Abandoned & forgotten 30 years, Fangio's 1954 W196 found

[Blog Zbod]

This is tantamount to forgetting where you last left the Apollo 11 capsule.

Car left abandoned in warehouse worth £5m
"...The 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 was driven to victory by the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1954 Formula One World Championship, and has been described by auction house Bonhams as "the most important grand prix racing car" of all time...."
The auctioneer would say that, though wouldn't they? But this time I think they might be right.

 

[gethinceri]

The Apollo capsule is between camera 4 and the sound mixing booth.

 

[Mephistopheles]

No it isn't it is in a film studio warehouse in Arizona....

 

[Mephistopheles]

How do they know it has been there for 30 years? Did it disappear off the radar in 1983?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

That is all codswallop according to this: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/03/20/mercedes-w196-juan-manuel-fangio-sale-auction/

 

[Mephistopheles]

If it had been sat rusting unattended for 30 years then it wouldn't be in such good condition which is the point of my sarcastic post above,

I agree with ExtremeNinja it is pure nonsense to create interest in the story and the car, not that it is needed, any fan worth his salt will understand the significance of the car.....

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Was it 'abandoned' at Beaulieu? I'm guessing they realised it was in a warehouse. It is in very good nick considering it's supposed to be a rusty hulk. Sounds more likely to me it was kept in controlled conditions. Would there be much steel on it anyway?

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Wasn't this one of the famous silver arrows? Silver because the weight of the paint made the cars heavier so the cars were left uncoated? Sounds like a bit of a fairy tale but still an amazing car to own if you have the cash.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Is it just the 5 quid they are asking for it? I've got a lady here.....

 

[tooncheese]

F1Yorkshire,

The car had a streamlined body work of hand-beaten aluminium alloy painted in white. The Lockheed hydraulic brakes had aluminium drums 50 mm wide with a diameter of 400 mm.

Work started in March 1933 and the new car was ready for testing in February 1934. Von Brauchitsch had a crash at Monza due to tyre failure and the next month Henne had a crash in the second car at Nürburgring after having problems with the differential. The new cars were entered at the Avusrennen but withdrawn after practice because of carburettor problems. Instead they made their debut at the Eifelrennen. Legend says they failed the 750 kg limit at the weight-in by 1 kg and that during the night the white paint and filler was removed

http://www.kolumbus.fi/leif.snellman/c9.htm

 

[Blog Zbod]

Fangio's 1954 Mercedes expected to fetch record price

The car which powered Juan Manuel Fangio to the second of his five world championships is up for sale and could fetch more than $15 million....

 

[Olivier]

Sold! After commission and taxes it reached a total of £19.6m.

 

[Bill Boddy]

Did Hamilton or Rosberg buy it?

 

[Lewywo4]

19.6m pounds for Fangio's 1954 GP Mercedes...... can you imagine what Fangio's 1957 German GP winning Maserati at the Nurburgring would bring, if it ever went on the open market.

 

[Jos the Boss]

I'd imagine Daimler would have bought it

 

[Greenlantern101]

I wonder if the buyer will do historic races in it or just keep it, and look at it.

 

[Jos the Boss]

I wouldn't go as far as races, that's just putting everyone on a knife edge!

 

[FB]

Knife edge racing of a W196 in 1978, with the master at the wheel of course.

 

[GeoffP]

All I can say is... well done FB for a job well done! over £19m for an MX5 based first time project, you're an inspiration to us all!

 

[Titch]

See I knew it was someone on CTA who had bought Fangios' car.