The world's second most expensive car was sold at auction this weekend. The Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Streamline Wagen exceeded all expectations. Only one other Mercedes is more expensive.
The world's second most expensive car ever sold at auction in Germany over the weekend. The car, a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen, went under the hammer at an event held at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.
The auction was conducted by RM Sotheby's, which had previously estimated that the car could achieve a sales price of over 50 million euros.
The assessment turned out to be correct, as the final hammer price was 51,155,000 euros, equivalent to 599 million kroner.
With this sale price, the Mercedes becomes the world's second most expensive car ever sold at auction. Funnily enough, the most expensive is also a Mercedes.
– It is difficult to describe the significance of this sale. "This car is simply one of the most important racing cars in history," said Gord Duff, RM Sotheby's auction director, in a press release .
The Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen has a historic background in motorsport. The model was narrowly defeated by Juan Manuel Fangio at the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix and set the fastest lap time at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix with Stirling Moss behind the wheel.
This is the first time that a W 196 R with the factory-built Streamline Wagen body has been offered on the open market. Only four known examples of this model still exist in complete condition.
Normally, an auction like this would include multiple cars or collectibles, but this time the event was solely focused on this one car.
The auction took place on February 1st at the Mercedes-Benz Museum.
The car has been on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum for a number of years. As a result, it is recommended that the new owner be careful when starting the car again, as it has not been used for several years.
The starting price at RM Sotheby's was set at "more than 50,000,000 euros", which corresponds to approximately 373 million Danish kroner.
The final sale price exceeded this amount, making the car the second most expensive ever sold at auction.
The most expensive car ever sold at auction is also a Mercedes. In 2022, a 300 SLR "Uhlenhaut" coupé was sold for the equivalent of 1 billion Danish kroner.
At the time, the buyer remained anonymous. But it is said to be English billionaire Jim Ratcliffe who put the money on the table.
Ratcliffe also owns the car brand Ineos, which was recently relaunched
