This Mercedes could smash the record for most expensive F1 car ever sold · RaceFans

A Mercedes will be offered at auction this year which could smash the record for most expensive Formula 1 car ever.

The 1955 W196R in rare ‘Streamliner’ configuration will be sold this autumn. The car is one of several being sold by RM Sotheby’s for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway “as part of an ongoing strategy to support the museum’s long-term financial sustainability.”

Mercedes dominated F1 with their W196 machines after they entered the world championship in mid-1954 until their departure at the end of the following year. Juan Manuel Fangio scored eight wins in their cars, collecting two drivers’ titles on the way, and Stirling Moss took his first victory in a world championship round at the wheel of a W196.

Another W196, in non-streamlined configuration, set the current record for most expensive F1 car when it sold for £19.6 million at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in July 2013. A spokesperson for Sotheby’s told RaceFans they estimate the value of the 1955 W196R ‘Streamliner’ at between 50 and 70 million dollars (£38-£53 million).

A sale at the lower estimate would comfortably set a new record for most expensive F1 machine and place the W196R ‘Streamliner’ among the most valuable cars of any type. However, even if it hits the upper end of its valuation, it will still fall well shy of the most expensive car ever auctioned. This was another Mercedes of the same era, a roadgoing 300 SLR ‘Uhlenhaut’ Coupe, which fetched $142m two years ago.

The ‘Streamliner’ W196 cars, with their distinctive wheel-enclosing bodywork, were favoured by Mercedes for the quickest tracks on the calendar. Fangio didn’t initially gel with the concept, famously denting the front of his car as he repeatedly struck the oil barrels which marked the inside of Silverstone’s corners at the 1954 British Grand Prix.

But demonstrating Mercedes’ commitment to success, even after the company announced its withdrawal from F1 in 1955, it still produced updated versions of the ‘Streamliner’ for Fangio and Moss to use in their final appearance at Monza. Fangio won the race on the banked version of the circuit, Moss retiring with an engine problem. After that, Mercedes did not return to F1 until 2010.

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More modern F1 cars have sold for eight-figure sums in recent years. Lewis Hamilton’s first Mercedes, which he drove in 2013, sold for £15.1m…