Vintage Mercedes race car sets $29.6 million auction record



"We've just witnessed history in the making," Bonhams Motoring Director James Knight told Reuters from the sale at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in southern England.

The previous auction record was held by a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa, which sold for $16.39 million in 2011.


The car competed in five world championship-qualifying Grand Prix races. After Fangio's 1954 Swiss Grand Prix win, the W196R was retired to the Daimler-Benz Museum.

John Lennon's first car - a 1965 Ferrari GT coupe - also sold for 359,000 pounds at Goodwood on Friday.

The late Beatle bought the blue Ferrari after he passed his driving test in 1965 and sold it three years later. It had a top pre-sale estimate of 220,000 pounds.