- The Pits
Fangio's W196 sells for £17.5m
A 1954 Mercedes W196 has sold for a world record auction price of £17.5m at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
The auction - carried out by Bonhams - saw the car eclipse the previous auction record of £11m ($16.7m) paid for a Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa in 2011. After commission and taxes are taken in to account the W196 reaches a total of £19.6m.
The ex-Juan Manuel Fangio W196 went up for auction having been found in a warehouse earlier this year, with initial estimates expecting the car to sell for around £5m. However, it went for over three times that amount, with racing historian Doug Nye describing it as "a beautiful survivor" when it was discovered.
"The first time I saw this car I needed oxygen; it's landmark technology and it was driven by a landmark driver," he told Eurosport. "Some people think it looks grotty - that's not the point - the really rare cars today are the unrestored ones.
"Every car that's restored has lost a part of its history because it's been obliterated by repainting or by rebuilding. Nothing's been obliterated on this; it's just a beautiful survivor."
The exact car won the 1954 German and Swiss grands prix as Fangio secured the second of his five world championships.
© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
