Mercedes W 196 R Streamliner: Fangio’s 1954 Silver Arrow

By 1954, Mercedes-Benz had been absent from Grand Prix racing for years. New Formula One regulations changed that. Directors at Mercedes saw the new formula as a chance to return to the company’s racing roots, and they committed the full resources of the factory to building the best car they could.

The result was the W 196 R, developed under Rudolf Uhlenhaut. Because the 1954 rules placed few limits on coachwork, Mercedes took an unusual approach and built two bodies for one car. For high-speed circuits it created a streamliner, a smooth, enclosed-wheel body officially called the Stromlinienwagen. For tighter, twistier circuits it built an open-wheel Monoposto version. Under the skin sat a 2.5-liter straight-eight, set at an angle in the chassis.

The streamliners made their debut at the 1954 French Grand Prix at Reims with a trio of cars on the grid. Juan Manuel Fangio won, and teammate Karl Kling finished second, a double victory that announced Mercedes’s return in the most emphatic way possible. Fangio went on to win the 1954 Formula One World Championship, and in 1955 he took a second title in a row, with Stirling Moss finishing second in the standings.

The story ended abruptly. After the 1955 Le Mans disaster, Mercedes-Benz withdrew from motorsport, and the W 196 R was formally retired in October 1955. Only a few complete streamliners survive. In February 2025, one of them, a car long held by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, sold at RM Sotheby’s in Stuttgart for €51.2 million, making it one of the most expensive cars ever sold.