Own the car that took seven-time Formula One World Champion Michael Schumacher to his first podium finish in 1992, or buy Australia’s oldest paddock basher.
FANCY OWNING the Formula One car that took Michael Schumacher’s to his first ever Formula One podium finish, or Australia’s oldest paddock basher? Both are for sale at the Bonhams Bond Street Sale on November 30.
The car that got Michael Schumacher to third place in the last ever Mexico Grand Prix (although 2015 will see the return of Mexico to the Grand Prix calendar) was the Benneton-Ford B191B. The Mexican Grand Prix was Schumacher’s eight race in Formula One; he’d qualified third fastest on the grid (out of 30) and, according to Bonhams, the Benneton-Ford B191B wears the same livery as it did in 1992 and is in working order… it’s expected to fetch between £240,000-300,000, or around $560,000.
As Formula One fans will know, Schumacher campaigned this car in his next F1 outing at Interlagos in Brazil where, again, he finished third. The car was then retired.
But it wasn’t just Schumacher who campaigned this car in anger. “Chassis 6 is highly respected as the Benetton that took Schumacher to his first podium position. But, that’s not where the story ends, for this was also the car that took three-time Formula One World Champion driver, Brazil’s Nelson Piquet, through his last Grand Prix on the beautiful Adelaide street and parkland circuit in the 1991 season,” said James Knight, Bonhams International Head of Motoring.
“For his Benetton debut, chassis 6 then went on to take present-day Formula One TV commentator and highly-respected pundit Martin Brundle to eighth in the South Africa Grand Prix of 1992. This car really has enjoyed a fantastic career, and now more than two decades after its debut, it can make an exciting addition to any enthusiasts motoring collection.”
If an ex-Schumacher F1 car is a little too racy for you, what about this 1909 Mercedes Simplex Roi-Des-Belges Tourer which is expected to fetch between £380,000-540,000. That’s up to $1 million. Wow.
This Merc spent its early years on Australian sheep farm, Isis Downs, and is claimed to be the oldest working shaft-drive car in the world. Considered, in its day, as “the car of kings” this 5.3-litre shaft-drive Merc served as the Station Manager’s car from 1914 and remaining on the property until the early 1930s. It was purchased by a neighboring farmer in the 1930s and remained there until the 1960s, when it was rescued and restored. The car has had only five owners since new.
James Knight, Bonhams Group Motoring Director, said, “This Mercedes has a tremendous history, having started its life driving across Australia’s wildest outback over 100 years ago. Still in working order it retains its original features, and has the honor of being quite possibly the world’s oldest shaft-driven 35 hp Mercedes.”
The 1909 35hp Mercedes offered here retains the original’s defining features but has shaft final drive (the first Mercedes was chain driven). Shaft drive had been introduced on the 2.6-litre 15/20PS model of 1905 and this advanced feature would soon be adopted across the Mercedes range. This particular car is possibly the oldest surviving shaft-driven 35hp Mercedes.
