Victories for Mercedes-Benz seem to come in pairs. In July 1954, the automaker introduced the W196 Stromlinienwagen at the French Grand Prix, where it won first and second place. Today, 71 years later, Mercedes has another 1-2 win, but in a different battle—it can now claim that it has the two most expensive cars to ever sell at auction. A rare Stromlinienwagen, chassis no. 00009/54, sold for 51.2 million euros ($52.7 million at today’s exchange rate) over the weekend.
RM Sotheby’s auctioned off chassis no. 00009/54 at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart on behalf of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum for its restoration efforts. Mercedes donated the car to the American museum in 1965. Now the second-most valuable car to ever sell at auction, it slots behind the Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe, which sold for $143 million in 2022.
Mercedes began testing chassis no. 00009 in December 1954, which it had originally completed in the open-wheel body. The car made its racing debut at a non-Formula 1 event in Argentina in January 1955, with Juan Manuel Fangio piloting the W196. The company used the 3.0-liter M196 engine in that campaign, which Mercedes paired with a five-speed manual gearbox.
The car would end its racing career at the Italian Grand Prix in September 1955 with Sir Stirling Moss behind the wheel. It wore the rare streamliner bodywork and performed well in the race, but Moss had to retire after 27 laps due to an issue with the number five cylinder. However, he achieved the race’s fastest lap, reaching 134 miles per hour.
Mercedes only made a limited number of the magnesium streamliner bodies, weighing just over 88 pounds. The automaker utilized the slippery bodies for high-speed tracks, intermittently using them during the 1954 and 1955 seasons. This is an incredibly special piece of racing history, so we're not surprised to see it sell for so much.
Source: RM Sotheby's
