A Mercedes W196R is set to go under the hammer, and if sold, will break the world record for a Formula 1 car bought by quite some margin.

The current record price is held by another W196R – the only other to go to auction – sold for £19.6m in 2013. But if sold, the Streamliner edition – the first ever offered for private ownership – could fetch at least double that.

Iconic Mercedes F1 car could fetch over $50m in world record auction

Auctioneers RM Sotheby’s are selling the 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196R Stromlinienwagen, specifically chassis number 00009/54 – driven by both Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss in Formula 1.

Fangio drove the chassis to a home win at the 1955 Buenos Aires Grand Prix at Buenos Aires, and the same chassis would then be taken on by Moss later that season at Monza, on the famous 10-kilometre banked layout no longer in use in Formula 1.

The Briton set the fastest lap of the race with the Stromlinienwagen [‘Streamlined car’] bodywork attached, but had to retire midway through the race for an engine issue.

The adaptations to this specific car saw Mercedes cover the tyres from its previous open-wheel specification, and put on a long-wheelbase chassis.

Fangio would go on to win the third of his five World Championships come the end of 1955, and second with Mercedes, with Moss finishing as runner-up.

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Sotheby’s are inviting bids in excess of €50m, $50m or £41,5m before the car goes to auction on 1 February – more than double the previous auction price of the 2013 sale of Fangio’s title-winning chassis from 1954.

This occasion marks only the second time a W196R chassis has been made available for private sale, and the first in Stromlinienwagen specification, with this race-winning car set to go under the hammer at the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart.

Part of its sky-high value may be explained because, beyond its rarity, success and having been driven by an all-time great in Fangio and another extremely highly-regarded driver in Moss, this particular model has been on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum since 1965, after being donated by Mercedes to the world-famous circuit.

This not only means the car has been held in trusted hands, but that the history of the car can be traced to create what Sotheby’s describes as “truly impeccable provenance” – a crucial part of valuing items at auction.

Should the W196R sell for its asking price, it would immediately become the most expensive Formula 1 car ever sold at auction, and would go straight in amongst the most expensive cars ever sold – with only a 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR Uhlenhaut Coupe [$142m] and 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO by Scaglietti [$51.7m] ever having sold for more than $50m at auction.

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