Open Diff – What car will beat the Fangio Mercedes W196′s record auction price?

Record-setting Mercedes-Benz W196 00006/54. Photo courtesy Bonhams.

While many observers correctly predicted that Juan Manuel Fangio’s 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 would sell for a significant sum of money earlier this month at the Bonhams Goodwood auction, none could have foreseen the ultimate $29.65 million hammer price, which easily set the record for a car sold at public auction, beating the 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa that drew a winning bid of $16.4 million at Gooding’s 2011 Pebble Beach auction and coming within sight of the overall record price for the sale of a collector car: $35 million for 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, as paid last summer.

Obviously, it takes some serious credentials for a car to sell for that kind of money. The Fangio Mercedes, one of the legendary Silver Arrows, not only served as the Maestro’s steed, but also took a couple grand prix wins in the process. The Testa Rossa is the first of its kind, and the 250 GTO was once driven by Sir Stirling Moss (as was the Mercedes W196). Not just any Silver Arrow or 250 GTO can make those claims; a car has to be – at the very least – unique and significant to command record-setting money.

So with auction prices upwardly mobile and desirable cars selling for jaw-dropping prices these days, what do you suppose the next record-setting car will be? Will it be a racing car with a significant provenance and history of wins, will it be a rare factory prototype or will it be a limited-volume production model? Will its nose carry a three-pointed star, a pair of wings, a prancing horse, a horseshoe-shaped radiator or some other significant distinguishing mark?

While we’re on the topic, is there a limit to auction pricing, or will prices continue their climb into the stratosphere? Will we soon look back at these prices and lament for the good old days of six-figure muscle cars and eight-figure Ferraris?

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Motorcycle land-speed record holder Bill Warner dies in crash

Bill Warner. Photo courtesy Loring Timing Association.

Motorcycle land-speed racer Bill Warner, who holds a number of records for open-cockpit motorcycles, racing his modified turbocharged Suzuki Hayabusa died on Sunday, July 12, after an accident during the Loring Timing Association’s Maine Event at Loring Air Force Base in northern Maine. He was 44.

Warner, a Florida resident, was well-known in land-speed circles as an affable racer who, along with his crew, did his own modifications and mechanical work. In 2011, he managed a personal best of more than 311 MPH over the 1.5-mile course at Loring, racing under the auspices of the Loring Timing Association; his achievement stands as the world record for a conventional motorcycle, according to LTA race director Tim Kelly.

On Sunday, Warner was trying to best that record by surpassing 300 MPH over the measured mile. He had already made several passes, including one clocked at 285 MPH, when the accident took place around 10 a.m., with Warner suddenly veering hard right. A slight breeze, coupled with mechanical difficulties, may have contributed to the crash, according to Warner’s crew. He was conscious and talking following the accident, but died a little more than an hour later at the hospital in nearby Caribou, Maine. The event was halted after the crash, and its cause is currently under investigation.

“No one will touch Bill’s achievements or be the type of racer he was,” Kelly said. “He was a personal friend and the land-racing community is less for his loss.”

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Maserati 300S sells for record $6.1 million

Record-setting 1955 Maserati 300S Sports Racing Spyder. Photos courtesy Bonhams.

As it turns out, the sale of the ex-Fangio Mercedes-Benz W196R for $29.65 million this past weekend was the first of several records set at Goodwood by Bonhams. When the auction concluded, the British auction house had also achieved records for the highest price ever realized by a Maserati at auction, as well as establishing a new record for the highest-grossing motor car auction ever held in Europe.

The Maserati in question, a 1955 300S Sports Racing Spyder originally ordered by Briggs Cunningham, ultimately hammered at a price of 4.03 million British pounds ($6.1 million). First raced by Bill Spear and Sherwood Johnson at the 1955 running of the 12 Hours of Sebring, chassis 3053 finished a respectable third in the event, beating a factory-supported 300S driven by Cesare Perdisa and Gino Valenzano. Campaigned by Spear in SCCA events throughout the 1955 season, chassis 3053 managed numerous podium finishes and even appeared in a feature article published by Sports Cars Illustrated.

Sold by Bill Spear in 1956, chassis 3053 enjoyed a number of American owners in the ensuing decades. In 1986, German Maserati enthusiast Dr. Thomas Bscher acquired the car, routinely driving it in vintage events across Europe. Sold to its current owner sometime around 2006, chassis 3053 remains mostly original, with much effort devoted to preserving the car as period correct. Though sold with a second Maserati 300S engine installed beneath the bodywork, the car included the original engine delivered to Briggs Cunningham and Bill Spear.

1953 Austin-Healey Special Test Car.

Falling short of any new records, the sister car of the Austin-Healey immortalized by its involvement in the 1955 tragedy at Le Mans still sold for an impressive 785,500 British pounds ($1.19 million). Registration plate NOJ 392, a 1953 Austin-Healey 100 Special Test Car, originally debuted alongside the fateful NOJ 393 in 1953, raced in the 1953 running of the Mille Miglia and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It remained as a factory “special test car,” while the other four examples constructed were converted to 100S specifications and sold. This special test car model later became the subject of some controversy when Motor and Autocar magazines published an Austin-Healey 100 review, using the lighter and more powerful NOJ 392 instead of a standard production 100 model.

When the infamous NOJ 393 sold in semi-derelict status in December of 2011, it set a world record for Austin-Healeys at auction, selling for $1.3 million. Its stablemate, NOJ 392, failed to achieve the same lofty number, but the selling price of $1.19 million handily exceeded Bonhams’s pre-auction estimate of $777,000 to $932,000.

In total, the Bonhams sale drew 36 million British pounds (roughly $54.4 million) in a single day, setting a record for a motor car auction in Europe. While the ex-Fangio Mercedes W196R and the Maserati 300S headed the list of highest-dollar cars, the top 10 included another five vehicles that sold in excess of $1 million. Following the Maserati 300S, a 1934 Alfa Romeo 8c 2300 “Le Mans” Tourer once owned by the 3rd Viscount Ridley sold for 1.9 million British pounds ($2.88 million); a 1965 Ferrari 500 Superfast Coupe sold for 852,700 British pounds ($1.29 million); a 1928 Mercedes-Benz Model 630K Tourer with coachwork by Erdmann & Rossi sold for 807,900 British pounds ($1.22 million); a 1913 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost London-to-Edinburgh Tourer sold for 718,300 British pounds ($1.1 million); a 1936 Lagonda LG45 Rapide sold for 617,500 British pounds ($932,942); a 1952 Bentley R-Type Continental 4.9-liter Sport Saloon with Mulliner coachwork sold for 539,100 British pounds ($814,492); and a 1964 Aston Martin DB5 Convertible with matching numbers and a ZF five-speed manual transmission sold for 533,500 British pounds ($806,832).

1934 Alfa Romeo 8c 2300 “Le Mans” Tourer.

Though Bonhams’s Goodwood sale presented shoppers with few bargains, not every transaction exceeded six figures. A 1963 Porsche 356B rally car, fully restored in 1992, sold for 31,050 British pounds ($46,911); an ex-works 1961 Austin-Healey Sebring Sprite Coupe in need of restoration sold for 36,800 British pounds ($55,598); and a BMC Competition Department-prepared 1962 Austin-Healey 3000MkIIA Convertible, also in need of restoration, sold for 24,150 British pounds ($36,486).

For complete results from the Bonhams Goodwood sale, visit Bonhams.com.

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