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Collectors are crazy, and when a car pops up that no one else has ever owned in a private collection it attracts the heavy hitters. We’ve already seen it play out with the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe that fetched USD$143,000,000 at auction back in 2022, and quickly cemented itself as the most expensive car ever sold. Now, we’re witnessing history again with the sale of this 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen for a whopping €51,155,000 (USD$52.5 million, AUD$85 million) at Sotheby’s.
This is the first time we’ve ever seen a streamliner-bodied Uhlenhaut-developed W 196 R offered to private collectors, and this one has been released from the Collection of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum after 59 years, so you know it’s a peach.
There are only four of these cars in the world (that we know of) and it’s essentially a 1955 Sir Stirling Moss and race-winning Juan Manuel Fangio-driven Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 car that’s had its wheels covered by gorgeous curved Elektron magnesium alloy fenders that weighed just 88 pounds (40 kilograms). Combine this provenance with the fact even billionaires haven’t been able to get their hands on this rare piece of Formula 1 history and you have the perfect storm for €51,155,000 sale.

Like the W 194 300 SL, Rudolf Uhlenhaut was the brains behind this bonkers Mercedes-Benz Formula 1 operation and he was given free reign to create a race-winning car with features that were nearly unheard of at the time. Front double wishbone independent suspension, humungous Alfin drum brakes, torsion-bar springs, hydraulic telescopic shock absorbers, and most importantly, his patented low-pivot swing axle rear suspension that eventually got stuck underneath the 300 SL Roadster production car.
Under the bonnet, he shoe-horned a supercharged inline eight-cylinder engine, that was essentially two 4-cylinder engines joined together. It developed 257 horsepower at first, and then 290 horsepower after a few seasons, but in a body as lightweight as this, it was a rocket ship.
He wrapped all of his work in a gorgeous Stromlinie “Streamline” body made from Elektron magnesium alloy that was lighter than aluminium and weighed just 88 pounds (40 kilograms). It was intended to be used on the high-speed circuits during the season, while the open-wheeled car was to be used for the tighter, twistier circuits that weren’t as troubled by aerodynamic efficiency. Amazingly, the W 196 R could reach a top speed of over 186 mph, which made it one of the fastest Grand Prix cars of its era.

The results of his work were quickly realised when three W 196 R Streamliners qualified and finished 1st, 2nd, and 7th, in the first race of the 1954 season. Factory driver Juan Manuel Fangio would go on to win the 1954 Formula 1 championship for Mercedes-Benz and prevent Ferrari from the magical three-peat. However, it would be the next season that cemented the Stromlinienwagen’s status in history at a new Italian Grand Prix circuit at Monza that added a large bank section for the first time. Fangio and Taruffi would go on to finish 1st and 2nd while Moss (piloting chassis number 00009/54) would finish with the fastest lap and an average speed of 215.7 km/h on lap 21.
Mercedes-Benz would bow out of the following seasons, and in October 1955 they held a ceremony to to retire the W 196 R. Every one of the 10 remaining cars would be moved to the the Daimler-Benz Museum, but eventually, four cars were donated to museums around the world, including chassis number 00009/54 which was selected to be displayed periodically at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum after spending 9 years at Mercedes-Benz.
Most recently, the car was displayed at the Petersen Museum and was also part of the Mercedes-Benz display at the 2024 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.








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