Fangio’s Grand Prix-winning Mercedes sells for a record $29.6 million

[davidmash]

Dam!!!

When Bonhams announced the sale of Juan Manuel Fangio's 1954 Grand Prix-winning Mercedes W196 in March, the storied machine was expected to fetch around $7.5 million. Today, when the auctioneer's hammer fell, the Mercedes became the most valuable motor vehicle ever sold at auction, smashing the previous record with a final price of $29.6 million

$29 MILLION

[t walgamuth]

There is a great article in Classic and Sportscar about that car last month. I am not surprised it brought a very high price but Wow! That's a lot. I like how it has bumps and scratches from its last race!

[Hatterasguy]

That's supposedly in the ballpark of what 250GTO's trade for.

[t walgamuth]

Yes, a number have reportedly changed hands in the 30m range.

[Pooka]

I wonder if it was the car, the Fangio connection, or a mixture of both?

[t walgamuth]

All that and more. It was a totally dominant car brought to the scene, winning immediately, and very ahead of its time.

There were four built and the other three still belong to Mercedes benz, this one arguably has the best racing record of them all. I imagine there is the assumption it is the only one which ever will be in private hands. It is fuel injected, with desdometic valves, with lots of super light materials like aluminum and magnesium, fully independent suspension, and enormous inboard drum brakes. It was an engineering tour de force.

The Mercedes factory team had the bankroll to out do all other teams and they wasted no efforts to do so.

Fangio said of his time there, "If I asked for a change in the car no matter what, it would be done immediately even if it meant fabrication of the parts".

With that sort of attention you can fine tune and hone a car to perfection.