Will this 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Streamliner set the next record?

1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Streamliner (8)

About three years ago, the classic car scene was shaken up by a bang. One of the two Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR ‘Uhlenhaut coupés’ was auctioned off to a private collector for a record price of 135 million Euro. Now Mercedes-Benz Heritage GmbH, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum and the auction house RM Sotheby’s are preparing to auction off a Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Streamliner racing car from 1954. Once again, the classic car and racing world is looking forward to Stuttgart, where the auction will take place on 1 February. And perhaps a new record will be set.

The ‘Silver Arrows’ from Mercedes-Benz have a long tradition and have achieved many notable victories on racetracks around the world. The 1950s, for example, was an era with outstanding drivers in outstanding cars. Such as the W 196 R, which was developed to comply with the regulations for vehicles with an engine capacity of up to 2.5 litres that came into force in 1954.

A technical masterpiece

The racing car had a fuel-injected in-line eight-cylinder engine with a displacement of 2,494 cc. It is basically two four-cylinder engines joined together, which generated up to 213 KW/290 hp. The regulations were somewhat more liberal with regard to the bodywork. Accordingly, Mercedes-Benz prepared two bodies, one with free-standing wheels for winding roads and another with aerodynamic lines and enclosed wheels for use on high-speed tracks.

The W 196 R made its debut at the French Grand Prix in Reims with three streamlined cars. The driver team of Juan Manuel Fangio, Karl Kling and Hans Herrmann finished first, second and seventh, and at the end of the season Juan Manuel Fangio won the world championship title in the first year after Mercedes’ return to motorsport following the forced break after the Second World War.

1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Streamliner Juan Manuel Fangio Buenos Aires (17)
Juan Manuel Fangio (starting number 2) at the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz W 196 R during the Grand Prix of Buenos Aires, Argentina, on 30 January 1955.

Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Streamliner in the 1955 season

The W 196 was further developed for the 1955 season, with a number of changes being made to the engine in particular. The team was also strengthened and Stirling Moss was recruited as a driver. On 30 January 1955, Juan Manuel Fangio won the non-formulaic Argentine Grand Prix at home in Buenos Aires in the Silver Arrow with chassis number 00009/54.

The W 196 R had its first outing with the streamlined bodywork at Monza, where the new high-speed circuit was inaugurated in 1955. Juan Manuel Fangio secured pole position in a similar car, while Stirling Moss started from second place on the grid in 00009/54. Fangio won and was already crowned world champion in 1955 before the race. Moss only finished in seventh place due to technical problems, but still drove the fastest lap of the race with a time of 2:46.900 minutes and an average speed of 215.7 kilometres per hour.

After its active racing career, chassis number 00009/54 was donated to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in 1965. For almost six decades, the Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Streamliner was carefully cared for and maintained by the IMS Museum. It has occasionally been shown at major events such as the Amelia Island Concours dʼElegance in 1996, the Canadian International Auto Show in 2003 and the grand re-opening of the redesigned Petersen Automotive Museum in December 2015; however, it has never been entered for judging at concours events.

1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Streamliner Stirling Moss Monza (18)
Stirling Moss (starting number 16) at the wheel of the Mercedes-Benz W 196 R streamliner at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza on 11 September 1955.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum auction

Now the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is looking to reorganise and refocus its collection and restoration efforts, in addition to expanding and modernising the museum. The decision was made to auction off eleven of the racing cars from the collection in three auctions at different locations, organised by the renowned RM Sotheby’s auction house.

Before the vehicles from the Ferrari 250 LM, Bugatti T35 and Ford GT40 to Michael Schumacher’s Benetton B191 go under the hammer, the auction trilogy will start on 1 February 2025 at the Mercedes-Benz Museum. The manufacturer of this special vehicle will not only provide the premises, but Mercedes-Benz Heritage GmbH and the experts from the Classic Centre in Fellbach will also support the auction in close cooperation with specialist expertise, documents and a manufacturer’s report on the originality and authenticity of the vehicle.

Interested – and solvent – persons can register on the RM Sotheby’s website and take part in the auction. When do you ever have the opportunity to acquire a racing car like this? It is only the second W 196 R ever to be offered to private individuals and the first example with the streamlined bodywork. It will be exciting to see whether it can set the next record.


You can find out more about the Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Streamliner and the auction here.


Fotos Mercedes-Benz AG

Author: Paolo Ollig

As editor-in-chief Paolo regularly writes about all the big and small stories related to classic cars and motorbikes. Classic dreams: Lamborghini Countach and Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.

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