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1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R streamliner becomes most valuable Grand Prix car ever sold

Words: Elliott Hughes | Photography: RM Sotheby’s

The 1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen has sold for €51,155,000 ($53,917,370), at the private RM Sotheby’s auction at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, Germany. This makes it the most valuable Grand Prix racing machine ever sold, as well as the second most valuable car of any kind to be sold at auction.

It’s surpassed only by the 1955 Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR ‘Uhlenhaut Coupé’, which RM Sotheby’s auctioned at the Mercedes-Benz Museum back in 2022 for €135 million.

This was the first time a streamliner-bodied W 196 R had ever been offered for private sale. This car, chassis no. 00009/54, is one of the world’s most historically significant racing machines, and it was donated to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum in 1965 by what was then Daimler-Benz AG.

The sale, on February 1, 2025, attracted interest from collectors around the globe, and it went down to a heated bidding battle over the phone and in person, before auctioneer Sholto Gilbertson brought the hammer down at a selling price of €46,500,000 – or €51,155,000 with premiums.

The proceeds from the sale will be used to support the continuing improvement and expansion of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which is currently undergoing a full interior rework. The Mercedes is one of 11 non-Indy cars being sold this year as part of the museum’s drive to concentrate purely on Indy exhibits.

The money from the sales cannot be used to improve the structure of the facility, as IMS Museum president Joe Hale explains here, but it will be used for longer-term improvements.

“The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum has been honoured to care for and share the W 196 R within our museum,” said Hale. “However, the sum it has achieved today is a transformative contribution to increase our endowment and long-term sustainability, as well as the restoration and expansion of our collection.”

The next car from the museum to come up for sale will be the Le Mans-winning Ferrari 250 LM at the Paris RM Sotheby’s sale, followed by more at Moda Miami in a few weeks’ time.

“What a thrilling auction that was,” said Marcus Breitschwerdt, CEO of Mercedes-Benz Heritage GmbH. “This original, sleek-bodied W 196 R has now changed hands – and I congratulate the lucky buyer. Very few Mercedes-Benz Silver Arrows are privately owned. Without a doubt, our Silver Arrows are up there among the most iconic and sought-after vehicles ever built. They are the true shining stars in the firmament of motor sport and automotive history.”

“It’s hard to describe the significance of this sale,” said Gord Duff, RM Sotheby’s global head of auctions. “This car is simply one of the most important racing cars in history, and it’s an honour for RM Sotheby’s to sell it so successfully to benefit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.”

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