success by two of the most accomplished drivers in history: Juan Manuel Fangio and Sir Sterling Moss.
Lot 1 | Merceedes-Benz | 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen
Circa 1954
Chassis Number: 00009/54
Provenance(Complied by The Value):
- 1954-1955, Daimler Benz AG
- 1955, Daimler-Benz Museum (now the Mercedes-Benz Museum), Stuttgart, Germany
- 1965, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum
Estimate: US$50,000,000
Auction House: RM Sotheby’s
Sale: W 196 R: The Monza Streamliner
Date: 1 February 2024
This vehicle, the W 196 R, debuted in 1954 at the Formula One French Grand Prix, and when it was unveiled, it represented quite a few firsts in automobile history. It used a highly complex desmodromic valve reciprocating engine system, and its direct fuel injection was developed from the engine used in the BF109 German fighter plane from the Second World War.
The car was truly a product of the rebirth of German industry following the war, as Daimler-Benz sought to exit its wartime activities and once again produce luxury automobiles and racecars; the idea that they would enter motorsport followed in tow.
When the company realized what the 1954 Formula One rules and regulations in car construction were, they witnessed an opportunity, as the lax rules in what defined a Formula One car allowed the German corporation to leverage its wealth, skills, and vast infrastructure to produce a race-winning car.
In addition to the aforementioned fuel injector and reciprocal engine system, it featured a purpose-built engine, the M 196, which by the time of its final iteration produced 290 horsepower. The car also had an improved fuel tank that reduced the impact of liquid sloshing and a bizarre gearbox that, among the many things that it did, reduced the amount of space it took up within the vehicle.
The size issue was important as it had to fit within a specially built car body that rejected conventional Formula One car designs for a streamlined body with wheels inside the chassis that would maximize performance on high-speed tracks. Thus, a torpedo-esque body was designed that willingly sacrificed performance on circuits that were full of tight turns but maximized gains in places where speed was key.
The streamlined chassis of the car and the enclosure for its wheels visible from both the front and back
Two of the streamlined variants being raced at Monza in 1955, with Moss leading and Fangio following. The performance of these vehicles at high-speed tracks is visible as it leads other open-wheeled cars in the rear
A close-up of the lot being raced at the Monza track
Thus, Formula One is an open-wheeled racing series, defined by the wheels being outside the car’s main body. The W 196 R “Monza,” which debuted in France in 1954, was a closed-wheeled car. Its performance and capabilities on high-speed tracks, like in France, were proven when the Daimler-Benz AG team took home a 1-2 finish with its drivers Juan Manuel Fangio and Karl Kling on the W 196’s debut.
This very car would be entered into several more races across the 1954 and 1955 seasons and earn the distinction of being the only closed-wheel Formula One car to win races in France and Italy in 1954 and again in Italy in 1955.
Alternatively, the car had an open-bodied configuration, more traditional to Formula One cars. This came into existence when, at the car’s second race in Britain, it lost as Fangio struggled with high-speed corners, thus necessitating a version with open wheels for other important races, including the most vital, the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring.
The legendary Formula One champion Fangio would use this very car, in both configurations, as well as a Maserati, to win the Formula One Drivers Championship in 1954, his second at the time. Fangio would go on to win three more times and become the sixth most accomplished Formula One driver of all time.
Fangio, in the leading car, racing the open-wheeled variant of the W 196 R
Aside from Fangio, the car was also driven by British racing legend Stirling Moss, another of the most successful Formula One drivers in history. Originally a privateer racer, he showed promise and was recruited into the Daimler-Benz outfit, where he would race alongside Fangio.
While the two prime drivers were on the same team, this did not mean they received totally identical cars, especially in this more lax era of Formula One rules. In the 1955 season, the medium-wheelbase version of the W 196 R that Moss was driving felt twitchy to him, so he requested a longer one, which turned out to be this very lot.
After a contested season fought between Fangio and Moss, Fangio would end up winning again, but not without this car taking Moss to second place. Thus, this car not only took Fangio to victory in 1954, but Moss to second in 1955, cementing the team’s victorious early history before their exit from the sport later that year due to the disaster at Le Mans.
By 1955, ten W 196 R samples had been built in various configurations, including four with streamlined bodywork, one of which is the lot on sale. This specific one would be partially dismantled and displayed at the Daimler-Benz museum in Germany before being one of four selected to be sent overseas to other museums.
In the mid-1960s, through a connection with the Mercedes-Benz Club of America, this specific car was secured to be displayed at America’s most famous raceway at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, home to the Indy 500.
The car has since been at the American Museum, occasionally making trips out to important car shows on the continent. Its entry onto the auction market marks the only time a W 196 R has ever been available to the private market, and its future owner might be able to drive it following an extensive reconstruction effort.
The car for up auction being shipped off to America in 1965 from Bremerhaven, Germany. On the box is in an inscription that translates to “Gift for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum."