A Mercedes aerodynamic piloted by the Legends of Formula 1 Stirling Moss and Juan Manuel Fangio in 1955 crashed the record for a major prize car on Saturday when he was auctioned by 51,155 million euros.
The car had a price estimate of more than 50 million euros, and although bids quickly reached 40 million euros, with increments of 5 million, they decreased before the final value of 46.5 million.
The final price includes the buyer’s premium, which was not identified at first.
The elegant and silver W196 R stromlinienwagen, one of the only four full copies, was sold by RM Sotheby’s at the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, on behalf of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
However, the most expensive car sold in auction is still the sporty Mercedes 300slr Uhlenhaut Coupe of 1955 that changed hands by 135 million euros in May 2022.
The most expensive large auction car was another piloted by Fangio, the 1954 Mercedes W196, which yielded $ 29.6 million in Goodwood, England in 2013.
The car sold on Saturday (1st) was driven to the victory by five -time world champion Fangio at the BUENOS Aires Grand Prix in 1955, but with a more conventional cigar body in the same chassis and fully open wheels.
