Tag Archives: Sir Stirling Moss

Automobiles

Hammer Down! Juan Manuel Fangio’s Mercedes-Benz W196 Sells for $29.6 Million

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By John Lamm

Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand-Prix race car

Auctioneer Robert Brooks rapped the hammer at the Bonhams Goodwood sale, sending a Mercedes-Benz W196 grand-prix race car (detailed here) to a new owner and setting a new automotive record for most expensive car ever auctioned. Just how much will it cost its new owner when it’s all said and done? $29,650,095. What you get for that sort of money is W196 chassis number 00006/54, the 2.5-liter straight-eight open-wheel Formula 1 car driven by Juan Manuel Fangio to win the 1954 German and Swiss Grands Prix.

If you had taken our advice, you’d have won the lottery and bought yourself this W196. Even for those who use hundreds as kindling, we wonder what level of wealth is required to keep these wonderfully complex machines running. Mercedes likely would be happy to oversee the upkeep, but the lucky owner surely must be thinking, “How much is this going to cost me?” If it was up to us, we’d put the W196 on display in its beautifully unrestored condition, just as last raced.

Fangio’s W196 may have set the world’s record price, but it’s still a few shekels short of the outright sticker-price title. A 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO built for Sir Stirling Moss changed hands in a private sale last summer for a rumored $35 million. The $29 million and change, however, does smash the previous auction record set at $16.4 million when a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa rolled onto the auction block.

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Car & Driver

Automobiles

Buy Your Powerball Tickets Now: Historic Mercedes-Benz W196 F1 Racer Going to Auction

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By John Lamm

Thousands of automobiles go through auctions every year, from lowly Triumph TR3s to Holy Grail Ferrari 250GTOs, but this one could trump them all. At this summer’s Goodwood Festival of Speed, Bonhams auction house will drop the hammer on a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 grand-prix race car. You might be asking yourself, “What’s the big deal?” The big deal is that this car could potentially be the most expensive car ever sold.

Formula 1 introduced a new set of regulations for the 1954 season, including a new 2.5-liter non-supercharged formula. Many of the usual suspects were there—Ferrari, Maserati, Gordini—but as of the French Grand Prix at Reims and the introduction of Mercedes-Benz’s W196 , the next two seasons were in the bag for Mercedes and Juan Manual Fangio. Fangio and Mercedes went on to win eight grands prix in 1954 and 1955—out of a possible 16 races; the championships were much shorter in those days—and Fangio took the driver’s championships each season.

For the W196, Mercedes developed a 2.5-liter inline-eight that featured fuel injection, “Z-drive” desmodromic valves, and a built-up roller-bearing crankshaft. The engine was canted to lower its profile and center of gravity and the power taken from between cylinders four and five back to a five-speed transaxle. Suspension was independent all around, the brakes in-board drums at all four corners, and it was all housed in a tubular space frame. As first raced with 257 horsepower at Reims, the W196 had a wheel-enclosing aero body, which was used again at Monza, while it contested the rest of the calendar in the open-wheel configuration as seen in these photos.

Mercedes keeps close tabs on its historic race cars, but this one got away and its story remains somewhat murky. Years ago, before historic race cars became so valuable, they often were loaned to museums. You can see a W196 with the aero body at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. We don’t know conditions under which W196 chassis number 00006/54 found its way to the Beaulieu National Motor Museum in England—loaned or gifted—but it sold the car apparently to raise funds. The car has had several owners in the past few decades, although at this point it’s tough to pin down who they were. We do know, however, that the car is coming from Germany. In the quiet world of automotive megadeals, things usually are done sub rosa, so it’s interesting that this Mercedes will be available at a public auction.

As far as how much this car is worth, Bruce Canepa, who deals in exotic race cars, estimates it could finally sell for as much as $40 million. (As it stands, the most expensive car ever sold is a 1962 Ferrari 250GTO built for Sir Stirling Moss, which changed hands for $32 million last summer.) The Powerball jackpot is up …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Car & Driver

Automobiles

Aston Martin Celebrates 100 Years With A Pair Of CC100 Roadsters

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By Kurt Ernst

Aston Martin DBR1 - image: Brian Snelson

Aston Martin DBR1 – image: Brian Snelson

If you have a passion for British luxury sports cars, chances are you already know that 2013 marks 100 years of Aston Martin. The storied brand is celebrating with a series of events throughout the year, and it’s launching centenary editions of its current product line, aimed at a lucky few buyers.

You’ll need to be even luckier to put one of two planned CC100 roadsters in your garage. As Autocar tells us, Aston Martin will build each of the ultra-exclusive open-air cars, based on the V12 Vantage mechanicals, for a slightly different purpose. One of the cars will honor 100 years of Aston Martin, while the second will recognize Sir Stirling Moss’ 1959 Nürburgring 1000km victory, which he achieved behind the wheel of a DBR1.

Though the CC100 will be modern in terms of construction, expect to see retro styling influenced by the graceful lines of the DBR1 sports racer. Don’t expect the usual levels of Aston Martin luxury, however; like the DBR1, the CC100 will come with no doors and no roof, leaving the cockpit open to the elements.

Expect the CC100 to debut at this year’s Nürburgring 24 Hours, with Aston Martin CEO Ulrich Bez behind the wheel. Pricing hasn’t been officially set, but Bez has gone on record saying the CC100 will cost more than the V12 Zagato and less than the One-77. That puts it somewhere between $492,000 and $2.1 million, which is a pretty broad range to work with. Pricing aside, we’re fairly certain that demand will far exceed supply, meaning that only the most connected Aston Martin collectors will have a chance of obtaining a CC100.

Image credit: Brian Snelson, CC 2.0

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Source: FULL ARTICLE at Automotive Addicts