Car of the Week: This 1954 Mercedes-Benz Racer Could Fetch More Than $52 Million at Auction

Race cars rarely come along as breathtaking or as valuable as this one. The 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen—or Streamliner—driven in competition by both Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, is heading to auction with an estimated value in excess of $52 million. If it reaches that lofty number, it will become the second-most-expensive car to ever cross the block, behind the legendary 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe that went for a staggering $142 million as part of a fundraising auction in 2022.

What justifies the W 196 R Stromlinienwagen’s considerable value is the fact that it’s the first-ever Streamliner-bodied W 196 R to be offered for private ownership. That, and its impressive  racing history, with the eventual five-time Driver’s Champion Juan Manuel Fangio taking it to victory in the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix.

Then there was its appearance at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix in Monza, with Stirling Moss at the wheel. The famed British driver briefly lead the race, ahead of Fangio, but was forced to retire with mechanical problems. Yet Moss still recorded the fastest lap that day in this Silver Arrow. The car, chassis No. 00009/54, is one of only four W 196 R Formula 1 race cars fitted with that enclosed-fender, Stromlinienwagen body for Formula 1 competition in 1954 and 1955.

“Absolutely astonishing in every respect, from its advanced engineering and truly singular coachwork, to its remarkable history, this is a gem without parallel,” says RM Sotheby’s in its comprehensive description.

The auction house is offering the Streamliner in a special, one-car sale at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, on February 1. The sale is on behalf of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which has owned the car since 1965. 

In 1955, Mercedes-Benz was enjoying tremendous success with its open-wheel, torpedo-bodied W 196 R racer, powered by a 2.5-liter straight-eight engine delivering 290 hp. It was in this format that Fangio took chassis No. 00009/54 to victory in Buenos Aires. But the visionary Mercedes-Benz engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut decided that, while the W 196 R was perfect on tighter, more twisty tracks, the car would benefit from a closed-wheel, streamlined body to deliver higher top speeds on faster circuits.

The Stromlinienwagen was born using curvaceous coachwork—hand-formed out of Elektron magnesium alloy—that weighs a mere 88 pounds. With the body mounted on the W 196 R’s tubular spaceframe chassis, the vehicle can hit a top speed of 186 mph. At the car’s debut at the 1954 French Grand Prix in Reims, a trio of Streamliners were entered. At the end of the race, Fangio and teammate Karl Kling had finished first and second.

For the 1955 Italian Grand Prix, the final competition for the mighty W 196 R, chassis No. 00009/54 was piloted by Moss, who would go head-to-head with the great Fangio. Retired after the Monza race, the car was consigned to the Mercedes-Benz Museum where it, along with three other Streamliners, stayed until 1965. That was when the marque decided to thin its collection and, in a surprising move, donated the cars to prestigious museums around the world; chassis No. 00009/54 was gifted to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

According to RM Sotheby’s, the car has been fastidiously maintained by the museum ever since, spending most of its life secreted away underground as part of the Basement Collection, only available for select VIP tours. Over the years, it has been brought out to be displayed at shows like the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, in 1996 and again in 2020, the re-opening of the redesigned Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles in 2015, and most recently as part of the Mercedes-Benz display at this year’s Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

During its time at the museum, the Streamliner was mildly restored twice. The first time was in 1980, when it was refinished in the correct DB 180 Silver Metallic paint with No. 16 racing numbers in white roundels, as per its 1955 Monza livery. Then, in 2015, as part of its preparation for the Petersen event, it got a second repaint by the specialists at Canepa Motorsports in Scotts Valley, Calif.

So why has the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum decided to sell? According to Speedway President Joe Hale, it’s in a move to focus the 150-car collection on race cars directly connected to the Indy 500 or the Speedway.

In addition to the Streamliner, 10 other high-profile, non-Indy cars will be sold through three separate RM Sotheby’s auctions, including the 1965 Le Mans–winning Ferrari 250LM, and a Ford GT40 MK II that raced alongside the winning Ford in the 1966 race.

Hale says that proceeds from the three sales, predicted to range from $122 million to $160 million, will be used to acquire new, Indy-winning race cars and help fund day-to-day operations of the museum, which is currently going through an $89 million renovation. 

Click here for more photos of this 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen racer.