AUCTION ACTION: The most expensive car ever? Hitler's Auto Union on the auction block
One of two remaining Auto Union D-Types is scheduled to be sold in Paris by Christie's this coming February. The shiny silver streamliners were commisioned by Adolf Hitler to showcase the technological superiority of the Reich. Even now, they're impressive and cleverly engineered using a mid-engine layout with fully independent suspensions and supercharged engines. Considering that these cars were designed and built in the 1930s, they're absolutely insane. Uber designer Ferdinand Porsche developed the Auto Union racers and they showcase some common Porsche touches, like swing axle rear suspensions and torsion bars. Piloted by drivers like Hans Stuck and Tazio Nuvolari, the big streamliners racked up many victories in various hill-climb and Grand Prix competitions. Nearly all D-Types were casualties of World War II. This 1939 racer was discovered disassembled in Russia, where it had been taken for reverse-engineering. It was reassembled and is expected to top the current most expensive car record-holder, an 1$11 million Bugatti.
[Source: Ananova.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
David Wiles 5:44PM (12/02/2006)
The title "Hitler's Auto Union" is a bit of a misnomer. The German government did indeed subsidize Auto Union as well as Mercedes in the 1930's. On balance the Mercedes cars were more successful and almost as innovative as the Auto Unions. But since I and others know that there have been cars on auction that were literally used to transport Hitler himself, the title of this post had me thinking that Adolf had a D-Type actually made for him. That's not the case here.
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Tiago do Vale 5:53PM (12/02/2006)
David Miles:
+1!
It's trully an amazing car...
This particular car won the Belgrade Grand Prix in 1939 driven by Nuvolari: it has 550hp V12! And I think in fact it is the only surviving Grand Prix D-type, as the other one is in fact a C-type/D-type hybrid.
There are a few replicas, some of them commisioned by Audi to the greatest standard.
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Quattrofan 7:18PM (12/02/2006)
Wow, good thing them pesky Russians snatched this puppy. I bet there is a good story of getting this thing out of Russia , with many Comrades getting their pockets greased along the way....
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heet 7:42PM (12/02/2006)
A 550hp, skinny balloon-tired 1930s era racer. Without a harness or modern aerodynamics. That thing must have been absolutely terrifying to drive at the limit. Those old racers had brass ones the size of bowling balls.
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Tiago do Vale 12:40AM (12/03/2006)
This is the 3 liter version, for Grand Prix racing:
It had so much torque, that the driver could make the wheels spin at well over 100mph (some sources state 150mph)! Rosemeyer did an entire lap on the nurburgring in a single gear, just to show how flexible the engine was! It engine could rev at over 10,000 rpm but usually never exceeded 7,000 rpm while racing.
The original engine was a 6 liter V16.
Top speed? It's scary!!! Over 250mph (252.48 mph is Rosemeyers record, in a flying kilometer)!
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heet 2:29AM (12/03/2006)
Insanity. Can you say "opposite lock"? Brass ones. Nuvolari could whip Chuck Heston with one arm tied behind his back.
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Ross Nicholson 6:25AM (12/03/2006)
Fuckin' nazi swine. Who cares what they did with their unlimited state funding of pet projects? nazi unnatural and distorted cleverness, indeed.
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Gardiner Westbound 6:36AM (12/03/2006)
I can't imagine driving one of these with their skinny 1930's rubber at the speeds they reached.
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Dman 5:16PM (12/03/2006)
Sheesh Ross, chill a bit eh?
Great story, great car from the greatest,IMHO, auto engineer of all times.
One issue though. As I understood it from reading We at Porsche and a couple other books, Hitler had decided to subsidize Mercdes only in F1. Porsche was very incensed at this as he had along, bad, history with MB and he knew he could design a car that was the equal if not better than the Mercedes. He got Hitler's ear at the Berlin Auto show and convinced him to give Porschea chance to prove that Auto Union should get funding. In the end he was sucessful. One can only imagine the opinions of the folks at MB upon hearing of this decision.
I think it lead to the best racing of the prewar era. Some of the it even matches to the great post war racing.
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Tiago do Vale 7:01AM (12/03/2006)
#7
About your reaction:
that intolerance is preciselly what being a nazy is about.
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Dr. Woo 9:45AM (12/03/2006)
Precisely, Tiago.
National Socialist Germany's atrocities notwithstanding, the Auto Union racers are an amazing feat of engineering for their timeline.
It's Audi's racing heritage, and a lot of famous drivers became famous in these cars.
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COLIN CRABBE 5:53AM (12/14/2006)
There is only one completely original 'D Type' Auto Union in existance! It was discovered complete in Czechoslovakia. I sold and restored the car for the new owner - an American, then demonstrated it at the Nurburgring in September 1979. The car was remarkable in getting wheelspin in 5th gear and yet the engine would tick over at 500rpm. Noise positively deafening if you happened to be above...The car was ultimately sold to a Korean many years ago.
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John M. 7:59PM (12/03/2006)
Is "The Most Expensive car ever?" also "The Most Valuable car ever?"
I have very little real expertise in this area, certainly not enough on which to stand alone, and I know of no easy way of authenticating what I am about to tell you, but...he said with the evil snicker of a used Yugo salesman...I will tell you a most interesting story anyway.
I have been told that "the most valuable car ever" is on display in the National Technical Museum in Prague, CR. It is an 1930's Mercedes W154. It has a pedigree as long as your arm, and it sits there today in exactly the same condition it was in on the day it was driven on the track for the last time. The story that I was told involves a member of the Royal Family of one of the desert oil rich countries, and his passion for the W154. I do share his princely passion, by the way, since, for reasons that I can never hope to fully understand, I think the W154 is the most magnificent racing automobile ever made by man. However, the story reports that the Prince contacted the museum and tried to buy that particular W154. In refusing to make the sale, the museum is said to have turned down a final offer of $20 Million cash. Further, I understand that the car was not sold simply because it was decided that, under the Communist system in place at the time, the car really did not belong to any one person, it belonged to The People, and thus, no one person could make the decision to sell it. So, it survives, with all of its age cracked leather, oil induced patina and dented, cracked aluminum splendor, even today. Since this offer is said to have been made no less than 30 years ago, Auto enthusiasts in the Czech Republic feel that this well qualifies their beloved W154 for the title "Most Valuable Automobile Ever ".
Well, that's my story, I like that story and I'm sticking to it.
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Tom 4:57PM (12/03/2006)
About the Nazi funding:
As far as I know, the Nazi regime gave Auto Union and Mercedes some funding, but their racing budget was still at least 5 times higher than what the government gave them.
If it wasn't for great engineers like Porsche or Uhlenhaut these masterpieces would have never existed. It was their vision that created those revolutionary cars (just look at their 1930's competition to see how revolutionary they were), not Hutlers funding.
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Billy 4:13PM (12/03/2006)
I'm glad the focus seems to be on the car's performance and on Nuvolari's driving. I really have no idea why you would have titled this to make it seem to be in some way about Hitler.
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Jake Ryan 5:13PM (12/03/2006)
Hey, Autoblog...ban the spammer with the interstateautoauction link, Auctionmarty. He's been in a bunch of posts today.
He's worse than Karesh with his spam posts.
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Bill Maher is an Idiot 6:21PM (12/03/2006)
An item to come in second:
The 1937 Soviet Silver Dildo that won the Two Hours of Moscow.
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Brandegee 11:16AM (12/05/2006)
#17. Are you really the Colin Crabbe who rebuilt the 1938 D-type sold at Pebble Beach in 1990? If so, tell us more about the car. From my understanding the way these low compression engines achieved such high power was by burning what amounted to aviation fuel.
Also, the only "original/complete" is the Type C/D Bergrennwagen. I believe the
car you sold has a V12 from a different car.#17. The W154 Mercedes is
undoubtedly a more valuable example than any Auto Union racer, partly
because no original, complete Grand Prix examples remain. There are Type Cs and Ds around, but none with racing history except the V16 hillclimb car. And the W154 is undoubtedly easier to drive.
Also, not every Auto Union is the same. The 5-liter V16s were far more powerful than the 3-liter V12s made to adhere to the new 1938 formula. Also, the special streamliners were the only ones to reach the 250+ barrier. A regular
Grand Prix car could probably exceed 190, however!
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COLIN CRABBE 11:58AM (12/23/2006)
Yes! I am the same CC...The hillclimb Type C/D (ex Riga)is original in as much it was made out of two GP cars - one C Type V16 engine and a V12 engine back in 1939. There is a V16 complete original rolling chassis (now rebuilt with new bodywork) owned from new by Auto Union. I would always agree that a Mercedes is the more valuable and certainly better looking! I know the Merc W154 in the Prague Museum - it was loaned many years ago to Donington. A wonderful time warp! The D Type I ran and restored had all the original bodywork, every nut and bolt - totally complete. This does make it pretty unique...The fact that we exchanged the engine for a identical 1939 more powerful unit surely does not effect originality? The AU being offered for sale next February came from the Ukraine as a very incomplete chassis and was then built up with brand new parts manufactured by Crosswaithe & Gardiner who will actually make you a new AU grand prix car from scratch with that company's blessing!
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Richard Brown 9:43PM (12/14/2006)
Wow, finally talk about a non-hemi musclecar making the big bucks. Don't get me wrong, I love cars from that era, but I don't think they're worth $4 million...
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