Fangio's 54 Mercedes discovered after 30 years

[TopJobHobNob]

uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/blogs/motorhead-uk/car-left-abandoned-warehouse-worth-5m-125008436.html
seems cheap

[Mad Max]

wowzers. How do you forget you own this?



I hope they keep it like this but get it running. You cant buy that kind of patina...

[ettorebugatti]

Found some more info about the W196:
www.ten-tenths.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10391
www.auto123.com/en/racing-news/bonhams-to-sell-fangios-historic-mercedes-w196-at-goodwood?artid=153756&utm_medium=feeds&utm_source=feed-RACE&utm_campaign=feeds

[Seth]

I'm sure that anyone who is anyone in the old Mercedes race car world knew exactly who owned this car and where its been 'forgotten' about for the last 30 years.

Here's Moss in a W196 in 2009.



IIRC, the engines in these cars had direct fuel injection, into the combustion chambers. I also once saw one of the streamliners parked on Bond Street in London. A real one.

[Deleted]

Mar 20, 2013 0:09:04 GMT Seth said:

I'm sure that anyone who is anyone in the old Mercedes race car world knew exactly who owned this car and where its been 'forgotten' about for the last 30 years.

.

I thought that too, Even 30 years ago it was a rare car. People will have known exactly where it was for a long time.

Also has anyone seen what happens to the average car after 30 years stood forgotten? That merc looks like its been looked after to me. Albeit left in an "As raced" state.....

Its a nice find, But i think bonhams are jumping on the barn find bandwagon to order up some hype for the auction...

[Deleted]

Quite a few old Mercs went missing in the former Soviet Union. When the wall went up it divided Germany and quite a few old race cars were lost in the communist East side. I've heard of quite a few popping up hidden in Poland and other places around Eastern Europe. Car ownership wasn't allowed in Russia and anything found out there was confiscated by the government, hence, they were often quite well hidden. The people died and/or were taken to Gulag, the whereabouts was never told to anyone and they were never found.

Not sure if this one is the right age to be involved in all that, but that's what I know about lost and found race cars of German origin.

[ettorebugatti]

Maybe, Mercedes is the seller. Would love to know what happened after the fifties with this car.

Remarkable about the whole confiscation of the 3rd Reich racecars by the Russians was that they didn't have the tools/equipment to disassemble the cars. So in order to look into the German technology they cut cars in half with a saw.

Epic picture here (worth the click):
2.bp.blogspot.com/_i_AovfzNXgQ/TEhjukbZG5I/AAAAAAABPgs/_IudD9-BwmM/s1600/W+196+R+The+Blue+Wonder+Fangio+Hockenheimring+1955+a+suacerful.jpg

[Speedman]

Fantastic car


Transporters not bad either!

;D

[Garry]

If anyone is interested in things like this, go out and buy Thunder In The Park by Tom Wheatcroft. He had some great tales of rescuing and buying significant Grand Prix cars from the past for the Donington Park Collection (as well as the rest of his life and Donington itself of course).