Bonhams will be offering for auction at the Goodwood Festival of Speed on Friday July 12 one of the most historic Grand Prix car ever raced.
Bonhams has consigned the 1954 2.5-litre straight-8 Mercedes-Benz W196 – chassis number ‘00006/54’ – in which five-time World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio won both the 1954 German and Swiss Grand Prix races.
These great victories were the first two to be achieved in succession by the frontier-technology Mercedes-Benz factory Formula 1 team in its postwar racing come-back. Chassis ‘00006’ also has special significance as the first open-wheeled slipper-bodied postwar Mercedes-Benz ever to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix race – having made its debut in that German GP.
The car’s innovative W196 design also marked the successful introduction to Formula 1 of the technologies such as fuel-injected engine, all-independent suspension and multi-tubular ‘space frame’ lightweight chassis design and all-round inboard-mounted brakes.
Bonhams has consigned the 1954 2.5-litre straight-8 Mercedes-Benz W196 – chassis number ‘00006/54’ – in which five-time World Champion Juan Manuel Fangio won both the 1954 German and Swiss Grand Prix races.
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| Photo: The Spitzley/Monkhouse Collection |
These great victories were the first two to be achieved in succession by the frontier-technology Mercedes-Benz factory Formula 1 team in its postwar racing come-back. Chassis ‘00006’ also has special significance as the first open-wheeled slipper-bodied postwar Mercedes-Benz ever to win a Formula 1 Grand Prix race – having made its debut in that German GP.
The car’s innovative W196 design also marked the successful introduction to Formula 1 of the technologies such as fuel-injected engine, all-independent suspension and multi-tubular ‘space frame’ lightweight chassis design and all-round inboard-mounted brakes.