The prestigious and popular RM Sotheby’s auction house has sold a unit of the Mercedes W196R Stromlinienwagen, An iconic midfielder car from the 50s piloted by Juan Manuel Fangio and Stirling Moss, for more than 51 million euros. This is the second most expensive car in history.
In November 2023, precisely the Sotheby’s auction house sold for 48 million euros the most expensive Ferrari in history, a 1962 GTO that is still currently The rampant cavallino car for which more money has ever been paid. However, little has lasted the “joy” of being the second most expensive car in history, only behind a Mercedes Coupé 300 Slr Uhlenhaut in 1955, for which they paid 135 million euros.
This Saturday, February 1, Sotheby’s also, but in an auction held-it has not been a coincidence-at the Mercedes Benz Classic Center located in the German city of Stuttgart, it has sold one of the 14 units of the Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen of 1954 and one of the four intact that according to the auction house is in the world for a price of 51,155,000 million euros —53,917,370 dollars – thus unse expensive of history.
In the video of the bid published by the auction house, historical, it can be seen that The final price amounts “alone” to 46.5 million, But we must add the buyer’s premium, hence the final amount exceeds 51 million.
The vehicle in question, of undisputed beauty, is also one of the most famous racing cars in history. He was piloting Stirling Moss, who did, for example, in the 1955 Monza GP, and Juan Manuel Fangio, Argentine pilot who was five times world champion.
The car, once removed from the races, has spent almost six decades, 59 years in total, exhibited at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, an institution to which Mercedes Benz donated this historic unit.
The automobile museum has decided to sell this jewel, A work of art made racing carto improve your financial situation. In fact, as part of this restructuring, it will also sell other unique pieces such as the Ferrari 250 LM winner of the 24 hours of 1964 and the Benetton B191 that pilot the great Michael Schumacher in his debu in Formula 1, among others .

The car auctioned in detail
The same name behind the two most expensive cars in history
As we have pointed out at the beginning of the piece, The most expensive car in history is a Mercedes Coupé 300 SLR UHLENHAUT of 1955. The time, mid -50, is the first coincidence with which since this Saturday, February 1 is the second vehicle for which more money has been paid throughout history, the Mercedes W196R.
The second coincidence is obvious, the badge, the brand that manufactured it, the German Mercedes. And the third is much less evident: He has an engineer name, Rudolf, ‘Rudi’ Uhlenhaut.
Born in London, the Sotheby’s auction house remembers that Mercedes-Benz hired Uhlenhaut recent of Racing, of professional careers. We talk about the mid -30s, two decades before conceiving the two cars that in 2024 are the most expensive in history.

1954 Mercedes-Benz W 196 R Stromlinienwagen
The engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut was promoted to the position of director of the Experimental Department for Mercedes careers even though he had no experience in this niche. I work at the orders of the director of the Department of Carreras, Fritz Nallinger, and hand in hand with the ‘Team Manager’ Alfred Neubauer. Sotheby’s that Uhlenhaut learned quickly, becoming a very short time in the reference engineer of the brand’s pilots. Proof of this is that only he, within the team of engineers, traveled with the team at that time, and his work was also key to Improve cars like W 125 of 1937, W 154 and W 165 in those last years of the 30s.
World War II impacted fully on the evolution of Mercedes, which focused on helping the recovery and reconstruction of Germany with the manufacture of economic and efficient models. In the early 50s, the launch of 300 S was a turning point, resuming Mercedes its intention to design and manufacture sports and luxury cars. This new direction also took him back to the races. And there also reappears in the history of the brand the name of Rudolf Uhlenhaut.
“The company’s return to the track began softly, with a new sports car called 300 SL” Gullwing “, which was created under the management of Rudolf Uhlenhaut. In its first iteration W 194, the 300 SL caused a stir in the style and competition that prepared the land for more for more sports cars and for the serial production of the popular production model W 198 300 SL Gullwing», Explains RM Sotheby’s.
The FIA canceled Formula 1 in 1952 and 1953 and announced new regulations for 1954, in the return of the competition. «The new formula was relatively simple: that atmospheric engines could not exceed 2.5 liters, while the supercharged engines were limited to comedians 750 cubic centimeters. Apart from the mandatory of a single centered seat, the rules for the body were not specific, ”says the auction house.
This context was interpreted as an opportunity by Mercedes, which created a new competition department that included an itinerant factory team, and with means, resources and a budget at the height of its objective, and with Rudolf Uhlenhaut as head of the Experimental Department ,
In 1954, W 196 R was already a reality. And, for the 1955 season, it developed more if possible, manufacturing fourteen units of a historical car. The chassis 00009/54, for which more than 51 million euros have been paid, debuted in the Buenos Aires Grand Prix in January 1955, a career without points that was held at two sleeves in which Juan Manuel Fangio was imposed With the number #2, behind the wheel of the car that is already the second most expensive in history.

Historical photo of the vehicle
The car mounted a 59 Sport engine, code according to various 3.0 -liter M196 engine sources, and was equipped with a open -wheel car or free wheel, the taste of the Argentine pilot instead of the fairing version, which is the one that mounts The auctioned unit this February 1, 2024. This was reserved for circuits like Monza, faster. There he piloted him in 1955 Stirling Moss.
And it is precisely the W 196 R model from which the evolution of this was born – here the circle of connection between the two most expensive cars in history is closed -: the Mercedes Coupé 300 SLR UHLENHAUTthe only vehicle – seagull wings doors are one of its hallmarks – to the date for which more than 100 million euros have been paid, also work, as its name indicates, of the engineer Rudolf Uhlenhaut.

Mercedes Benz 300 SLR «Uhlenhaut-Coupé»
The engineer born in London was recited in 1972 and died in the late 90s precisely in the city, Stuttgart, where one of the cars in whose development participated decisively, has been sold for more than 51 million euros.
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