2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-05-21 15:44
It could become the most expensive car of all time. An Auto Union Type D will soon be auctioned in Paris - one of the last of the legendary “Silver Arrows”.
It has a good chance of soon being the most expensive car in the world. Because on February 17th, a truly unique piece of jewelery will go under the hammer in Paris. It's about one of the legendary “Silver Arrows”, an Auto Union D from 1939, the last in private hands.
Unpainted for weight reasons
Together with the equally legendary racing cars of its competitor Mercedes, Auto Union dominated the racing scene in the 1930s. They got their name from their unpainted, silvery, shiny aluminum chassis - according to legend, when the white paint was simply scraped off again shortly before a race for weight reasons. Auto Union is associated with legendary racing driver names such as Bernd Rosemeyer, who had a fatal accident while attempting a record on one of the first highways.
The auction house Christie's is now hoping for proceeds of more than $ 9.8 million, the price that a Bugatti Type 41 had achieved in 1987, currently the most expensive car in the world. Christie's estimates that 12 to 15 million dollars are possible.
The "Silver Arrow" was the first Grand Prix car in the world with a mid-engine and a top speed of almost 300 kilometers per hour. It was built by the German Auto Union, now Audi AG, based on a concept by Ferdinand Porsche. In total, there were more than twenty of these cars between 1933 and 1939. Only five have survived, the others disappeared or were destroyed in the chaos of war.
The racing car now on sale apparently survived because it belonged to a batch that was hidden by Auto-Union employees in a mine shaft in East Germany after the outbreak of war. From there he got to the Soviet Union by winding roads. A few years ago an American collector discovered parts of the car in a junkyard in Ukraine and had the vehicle completed again in Great Britain. In October 1994 he experienced his second maiden voyage at the Nürburgring. (dpa)
