Fangio’s Mercedes sells for record £19.6 million

2013 Goodwood Festival of Speed

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A Mercedes Formula One car raced by Juan Manuel Fangio has sold for a record price of £19.6 ($29.6m) at auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.

The Mercedes W196, chassis number 00006/54, was raced by Fangio to victory in the 1954 German and Swiss Grands Prix. Fangio went on to win the world championship for the second time that year.

This chassis was one of two produced at Fangio’s request without covered wheels so he could position the car more accurately on the track while driving.

The W196 the most valuable car ever sold at auction, exceeding the 2011 sale price of a Ferrari by £9.6m. It is the highest price ever fetched by an F1 car or a Mercedes of any kind.

The car was presented at auction on an original Mercedes race car transporter.

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Images © F1 Fanatic/Joris Meuffels

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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33 comments on “Fangio’s Mercedes sells for record £19.6 million”

  1. Who bought it?

  2. I could buy this Mercedes (the truck of cource) :-P

    1. I don’t think you appreciate how special the truck is.

    2. @sigman1998, I guess that truck is worth a huge sum as well.

  3. What would I give to have that car .. about 19,7 million pound I guess (if I had them).

  4. The transporter is just about as cool as the race car. For 19.6 million, I hope they threw that in as well!

  5. what a j o k e

  6. Let’s hope the lucky chap who bought it, has a good explanation ready for why it was such a good idea to sell the kids, the dog and the house to buy that car.
    “but darling, it’s vehicle tax exempt!”

  7. £19.6 ($29.6m) most likely does not include the commission.

  8. Sure the Europe is in financial crisis :).

    1. The Europe ?

  9. It is really amazing, and probably worth that, but unfortunately, because it’s so expensive, it’ll never be used; it will be used simply to gain value, and won’t be used for its intended purpose, which makes me sad; it’s important that as many people as possible get to see cars like this hammering around race tracks, if only to educate people on the history of Formula 1, and to get people interested in it.
    I can understand why the guy who bought it won’t race it, but in my opinion, cars like this are too expensive for their own good; it discourages the owners racing them and showing them to people at events such as the Silverstone Classic.

    1. To be fair, it wasn’t going to be used for its intended purpose anyway. It shouldn’t be. At most, it could be paraded around the track like Hamilton and Rosberg did a couple of weeks ago with similar cars, but they are way too unsafe to be raced nowadays.

      1. It may be incredibly unsafe, but that doesn’t stop 1960s F1 cars being raced at the Silverstone Classic, and the death rate during the 60s was far worse than in the 1950s

        1. Maybe so, but I wouldn’t consider it a shame that this car won’t be raced. Not only because of safety, but because I would rather not have a millionaire crash a piece of history. I wouldn’t like to see it locked in a vault or in someone’s house either. It should be displayed in a museum, or something like that.

          1. I appreciate where you’re coming from, but I believe it shouldn’t be confined to a museum; people need to hear the engine, to smell the exhaust fumes of Formula 1 of old.
            There is only so much a museum exhibition can do.

          2. I’m sure that there are other cars from that era, or even accurate replicas, that could be used for demonstrations, shows, parades, the kids to climb into and take pictures, etc. It doesn’t need to be this historic and irreplaceable car in particular.

  10. Just noticed; W196 sold for 19.6 million…

  11. Is that something a person would restore or do you leave it as is?

    1. leave it, unless the cars major controls dont work

  12. I bought it… anyone wants a ride?…. Obviously a joke… I could live forever with that much money…

    But even so, beautiful car…

  13. This isn’t one of the cars that Lewis, Nico and Michael have driven for Merc PR?

  14. That will pay Hamilton’s salary for this season… just! :P

  15. Wow. And there I was feeling really good about myself for saving up £35 to go to Silverstone next week.

  16. I guess I just want to know if it was bought for love or an investment.

    It would be sad to see something like this locked in a vault to do nothing but add digits to a bank account somewhere or be traded like a bar of gold.

    1. As a guitarist I feel the same way when I see collectors with vintage 50’s and 60’s Fender Strats locked away in vaults and never ever used. What is the point? These things are to be used and enjoyed. It makes me sad.

  17. They were talking about this on NBC Nightly News tonight (Brian Williams the anchor is a big motorsports fan) and it was said that the reason it went for so much was because the car WAS NOT restored and that it still had the dents, dings, rubber build-up, dirt, etc on it from it’s last race and that if it had been cleaned & restored that it wouldn’t have went for nearly as much.

  18. Does anyone know if there’s a reason for the exhaust pointing at the rear wheel? Did they use the gases to heat up the tires, or something?

  19. I love how streamlined the transporter looks, especially from the rear. Wonder if it was included in the 19.6 million pounds?

  20. Why shouldn’t it be driven , i had the pleasure of watching Sir Stirling Moss race his 1955 Mercedes up the hill yesterday and it sounded great

  21. Gaston (@golarrazabal)
    14th July 2013, 18:58

    Now donate it to Sauber, but they would still be £400k short :(

  22. Fools! They could have bought 20 Bugatti Veyrons for that!

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