It was a gift from
Mercedes-Benz
in 1958, when
Juan Manuel Fangio
announced his retirement from motorsport, and it immediately became his great ally on the road, especially when going to and from Buenos Aires to Balcarce.
What a privilege this
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL had, which used to be the Quintuple's favorite personal car
and which now, after some time in ostracism, has landed in the hands of a family of Argentine collectors.
The data was confirmed when the car was seen at the Motorcar Cavalcade exhibition that was just held a few days ago in Miami.
Until there he arrived together with four national IKA Torino as part of
"The Rey Collection"
, the catalog of sports and luxury cars from all eras owned by the Rey, a family from our country, but living in the United States for more than Two decades.
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL
The news about the whereabouts of the Mercedes-Benz comes after last March, when the Fangio family decided to part with it, it was included in an auction in London by Sotheby's.
It was a prying-proof operation
: a sealed envelope, with no base price or official information once the bidding was over.
And the truth is that nothing was known in the following months.
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL
The Mercedes-Benz 300 SL then rests in a garage where there is no shortage of copies of Aston Martin, Maserati, Bentley, Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche
, and which RM Sotheby's itself highlighted with an article on its website.
"Genuinely enjoyed and faithfully maintained by a father and son team, the Florida King Collection remains in constant use and is an attraction for those who appreciate sports cars beyond being static sculptures," they say at the prestigious house.
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL
In this way, a new chapter begins for the blue convertible with a detachable rigid top that
accompanied the Maestro for 72,951 kilometers
, and which later formed part of the legacy that remembered him and celebrated him at the Fangio de Balcarce Museum itself, but also at other events of the national motor world, such as the Buenos Aires Auto Show or editions of Autoclásica.
Mercedes-Benz SL300 by Juan Manuel Fangio
"That car identified my uncle after his retirement," reaffirmed Juan Manuel Fangio II, nephew of the five-time world champion. "It occupied a preferential place among all his vehicles, not only because of the characteristics it had, but also because of the importance it It gave him the fact that he was a gift from Mercedes-Benz," he said.
Mercedes-Benz 300 SL
The brand from La Estrella chose metallic light blue on cream colors for the car reminiscent of the Argentine flag, and handed it over to Fangio at a ceremony held at the Dorchester Hotel in London.
Once he had his keys, the man from Balcarce did not hesitate to embark on a trip through Europe with his partner, Andrea Berruet,
before bringing him to Argentina in 1960
.
Mercedes-Benz SL300 by Juan Manuel Fangio
As a curiosity, it is exactly the same copy that Mercedes-Benz presented that year at the Motor Show in the English capital to publicize the model, which did not lack avant-garde elements: beyond its imposing aesthetics,
the roadster mounts a 3.0-liter 6-cylinder engine with 218 horsepower
, and has the distinction of being the first street car to have a direct fuel injection system.
Advanced technology at the service of the model's performance, which reaches a maximum speed of 240 km/h.
Mercedes-Benz SL300 by Juan Manuel Fangio
And it is that, beyond the enormous added value of having been Fangio's car, it is a classic with very tempting qualities by itself: without going any further, and at least until the time of the March auction,
the The
vehicle was kept 100% in its original state
, with some signs of the passage of time, it is true -its more than 60 years could be verified in the state of the upholstery, above all-, but under the certainty that it did not have any kind of modifications.
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